A Random Act of Kindness
11/07/2014
Well, here we are again. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is right on it's heels. I would like to take this opportunity and thank all of my customers for a very gratifing year.
With the holiday season upon us I would also like to tell you about something that happened last year that touched my heart. I have a Mercedes customer, I'll call her Jane, who works for another one of my customers. Around July of last year Jane needed some maintenance and repair work on her car that was going to cost about $1500.00. Needless to say, she was a little distraught. She wanted to do the work but, with a new baby, she and her husband did not have that kind of money to spare. She asked if I would take payments and I said that I would. So, we did the work and agreed that I would charge her credit card $150.00 per month until the bill was paid off.
Just before Christmas of 2013 we had done some work on another customer's BMW, I'll call him Bill. When Bill was picking up his car we were talking about business and the conversation somehow included accounts receivable and I mentioned Jane's predicament and how I was helping her out. When Bill was paying his bill he asked me to tack on another $150.00 and apply it to Jane's tab. I asked if he were serious and he said that he and his wife like to annomously help people out financially from time to time. He asked that I not reveal his identity to Jane.
So, we completed the transaction and after he left I called Jane to tell her that her December payment had been taken care of. Needless to say she was extremely appreciative and I could tell she was crying and I have to admit my vision was getting a little blurry also.
The reason for this blog is to remind people of the true spirit of Christmas. We live in a world of vast uncertainties and it is human nature to concentrate on the well being of our immediate families but we must remember that there are those way less fortunate who can use a helping hand.
Bob Dallape......Camino Import Auto Service
The Importance of regular maintenance
I just bought a 2001 Volvo V70XC from a customer. She brought the car in because the "low oil pressure" warning light was coming on. The car had 224,000 miles on it.but looked as if it were a new car (externally well maintained). We hooked up a pressure gauge that we could read while driving and the oil pressure, which was normal at idle, would drop while driving. We tried the usual fixes for Volvo which included replacing the oil galley o ring seals in the oil pan but the oil pressure would still drop to zero within 2 minutes of driving. I checked her service history and she would always be a little late for her factory scheduled oil changes (Volvo recommends service every 7,500 miles). What we eventually found was that there was so much sludge build-up in the motor that the main bearings had worn due to the gritty sludge. The car was well taken care of other than the oil changes. I always recommend that the Volvo service interval recommendations be ignored and oil changes should be done at least at 5,000 mile intervals. Volvo does not recommend synthetic oil which, if they did, the changes can be pushed to about 8,000 miles.
Mercedes and BMW, who do insist on synthetic oil, recommend the services be done at 10,000 to 15,000 miles which I still think is a bit crazy. I often see cars that follow that regimen and when I take off the oil cap there is black flaky material on the underside of the cap. If it is on the cap it is in the crankcase. So, I recommend to all of my MB and BMW customers who drive newer models that they go no longer than 8,000 miles between oil changes.
This customer did not want to fork over about $5,000.00 to repair the motor so I bought it from her for $600.00. I put a used motor in the car (I was told that the used motor only had 80,000 miles on it). I repaired a few sundry items and bought new tires. The car is now perfect and is now driven in the snow of Flagstaff Arizona where my daughter goes to school (Northern Arizona University).
The bottom line here is; if you want your car to last, regular frequent servicing is the way to do it. For example, I own a 1985 Mercedes 300SD (diesel) with over 420,000 miles on the original engine. All I have ever done, aside from fixing a few things here and there, is change the oil and filter every 5,000 miles and major maintenance every 15,000 miles. One more thing, avoid the "quickie lube" places. I have seen their work and it is not pretty, wrong oil filters, cheap oil, incorrect amount of oil, etc. Remember, you get what you pay for......Bob...Camino Import Auto Service