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dpb

On 10/12/2012 9:08 AM, wrote:
On Oct 11, 11:05 pm, wrote:
....

Years ago there were service stations and garages on every other
corner - and the service bays were busy most of the time. Today, with
a whole lot more cars on the road, there are a lot fewer garages and
service stations - and you can fire a cannon through most of them half
the time without hitting anyone or anything.

That part I'm not so sure about. All the complexity has added
more things that can fail. And it has also gotten harder for the
DIY guy to do many repairs. But all in all, it's a trade off that I
thjnk we all agree is a good thing. I sure wouldn't want say
a Dodge from the 1970s compared to what you get today.

I think he's pretty accurate from observation here...the dealer shops
here _are_ pretty much deserted these days around here. There are a
couple of independents that are busy it seems, but much of what they do
is the routine stuff like brakes, etc., that doesn't require all the
diagnostic equipment and/or specialty tools the dealer garage must have
for the complex stuff...

I had a front hub start howling on the old LeSabre (approaching 200k;
that would have been almost unheard of 30 yr ago) and wasn't able w/ my
old ears to isolate where the noise was actually coming from. Just
drove in to the shop unannounced and a mechanic came and took a ride and
pulled it into a bay when we came back and was done by evening. Even 15
yr ago that would have required an appointment for sometime the next
week at best, probably.

In addition, there are multiple empty bays in the shop w/ no mechanics
filling the slots that used to be all occupied. That's so for all three
manufacturers' shops here--Ford, GM, Chrysler so it's not just a single
dealership slipping thing; I think it is reflective that mechanicals are
just better than used to be. Now, that gets made up for in some regards
by it's a heckuva lot more expensive per repair in general I think...

--but, overall, I agree I think it's a win.

I know the big farm work trucks are _much_ more reliable and require far
less routine maintenance than before. Used to be we'd have to stop and
change oil at least once if not twice during harvest because service
intervals were so short--now they go thru the entire season on one.

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