do people need more education on servicing / repairs etc

[steveo3002]

ive spoke to several non car enthusiasts latley , such advice as your tyes are showing the canvas, your headlight doesnt work and theres oil in the engine etc , thier replys are always oh no its fine its just had a mot x months ago or its having a mot oafter xmas etc

seems they all thing the mot is a full service and refurb of all the broken and faulty parts and theres no need to fix any worn parts between mot

one of them is a nanny that was running peoples kids about on slicks

[jbi]

I don't talk about cars to non-car enthusiasts anymore...

The general ignorance to too astounding and too depressing

Eduction would be of little help since you need to have an interest, which most people today seem not to have.

They prefer their mobile phones

[mike9009]

My brother in law does my head in. He has never serviced a car in the fifteen years i ve known him. To date he has blown the engine on a toyota previa and had hgf on an mgf (maybe not service related). He just fixes whats needed at MOT time.

He has no breakdown cover. On top of this he has four kids, and do travel the country. Luckily they have never been stranded early morning..... Yet

I just cant believe his ignorance to all this ..... But he considers it a waste of money and the MOT will catch everything. Aaarrrggghhhhh.....

Mike

[Redlake27]

They need educating on two levels:

1) A simple service is an easy DIY or local garage job. It's around 100 quid for most cars, about the same as two tanks of fuel. Don't skimp on it.

2) Don't use main dealers. The £100 job becomes a £400 job once they've hoovered your car and given you a free Latte on top of Point 1.

[powerstroke]

Are they still talking about going to a 2 yearly MOT???

[jagnet]

powerstroke said:

Are they still talking about going to a 2 yearly MOT???

I really really hope not, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they do. I wish I could find details again on the number of cars failed every year with dangerous faults come MOT time - it was startling.

As has been said already, so many car owners have zero interest in their cars, how they work and what needs doing to keep them in good condition. What's involved in servicing is a mystery - the car goes in to the garage, and comes out with "stuff" having been done.

What worries me is that should the powers that be start to focus on this, coming up with measures based on little understanding themselves of what's involved in car maintenance. You only have to look at Brake's ideas on the matter:

Compulsory qualifications are required for vehicle mechanics, renewed in line with technological developments. - presumably the idea of DIY maintenance runs contrary to this. In order to improve the numbers of cars being maintained they want to make it harder to actually have your vehicle maintained. Genius.

Vehicles must have compulsory servicing, in line with manufacturer recommendations on timing and standards. An on-board clock prevents a vehicle starting if a service date is missed.

One applauds the fact that Brake recognise the issues regarding lack of maintenance, but like speed limits its focus is on draconian regulation based on the lowest common denominator rather than education.

I've no idea what could be done to improve the situation though. Second hand cars are now so inexpensive that it's often cheaper to ignore maintenance and buy another car when it breaks. To most people cars are white goods, no different to washing machines and microwaves. Driving is seen as a right rather than a privilege. As long as you're not breaking posted speed limits then everything's fine.

[2DDav]

The problem is not just isolated to 'non car enthusiasts', some of the worst cars Ive looked at (and in some cases bought) were from so called 'car enthusiast's'. You know the types who post 0000's of posts on a forum proclaiming themselves to be 'the man' when it comes to cars followed by their merry band of followers who also proclaim exactly how 'mint' the car is, copious project threads, 'does their own servicing' which generally translates to, at best, an oil and filter change yet when you go to look at the car it's crawling with faults, running 19" wheels wrapped in the stiest tyres possibly imaginable, and has a hundred and one "only a 5 minute job"'s required.

[Ozzie Osmond]

2DDav said:

the types who post 0000's of posts on a forum proclaiming themselves to be 'the man' when it comes to cars followed by their merry band of followers who also proclaim exactly how 'mint' the car is, copious project threads, 'does their own servicing' which generally translates to, at best, an oil and filter change yet when you go to look at the car it's crawling with faults, running 19" wheels wrapped in the stiest tyres possibly imaginable, and has a hundred and one "only a 5 minute job"'s required.

Ain't that the truth!

Such "enthusiasts" often spend loads of money on modifications and accessories while skimping on the fundamantals.