So first I thank all of you who read and responded to the post about how the dealership was trying to extort my 70 yr old husband into giving them the car and either buying a $10,000 engine for a 7-year-old car, or trying to force him into buying a set of hybrids they have not been able to sell … the 1.5 hybrid engine which no one wants.  I learned a lot from each of you.  I am clueless about engines.  

A couple of years ago when the dealership smashed the front of our car due to a worker taking it for the butler service that we paid for that touched up the paint and applied a new clear coat, they wanted us to take one of the 1.5 engine hybrids.  We wanted to have the same 2.0 engine we had only in the hybrid model.  However they had a three-year waiting list for them.  They dicked us around for nearly five months with each call telling us how they could put us in one of those stuck on the lot.  We did not give in.

So everyone knows how they tried to get Ron to leave the car.  I did not realize until today they asked that while Ron was in the service line.  The guy took the car information and then told Ron they would gladly take him home he shouldn’t wait.  Ron told them he wanted only an oil change so it shouldn’t take much time.  They then pulled the thing of making him wait two hours then coming to tell him the engine was blown and needed to be replaced, so they would take him home.  Ron at that time told them he drove it in and he would drive it home.  I learned today that he told the service rep, “See those windows?  They will be iced over and blocked by 8 feet of snow before I leave my car here.  Bring it out to me as I am driving it home”. 

It still took them an hour to return the car to him.  They claimed not to have done anything other than hook the diagnostics thing to it despite Ron telling them not to. They took $100 off the price because Ron told them not to do it, still they charged us $260 for the diagnostic.   All they claimed to have done is the oil change and rotate the tires along with checking fluids.  It took over three hours.   

Which makes what I am going to write next make them even more sinister.  So Monday Ron called the guy that fixes cars at his home on his driveway or comes to your home with his fully equipped van. He told Ron to bring it over on the next day, Tuesday morning.  We did, I followed Ron to his home.  He had six vehicles in his driveway but he moved a car out and put ours in his driveway.  

He had a tablet with programs that could diagnose the car issues.  He showed us how the cylinders were firing.  #2, #3, #4 were firing normally.  He shut # 1 off and even I could hear how the car smoothed out.  I just never noticed it before.  The number 1 plug was not working well, firing only a bit of the time.  I got panicked.  Then he told us that it looked to him that the car needed the plugs changed.  He asked if we noticed smoke or other stuff and we had not.  

Ron sent me home and he and the guy went and got the four new plugs.  The guy put them on his account so we would get his discount and Ron paid for them.  So they were $10 dollars apiece and it cost us around that price.  Then he took the plugs out and put the new ones in.  Then he checked it on his tablet and showed Ron how all cylinders were firing as they should.  He then asked Ron to drive the car around for ten or 15 minutes to see if it was running right.   

Ron said the car was running perfectly so he went to pay the guy.  Remember Ron bought the plugs at the guy’s discount, so the guy told Ron that all his work over 3 or 4 hours were only costing $80 dollars.  Ron bless his heart and I love him doing what I would have done had I been there.   He said sorry, but no.  You took our car in with only one day’s notice, put it first, worked with us to keep us from all the things the dealership wanted to do to us.  You need more than $80 dollars.  Ron gave him $100 because the guy wouldn’t accept anything more.  But he did say that he was willing to work on our van that has the issue of the lights on the A/C part of the dash not working. 

A decent man well worth paying.  This is the third time we have used his service, and each time we are stunned by how great he is at repairing the problem and the low cost.  The dealership wanted to charge us $360 for doing the diagnostics.  This man did it for free with a tablet that showed him everything and he could shut the plugs off with it showing us the difference with the bad plug out of the system.  No $360 dollar charge. Our friend James who lived with us and still sends me texts calling me dad … oh how I wish … is having car troubles and Ron is sending him this guy’s information.  I think the world is not as dark as I thought a week ago. There are still some people willing to do good in this world of darkness.   Hugs