DENNIS O’SULLIVAN
Answers readers’ auto questions
QUESTION
I just bought my first new car. I’m 67! It’s a Honda CR-V AWD LX 2018 and I’m wondering if you think it is worth undercoating. I was thinking of getting Krown rust protection for this vehicle since I keep my vehicles at least 10 years and some of my driving is on gravel roads. Thank you, Maria from Port Dover
ANSWER
It is well worth the money to have a vehicle rust protected especially if you intend on keeping the vehicle past it’s warranty time.
QUESTION
I am interested in buying a 2007 Lexus RX350 with only 125,000 km on it. It has been serviced by a Lexus dealer since new and the selling price is only $10,70. Subsequent investigation however, through another Lexus dealer, has disclosed that the interior has been flooded because of a reported blockage of the air conditioner drain. The owner sold it this past August to a used car dealer presumably because of the flooding. Is this a potential deal breaker and one that I should stay away from or is the risk of long-term damage too insignificant to worry about? I live in Brantford and the car is at a dealer in York. Thank you in advance for any advice that you may provide on this. Best regards, Ray from Brantford
ANSWER
I think that the word flooding is a little bit of an exaggeration because any excess moisture in the car would have been noticed on the windshield long before the driver would have noticed any excessive dampness on the floor. To put your mind at ease, lift up the carpet on the passenger’s side to determine if the under pad is completely dried out and there isn’t any evidence of rusting on the floor pan. Also check under the dash for any evidence of rusting and if there is, it is best to stay away from purchasing that vehicle. Make sure that you get a Carfax history of the car before you sign on the dotted line.
QUESTION
Is it okay to ask the dealer for another salesperson when buying a new car? I went to a local dealer in Hamilton and was greeted by a salesperson of different origin. I have dealt with these people in the past and it has not been favourable because I cannot trust what they say. Is it okay to approach the new car sales manager and ask for another salesperson or will that end up in me getting slapped with a discrimination lawsuit? The car in question is the one that I have been looking at for some time and I would like to purchase it but from another salesperson. How do I go about this? Prefer that you do not use my name
ANSWER
I can certainly understand why you do not want your name to be used. Just because you had a bad experience in the past with a person from a different background, does not mean that you have to associate that experience with every other person with the same background. That my friend, is a problem with you and not the salesperson. If I took that position with everyone that I have disagreed with in the past, I would not be talking to anyone other than the person in the mirror. If you are capable of reading contracts then make sure that everything that you are asking for is put on that contract and by doing so, it does not matter if that salesperson is from another background or not.
QUESTION
I purchased two new tires from a local garage about two months ago and just last week, while driving to St Jacob’s, the left rear wheel came off the car and caused extensive damage to the rear quarter of the car. I have zero deductible on my car but I do not feel that my insurance should be paying for the damage when it was the garage that left the wheel loose. I have been back to the garage and they basically told me to shove salt - - -. My insurance company does not seem to have any backbone to try and resolve this problem. Is this something that you can look into for me? Danny from Guelph
ANSWER
If you have notified your insurance company about your concerns then they will definitely look into the possibility that the garage might have left the wheels loose. I suspect that the insurance company has already told you that, at this time, it would be futile to go after the garage when two months have gone by since they installed the wheels. Rather than steam rolling ahead to look for fault, you should just be thankful that you and/or others on the road were not injured when the wheel came off. Rest assured that if the insurance company could fault the garage, they would jump at the opportunity to do so and they would be totally within their rights.
QUESTION
I have a new GMC Terrain with stop and start equipment. I do a lot of town driving and the engine shuts off at all stop lights and stop signs supposedly to save fuel. I have been putting it in neutral most of the time when I have to stop to keep the engine running. Is it worth the money to save some fuel? Would the expense to repair or replace the starter motor supersede the fear of being stranded at a stoplight due to a bad battery that would not restart the engine? Jim from Kitchener
ANSWER
Some General Motors products do not offer an override button for Auto Stop and your vehicle is one that does not offer a shut off switch for the Auto Stop. You are not the only person to not like the stop start feature but it does take getting used to. Does it save gas? The answer is yes and from the research that I have done, the starter and battery are far superior than the vehicles that do not have this feature. The alarmists on climate change and with their influence over government lawmakers, I suspect that it will not be long before all the manufacturers, that are still making combustion engines, will have to make the auto stop a feature that cannot be disconnected without major changes to the starter system. There is some concern that a vehicle’s auto stop system will take much longer for the car to warm up but the system regulates itself by not operating until the engine reaches a certain temperature. Still, there are many sceptics that do not believe that the auto stop feature does, in the long run, save any more fuel. Some reports do claim that if you are doing city driving, it will in the long run save your fuel costs but if you are in stop and go traffic, such as you would be on the QEW where you are stopping about thirty times in a kilometre, then the fuel savings are minimal at the least. I am not a scientist nor do I suggest that I know a lot about pollution but I do know, as some statistics claim, that cows do more harm to the environment than cars, trucks, planes or trains can ever do. The environmentalists and our government agencies, on the other hand however, seem to place the full blame for any weather disruptions (greenhouse gases) on the motorists, while at the same time doing nothing to pressure China or India to reduce their emission output till sometime in 2030. I love clean air and water and it is up to everyone to keep our air and water clean for the next generation to come. In saying that, it is my opinion, that clean air and water is a challenge for everyone and should not be left up to the government or the environmentalists to issue costs to us when we have the power and inclination do what we can ourselves.
QUESTION
I am writing this just to relate my recent experience with two Nissan dealerships. I am doing this in order to let people know how to possibly avoid a problem. If you publish this, feel free to use the business names, or not.
On August 28, 2018, I phoned a Nissan service department to book an appointment to look after a minor problem with my 2013 Rogue. I explained that my daughter-in-law was expecting our first grandson any day and I was on call to take her to the hospital. I would therefore be waiting at the dealership while the work was being done. I asked if I brought the car in first thing in the morning, would it be looked at relatively quickly. I was assured that it would be. I arrived the next morning at 8:30 am. I checked in and sat in the waiting room. After checking several times, I went outside at 11 am and my car was still sitting there. I went back in, asked for my keys and to speak to the service manager. He came out and we had a calm and polite discussion about the situation. Basically, he said that is how they do things in the service department. They are unable to control who gets the work done first.
On the way home, I stopped in at the Parkway Nissan service department. I explained my situation. The counter person looked at their schedule and advised me that they were short staffed and could not accommodate my requirements until 3 business days later. I said fine and made the appointment for Tuesday September 4 at 8 a.m. I showed up on the 4th, took a mechanic out for a short ride to describe my problem. It was fixed for a very reasonable charge and I was home at 8:45 a.m. As far as I am concerned, that is how to treat a customer properly and it doesn’t take much effort on the part of the dealer to do this. Naturally, I will deal with Parkway in the future and I will be telling this story to many other people. I suggest to people with time restraints for getting their car serviced, to be very specific about their requirements when booking an appointment. This applies to all dealerships and garages. You may have to contact more than one of them before finding one that is accommodating but it is worth the effort. Great job Parkway Nissan! Bill from Hamilton
ANSWER
When someone books an appointment, they expect within reason that their appointment will be kept and if you ever visited a doctor’s office, you know that an 8:30 a.m. appointment can mean anywhere from 8:30 to 10:30. There are some circumstances where an appointment cannot be kept in a service department such as a mechanic off sick or an unsolved problem with another customer’s vehicle who had an appointment before yours. That being said, the service department should have told you about the delay and left it up to you to reschedule if you wanted to. I will contact the dealer in question and let them know about your displeasure with their service department.
A HAPPY READER
I just want to thank you and the Spectator for having a column where a customer can get satisfaction when they have been wronged by a garage. The garage in question did give me back thirty-six dollars out of a thirty-six dollars and sixty cent dispute and I am happy with that. The garage even gave me a free oil change while I was there so I will continue to use that garage for the foreseeable future. Iona from Kitchener