Why I'm getting out of the fixing friends' cars business

"KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs" (kusabisensei) 11/02/2013 at 22:01 • Filed to: Rantlopnik

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So we've seen plenty of rants about buying cars, recommending cars to buy, dealing with people who don't like recommendations that you give (Sell the kids, buy an Aston instead). But there is one thing that comes with the territory of being "The Car Person" especially if you have a penchant for older cars and working with hand tools. One thing that hasn't been discussed yet.

One of your friends asking: "Can you fix my car for me, please? I think it just needs an oil change..."

Normally, my policy was as follows: You supply the parts, you pay me 1/3 the labor rate of the dealer ($25/hour isn't bad, mind you, for never seeing this car before), and if you keep me company in the garage, I'll fix your car. However, you will be tasked with looking things up on Google, or supplying the factory service manual. Only exception is if you have a car like mine (RamblinRover's 300D is the only one which comes close, of my friends). And if I don't feel comfortable doing something, I'll tell you and I won't do it (seems fair to me).

Then I had the tangle with the GM 2.2L inline 4 (Iron Duke descendent, Opel design). Normally these engines have a spacious engine bay to sit it (Think S-10 pickup). But on an '02 Cavalier, the oil filter is on the back of the block, facing the firewall, and you have to contort yourself to get into the space with the filter, or start removing stuff off the top of the engine.

Yeah, I'm not even touching that.

It's one thing if the maintenance parts are easily accessible (Easy as defined as a mind 1990s F-150 with the Windsor V8), or if it's something that someone else is comfortable doing (i.e. I'm helping them out with the job). I draw the line at something that could easily turn into a full day of me disassembling and reassembling someone else's car, especially if I have never seen that kind of car before.

I feel bad not being able to help my friends out, but I think it's a relief, as cars tend to be like computers:

"Well, you touched it last, so you obviously did something to break it."

That would put too much strain on a friendship. Especially if someone asks for beer or money to be involved.

So it's decided. I'm not fixing your car for you. I will let you fix your own car in my garage, and if you want, I can help you. But that's where I draw the line.

I value friendship too much to be responsible for your transportation.

IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:05

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Honestly for an '02 Cavalier they should take it to a cheap $20 oil change place, let them deal with it.

JustWaitingForAMate > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:06

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I have the same issue with computers being the 'I.T guy' in my circle of friends (A bachelors in Computer Science seems to equate to me being a tech support monkey, but whatever). The one trick I've learned is to sit over their shoulder and make them do everything step by step while I observe. That way they take ownership of the activity, and hopefully learn something along the way, and don't ask me again in a years time.

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:07

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I fully agree with this, if I can find the problem in under an hour and fix in a couple more then I am happy to. As long as the person stays and helps of course. I will take a few beers as I work on it but I don't want money, help me move an old TV or something like that down the road. I get the most gratitude knowing I helped solve someones problem.

rabbitman > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:12

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Good choice.

Exactly why I don't like working on anything for friends or family.

Don't need to strain those relationships.

Squid > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:14

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Yup. I will do brakes and oil changes if they are simple. But for more complicated shit, I'd rather not touch. I'll throw ideas of what may be wrong but won't diagnose a problem without a FSM in front of me.

Once a friend wanted to do a head gasket job on a early-mid nineties Mercedes, I told him I'd help him work on it as long as he got a procedure of the job first. He also had another guy which I had never met over to help and while we were at the parts store the 3rd guy decided that the first thing to do in removing the head was to start by removing the head bolts. . . Needless to say that Mercedes ended up in a crusher. After that incident I won't go near any friends cars with problems unless they have the service procedure from somewhere and I won't commit to helping unless I have read the procedure first. Some of my friends think I'm silly or stupid or lazy, but when I was working in a shop on a job I was doing the first time I would read the procedure at least 10 times by the time I finished the job. The only cars I had come back were the ones with tranny problems that I was unqualified to diagnose and repair but the service manager decided to put the guy in the ASSET program in charge of the tranny department even though he hadn't gone through the tranny courses yet. . .

I have since gotten out of the wrenching business, part by choice and part by the fact when I was getting out of the ASSET program Ford shuttered 8 dealers in my immediate surrounding so looking for a job as a fresh faced tech was hard as the market was saturated with guys with 15 years of experience. I do kind of miss the noise and smell of the shop but I don't miss the stupid customers.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > JustWaitingForAMate 11/02/2013 at 22:16

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There's a good amount of people who don't care to learn though. That's the difference.

I'm also the tech support monkey (Yay GT CS degree) and I got a call just today from my grandfather.

"Well, the printer is out of ink." (It's a laser, but I digress)

"Did you get a new cartridge?"

"It was just as expensive as a new printer so I got a new one."

"What did you get?"

"An Epson something or another." (Inkjet)

The issue was he couldn't remember his password to install the drivers. So I gave the perfectly cromulent solution of returning the new printer, spending the money on the toner cartridge for the still working just fine laser printer, and calling it a day.

I don't know if he ever did that. Nor do I particularly care.

promoted by the color red > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:17

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Hey, it could be worse. Not only did I have to help my friend buy a car over CL 3,000 miles away but I have to help him service it. This entails "oh hey my car's making a lot of noise" and ends with "so I spent $600 on a full exhaust system because it was all rusted. Was that a good price?"

rabbitman > JustWaitingForAMate 11/02/2013 at 22:20

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I even did this with my wife, You downloaded you fix it. She hasn't f'd up a computer for years. She was just making fun of the people that dl'd GTA'5 pc torrent, 18gig's of you just got f'd . She said I remember those days, but it was usually porn and a virus not at all what she was looking for.

JustWaitingForAMate > rabbitman 11/02/2013 at 22:22

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'But the pop up said I needed a virus scan so I clicked it.'

'I just kept clicking OK to get all the windows to close'

'A guy from work gave me the program'

'Oh I found it on some random site'

For some people, common sense goes out the window when using PCs.

Unwound > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:26

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I'll do about anything as long as I can find a good walk through online and the area involved is not rusted to hell. Having moved to OR from NY I don't deal with that too often anymore, but friends do have cars they brought out here with them I still refuse to touch.

Friend asked me to fix his heater in his Exploder last weekend, after about 90mins of tearing the dash apart I realized I shoulda said no. He owes me big time, but only because he's a damned good friend would I suffer that again.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Squid 11/02/2013 at 22:27

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Once a friend wanted to do a head gasket job on a early-mid nineties Mercedes, I told him I'd help him work on it as long as he got a procedure of the job first. He also had another guy which I had never met over to help and while we were at the parts store the 3rd guy decided that the first thing to do in removing the head was to start by removing the head bolts. . .

As someone who has worked on W124s (The timing chain replacement on the Ramblin300D comes to mind) and drives a diesel W210, the phrase that would go through my mind is one of:

"What on Earth possibly gave you any inkling that this could possibly end well?"

rabbitman > JustWaitingForAMate 11/02/2013 at 22:27

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The best I seen was the fake anti virus on a Mac. I was like you know you have Mac right?

Squid > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/02/2013 at 22:42

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Oh I never thought it would end well. I went in to the job telling him it may never run. After the first day it was clear that the car would never run again.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Squid 11/02/2013 at 22:48

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Oh good. Any Merc with a timing chain and oil pressure driven ratcheting tensioner means almost complete valvetrain disassembly to get to the head gasket. Because Germans.

Unless you are willing to do a full tear down and rebuild, they tend towards more trouble than they are worth.

But you knew that. Sad that your friend didn't.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > rabbitman 11/03/2013 at 21:20

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This is my main point. But there are some people who think that friends doing something automatically implies that is of no cost.

Clearly these people do not understand the value of either a minute or a dollar.

signintokinjalol > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/10/2013 at 09:57

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I guess i'm the only one who's okay with it? I always learn something when i do and sometimes it can be interesting to see how parts are set up differently or hidden.

shitheelandtoe > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/10/2013 at 10:08

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I had a good friend who was the head technician at a Chevrolet dealership. And I had a Corvette. So, yeah, he used to work on my cars - but I paid the dealership, not him. Once in a while, he would do oil changes for me at his home though.

I moved away and lost touch. And sold the Corvette.

Break-Mend-Continue > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/10/2013 at 18:02

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What annoys me most about fixing friends cars is when you help them and they skimp on parts or decide not to do essential stuff because they are broke. For example a blown head gasket due to overheating and they refuse to have the head skimmed or the radiator cleaned out. Then when it goes bang again they expect help to repair it a second time.

Teeson1111 > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/10/2013 at 18:07

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I have a system I've developed over some time now that has more or less solved some issues that have arisen. My rule is if you want to come over and use my dad's shop and tools with me around, you doing the work thats cool. If you've only read up on how to do whatever job you're attempting and need my help or advice on a part or two thats fine. However if you're going to get me to do it for you, or babysit you through a job, I'm getting paid. If you have zero inclination and no willingness to learn, you're gonna pay for me to do it. I'm more than willing to help you out, but I have my own projects on the go that I can do alongside.

I learned quickly: Don't help douche canoes, don't do friends of friends of friends kinda people, and be very careful on the degree of difficulty and the vehicle in question.

Thisnewformatisrubbish > IDROVEAPICKUPTRUCK 11/10/2013 at 19:19

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1000 times over.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/11/2013 at 01:00

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I'm in IT and am fairly proficient with cars.

For computer stuff, unless it's family or close friends, I won't do the computer stuff unless they want to pay me $50 upfront for one hour and $30 per additional hour.

And for cars, don't do it at all for liability reasons alone. I will give suggestions, but I won't touch their car.

Kylemaro > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 11/11/2013 at 03:34

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Isn't it a good sign that society is moving backwards when you kind of have to loath being the guy who knows things because people who are too lazy (which is a form of stupidity) just want you to do things for them. and because you have a conscience you feel bad about charging for it. whether it is the "I T guy" or the "car guy" Darwin be damned.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Kylemaro 11/11/2013 at 09:07

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*insert snarky "Devolution is real!" Devo related post here*