Ask the Expert (Final Time)

First I want to say Thanks to all of you who sent in suggestions for the new name of this article. I received 20 suggestions and I reduced that number to 8 and then had my staff vote on their favorites. So now it is your turn again.

Please click here to vote on your choice for the new name I will begin using with next months article. Your choices are:

     1) Piston Pages
     2) Phil's Talkn' to Us About...
     3) Phil's Points and Plugs
     4) Your Friend Phil Says...

Next month I will announce the winner! (I think I offered some foolish amount to the winner, not counting the notoriety they will receive!)

Oh, and speaking of winners: Gary Koontz is getting the Starbucks card for properly identifying this month's topic. "What is it that everyone we see asks?"

How much? Or maybe sometimes it might be better said "How much!!!"

Those really are two of the most common words we hear daily. Everyone always wants to know how much it is going to cost. And so do I. The problem I want to talk to you about this month is when that question is NOT the one you needed to get an answer to.

As I have stated before; today's vehicles are nothing like those we serviced and drove 20 or even 10 years ago. The electronic age has made them less likely to exhibit similar symptoms and even less likely for those symptoms to be caused by the same underlying problem. As a result it is very difficult to price any non-routine service issue without first looking at the vehicle. And extensive diagnostic testing may be required to finally locate the cause and solution.

So the one time you should never expect to get a firm answer to that "How much?" question is when you call us about a problem your vehicle is suddenly having. We are really going to have to look at it to give you that answer. And then we may only be able to give you the partial answer of how much we might spend before we know how much it may ultimately cost.

The real questions you need an answer to when this happens (here in town or in some far away city), are "Do you have the experience and training and tools to solve this kind of problem?" and "When can you get started on it?" Your next question now might be "How much do you estimate it may cost to determine what is wrong with the car?" and you will have a starting point to work from. Just remember all bets are off until that professional technician looks at it.

SPECIAL NOTE:
GM Dex-Cool class action lawsuit update: We have been involved in many repairs that are going to be covered under this potential settlement, so many of you may be interested in reading the article at the following link.
http://www.gohtsn.com/article_1080.shtml

I will have more to say about this issue in next month's article. Until then...

Phil