Who Should Have the Right to Repair Your Car?

My Lexus dealer wanted at least $1,100 to perform the 30,000-mile service on my wife’s 2004 RX 330.

I say “at least” because the service guy said the price could creep all the way up to $1,800. I nearly spit the contents of the “free” can of Coke they gave me right out my nose. I also took the keys back and tore out of the dealership.

Later that week I found a shop that checked and topped off the fluids and replaced the engine oil, oil filter, air filter, cabin air filter, and wiper blades for $130.

Sure, I didn’t get “genuine Lexus replacement parts” but I’m just fine going with Fram if it saves me a thousand dang dollars. I’m sure there are other benefits of returning to the dealer for service, but I won’t even try to justify spending a grand on them (though the Coke there is exceptionally good for some reason).

I mention this because I think auto manufacturers should make the same service technology they provide to their dealerships available to all independent shops. That way people like me could feel confident we’d get the same service for our cars when we didn’t choose to bring them back to the dealer.

Car buyers get screwed enough when buying a car from the dealer - we shouldn’t continue the pattern every time we need our cabin air filter changed.

Keeping repair costs fair is the goal of the Right to Repair Act, which is

bipartisan legislation that would require automakers to provide the same service information and tools to independent auto and maintenance shops, as well as to consumers, that the automaker dealership service centers receive.

That just makes sense, don’t you think? The more advanced our vehicles become, the easier it is for manufacturers and dealers to monopolize the service of our cars. That’s not a path I want to go down.

I’d rather support a local small business while saving money on maintaining my car than fork over thousands of dollars to a corporate dealership chain. Even if it means giving up my free can of Coke.

Assuming you’d receive the same service, would you rather take your car to an independent repair shop, a dealer, or do the maintenance yourself?

-tgriffith

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New leader for GM, new hope for bankruptcy?

Fritz Henderson, behind the wheel at GM

It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down and been able to say these words:

The CEO of GM seems smart.

Fritz Henderson took over the job from ousted Rick Wagoner on March 29 and is already conceding that bankruptcy protection may be the best solution for restructuring GM.

HOORAY for the Fritz!

With the Obama administration announcing their willingness to stand behind GM warranties and being strict on the terms for lending GM more money, it’s a pretty solid bet that General Motors is still going to be around after the dust clears from the storm of bankruptcy.

While the car industry will be changed once GM picks itself up again, we are a society that will always buy new items. Cars and trucks are definitely on that list, and a structured reorganization in bankruptcy court should help the company become more lean and adapt to changing demands.

I’ve been in Southern California for the better part of the last two weeks, and I’ve seen more car dealers than I can remember. Everything from Mazda to Maserati, Hummer to Honda. On top of the new car dealers, I’ve seen used car lots on nearly every block. They’re like Starbucks where I live in Washington State. My point? Over-saturation.

After a GM (and Chrysler?) bankruptcy, new car dealerhips will be trimmed down, while the used car salesmen will probably be sitting pretty as more people buy used.

It’s a refreshing change to hear from a CEO of GM who is open to all options instead of being so obstinate as to ignore the facts of the company’s situation.

I believe a bankruptcy will bring great things to a new GM. What about you: Do you even care whether or not GM goes into bankruptcy?

-tgriffith

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Volt Contenders

Volt production vehicle--maybe

Auto task force members came to Detroit to drive the Volt mule earlier this week. According to today’s Washington Post, they found it promising but no panacea for GM’s ills. There has been so much hoopla over the car that the whole plug-in hybrid concept, I think, may have been oversold.

Volt is going to be big, heavy, expensive and, according to a Carnegie Mellon study, simply uncompetitive at the $40,000 it’s supposed to cost. GM is betting too much on this car, putting out to pasture a really good competitive small diesel they have been developing and sidetracking other power source developments.

There are quite a few contenders out there, and more are coming. We learned this week that a Norwegian firm has revived its Think City car, an all-electric EV, for possible production and sale in the U.S. The company has years of experience in EVs and was formerly owned by Ford.

The car looks good and, apparently, drives well. The video will give you details.

2010 Honda Insight

And let’s not forget: the Insight is coming. At half the presumed cost of the Volt, you could buy two of these babies and the operating cost per mile would still be less. Insight goes on sale in April. Smaller than the Prius, it will cost less, handle better and look (we think) better.

Another development announced this week may give a future boost to the hybrid concept. MIT scientists have

created a new technique that gives lithium-ion batteries a 100 fold increase in power density. These new batteries when moved from lab to factory could allow charging at 100 times the speed and release of 100 times the power of batteries in use today.

This rapid-charge technique would benefit hybrid vehicles rather more than EVs, according to battery experts. Unless GM can get its costs down, it looks more than ever like an uphill road for the Volt.

Will the Volt drag GM down or prop it up? Let us have your thoughts.

—jgoods

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