People with no clue about car maintenance

[Cylinder 8]

I'm getting increasingly worried by this. One of my friends was giving me a lift the other day when his car bonged and the low coolant light came on. We stopped in a lay by and saw the level was a couple of centimetres below the "min" mark. We carried on anyway as there were no obvious leaks and nothing else we could do, the engine temperature remained at 90 degrees. I asked him this morning if he had looked for leaks more thoroughly since this happened. No. Had he even topped the coolant up? No. Both responses given in a "why would I?" sort of voice.

Another friend is taking his practical driving test soon and we were discussing the "Show me, tell me" questions at the beginning of the test.
"So what sort of questions are there?"
"Various things. How to check your tyres are in good condition, how to check the level of the brake fluid, oil and so on."
He looked at me with a face of absolute shock/horror as though no-one other than a fully-qualified mechanic should possibly be expected to know such things.

This makes absolutely no sense to me, people who own a mobile phone know how to charge it up, top up the credit and (probably) change the SIM card if they need to, so why do they feel they don't need to do anything to their cars other than put fuel in them?

I appreciate not everyone is a petrolhead but surely everyone should have some idea how to look after something they depend on for getting around! Shouldn't they? I find it astounding that some people just don't seem to care what sort of condition their car is in mechanically because "that's the mechanic's job".

Does anyone else get worried/annoyed by this?

[SV8Predator]

Cylinder 8 said:

Does anyone else get worried/annoyed by this?

No, I don't get worried or annoyed by what other people do with their lives.

None of my business.

There's lots of people that haven't got a clue about (for instance) computers, and that doesn't annoy me either.

Live and let live.

[Blayney]

[insert usual "white goods" response here]

Does it have a rear diff though?

[DKS]

SV8Predator said:

No, I don't get worried or annoyed by what other people do with their lives.

None of my business.

There's lots of people that haven't got a clue about (for instance) computers, and that doesn't annoy me either.

Live and let live.

I see your point, but it could very quickly become your business when a poorly maintained car comes smashing though the front of your house, or runs over someone you know.

[Tickle]

Blayney said:

[insert usual "white goods" response here]

Does it have a rear diff though?

I thought they were just known as 'diff's' these days?

[to3m]

I don't think it's a massive problem if people don't know how their cars work. But while I'm not worried about your friend's lack of mechanical knowledge I would be a bit worried that he isn't even taking it to the garage. The car still needs looking after, mechanically, even if you've got no idea how to do it yourself.

[Blayney]

Tickle said:

I thought they were just known as 'diff's' these days?

[Cylinder 8]

DKS said:

I see your point, but it could very quickly become your business when a poorly maintained car comes smashing though the front of your house, or runs over someone you know.

This. The lack of interest annoys me (I don't know why) but it's the prospect of sharing the roads with cars owned by such people that worries me.

[JRvaux]

The people who neglect their cars are usually the ones you see broken down at the side of the motorway on a hot bank holiday Monday :-)

[Hark]

Was the coolant leak attributed to the rear diff?

[Cylinder 8]

Hark said:

Was the coolant leak attributed to the rear diff?

[mattcov]

I know of people that have taken cars into main dealers when the oil light has been on for a couple of weeks Have they checked the oil level? Have they fk!

[Spare tyre]

Wot da mot 4 innit

[mattcov]

Spare tyre said:

Wot da mot 4 innit

That a service init

[silentbrown]

Everybody should have to take their driving test in a car they've built themselves.




...from Lego. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ObE4_nMCjE

[Piersman2]

My aunt and uncle took their Mercedes to the dealer today.

They wanted the clock set to the correct time and the windscreen wash filled.

[jimmy156]

SV8Predator said:

No, I don't get worried or annoyed by what other people do with their lives.

None of my business.

There's lots of people that haven't got a clue about (for instance) computers, and that doesn't annoy me either.

Live and let live.

Watching someone who can't use a computer try and use one is possible one of the most painful things of the modern worlds.

[Pommygranite]

People don't know what they don't know. You can't be annoyed about that.

Everyone knows about charging a phone as it needs to be done by everyone who has a phone every day. Not everyone needs to check their coolant, ever.

OP, do you know how to minimise IHT liability by use of discretionary will trusts?... Because if you don't that worries me...

[DKS]

Pommygranite said:

People don't know what they don't know. You can't be annoyed about that.

Everyone knows about charging a phone as it needs to be done by everyone who has a phone every day. Not everyone needs to check their coolant, ever.

OP, do you know how to minimise IHT liability by use of discretionary will trusts?... Because if you don't that worries me...

Yes but again, driving and car maintenance are one the few things that can readily be done by almost everyone that if done poorly or not at all can directly affect the people around them's ability to live.

[PistonheadRob]

It worries me though that these cars will be hitting the used car market at some point things like being run for weeks with oil light flickering............