What Job Would You Never Let Another Person Do On Your Car?

Editor

I’ve never let another human being wash my Escort GT since getting tri-stage candy paint nearly four years ago. However, when we were shooting video last week at NorthWest Auto Salon, I totally let Blake’s crew of crack detailing genuises get their mitts (literally) all over it. But, you know, that’s because it’s Northwest Auto Salon–they detail million-dollar supercars for a living, and I am in awe at their skills, not to mention their tact in refraining from making any more fun of my Escort than they did.

So, while the car-wash rule is clearly out the window, there are still, dammit, things I would never let another person do on my car, at least not out of my sight. For example, I will never let anyone else change the oil on any of my cars–for such a simple task that most shops, even the good ones, relegate to only their most ham-handed flunky, there are just way too many ways to mess it up. And most of them are potentially catastrophic.

How about you? What is your single bottom line over-my-dead-body procedure for which you’d never entrust your vehicle to another person?

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Posted at 2:12 am in Escort, Ford, Jen Dunnaway, NorthWest Auto Salon

Comments

tunerman626
May 12, 2010 at 3:36 pm

well as of right now, my car is a liability at any shop, they wont take it

its too retarted x)

traidarius
May 10, 2010 at 8:51 am

i would never let anyone wash my car unattended

TheMover
May 7, 2010 at 6:56 pm

I cringe at the thought of a shop doing anything at all to my ride.

TheDotCommunist
May 7, 2010 at 12:58 pm

Brakes. I trust only myself when it comes to stopping the car. Even more important when considering my passengers.

MidnightLuckey
May 7, 2010 at 5:14 am

Absolutely everything. I do everything myself, and if i can’t figure it out, i get a friend to help me out in my own driveway. I literally pile my wheels and tires into another car and leave mine on rollers to go get the tires changed.

1lowscort
May 6, 2010 at 6:33 pm

I am going to list the jobs I WILL let others do:
Exhaust – I don’t have a pipe bender
Pressing anything that needs to be pressed – I don’t have a press
Changing tires – I don’t have a tire machine or balancer
Alignments – I don’t have an alignment rack
Body work – I hate doing it

retroman
May 6, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Definitely agree with you, Jen. And then there are the gimmicks like my personal favorite: “FREE oil filter with oil change!!” Uh, you have to change the filter anyway so isn’t that included in the price?

Jen Dunnaway
May 6, 2010 at 9:56 am

bbccaprice89, really good point on #3. The thing I hate worst about farming out work is that you’re usually under a lot of pressure to settle for their econo-brand fluids and made-in-China parts. They generally can’t stand you bringing your own parts, and that’s reasonable, but then if you want them to order in the good stuff they get all mad because they’ve usually got some bulk-quantity deal going with the cheap-junk companies so if they order the brands you want they’re not making the same huge profit on the markup. Bottom line, YOU get charged through the nose for getting them to install the same parts that you could obtain a lot more affordably on your own.

SouthernGuy8503
May 6, 2010 at 7:45 am

EDIT: “but if it’s something that’s more or less out of my “range” rather it’s me not having a clue how to do it or not having the right tools then i have no problem taking it to a shop”****
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just wanted reword it because the way it was in the comment, i contradicted myself lol

SouthernGuy8503
May 6, 2010 at 7:40 am

basically anything i can do myself, if i can do it then i do it. if i never done it before but think i cna do it then i’ll try it. but if it’s something that’s more or less out of my “range” rather it’s me not knowing how to do it or not having the right tools then i have no problem taking it to a shop but i’m usually picky who i’d take it to. i know one thing i’ll nevre care to do, wiring, simple stuff i’ll do but it’s no way i have the patients to find the problem especially with all the wiring in my truck and anything newer. i bet my 98 has at least 5 times the wiring that my 86 Chevy C10 Custom Deluxe (no computer) had.
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i like messing with cars, in the abck of my mind i’m thinking about going to the community college here for Automotive Tech and then try to be ASE Certified. but i’d much rather go to the UTI NASCAR school in Mooresville NC, i’m in NC but on the wrong end lol

highspeedhijinks
May 6, 2010 at 4:09 am

I would never let anyone do something that I can do myself… everything else, if I cant learn it, then I give in and have someone do it. Transmission work for example.

bbccaprice89
May 6, 2010 at 3:04 am

also, not a fan favorite of allowing my vehicle to leave tire shop without making sure my wheels are torqued up tight and my tires are properly inflated.

bbccaprice89
May 6, 2010 at 3:03 am

1. any kind of welding (but then again, i’m about an inch away from having an associates in manufacturer’s engineering, so it’s kind of my thing) i even started doing my own exhaust work last year.
2. set my timing
3. choose what parts/fluids are going into my caprice
4. adjust my carb