Car Maintenance by Tony Green

Car in need of reapir

On the whole most people visit their car dealerships to get maintenance done in their vehicles. The idea is to aim and be proactive about taking care of your cars and to avoid break downs on the road. In any case, a long time had elapsed since the car had been serviced. The car had been running well so today was the perfect time to catch up.

Once I arrived I sat down with my sales consultant and he pulled up my vehicle history to go over what had been done on my car in the past. Most people would assume they are checking to determine if there are any urgent recalls I needed to be informed of. In my cynical view, hopefully you are not as sarcastic, they are figuring out justifiable ways to extract as much cash out from my visit as possible.

I believe since new car sales are slow with the weak economy the car dealerships are trying to boost profits upon the revenue on service. I can understand their logic but their business model is not my problem.
For the record, I am fine with paying for needed upkeep on my automobile; however, I question what is necessary in terms of the nature of the repairs. The goal seems ensure a certain amount of money is extracted every time I enter the dealership regardless of the initial intention of my visit.

I used to hope when the charges came out I would look at the final tally and nod my head before authorizing them to do the work. I say used to because when I actually did see the bill I thought to myself, 'How do you come up with that number and what are you going do to my vehicle to warrant this expense'.


In addition, there was the gimmick of my service consultant printing out three pieces of paper with my three options. I assume the intention was to make me better about the cash I was dropping for maintenance when my cars have run well since I bought them. In the end, I was getting racked with either of the selections.
In my view, I figured if I were in the extremely high income bracket or if I were independently wealthy I wouldn't be concerned with maintenance costs and would own cars manufactured by BMW or Lexus.

As an experiment I would love to take my car to another dealership and get my automobile serviced. The most typical response should be, 'this car is in great shape', since the car would have been worked on the day before. What I would get is, 'well sir we recommend after so many miles....,' or 'our technician has informed me', or 'after so this amount of time the factory recommends...'you get the picture.


If you had not been able to tell I still suspect these guys are all out get my money. I should state I do not question my cars are in fine working condition. I just wish I could leave with a better feeling every time I drive off in my recently serviced vehicle.

Things to remember when writing a personal blog by Tony Green

Image of men carrying a blog

I have posted entries in this blog for over four years. I did not use a manual to guide me when I started and have utilized some really helpful information from other blogs regarding requirements for blogs which could capture readership and increase its traffic.

Here are the three things I would keep in mind for the beginning if I were starting a blog all over.

The first thing would be to ensure I monitor all comments before posting. I agree Social Media should to a media open for dialog but having a professionally written blog with ridiculous spam comment does little to help its value. For example, if a potential employer checks your website and there is an advertisement about Viagra it does not promote the most professional image.  Additionally, if you are hosting Google ads on your blog to get revenue the ads which are drawn can change in response to the comments  are posted which not control can be detrimental to your earning. Example, if you received SPAM written in Russian, ads would eventually generated in Russian.

The second most important thing would be to insure a picture is included with every posting. It is amazing how a little image can liven up posting and entice the reader read your entry. But make sure any image you post does not violate any copyrights. The simplest way to gather images is to take your own pictures with a digital camera.

The third thing I would promote would be to make sure to track readership numbers and keyword data. What you learn may surprise you. Case in point, the posting which receives the most views and number of comments is the “Selling the Pen” which I drafted as an after though after bombing a sales interview where I was asked to sell a pen to my interviewer.

As the blogosphere evolves my blog will evolve as well.  Any blogger want to provide feedback? I’d love to hear what you think.

Updating my car registration - DMV face-to-face by Tony Green

Image of California License Plate

I received a call from my wife informing me she had been pulled over by a police officer for driving with an expired car registration.

A long time had lapsed since I mailed my paperwork off but I was not too alarmed since the new registration for my other vehicle arrived six weeks the intended renewal date.  Furthermore, I mailed my paperwork well ahead of the deadline and possessed the statement from my bank stating my fee had been deposited by DMV.

Those living in California are familiar with the furlough schedule of California state organizations under Governor Schwarzenegger can understand how my paperwork had been delayed.

It turned out my registration was on hold due to the fact my smog report never arrived at DMV. I completed the check months before at my local Toyota dealership.  The electronic copy of the car passing smog should have been forwarded to DMV.  In this case it did not.

Once I printed the documentation I went to Toyota and asked them to send a copy of the report again. The manager on duty told me his smog paperwork did not through and presented with a statistic that 3% of the electronic forms did not get processed.  I didn’t care, after thinking; he just told me their mistake had become my problem. I would think Toyota can get electronic paperwork to DMV without a glitch.  Unless I missed the memo isn’t insuring paperwork gets to DMV part of the reason you pay them over 100 bucks? Without doubt my intention did not cover paying them out of the generosity of my heart.

I determined until I dealt with the issue either my wife or I would be repeatedly pulled over. I decided to head over to the local DMV and see if I could get things moving along. As I walked up to the front door a lady was walking out mumbling that her experience had been a good one. (i.e. something got accomplished without a long winded hassle). I wondered if I had arrived at the right place. Interestingly enough I was.

I explained my dilemma to the worker and after she verified the legitimacy of my smog certification the lady printed by my registration with a sticker. Why hadn’t I just taken the smog paperwork taken over to DMV by hand? (in accordance with the “requirement” to hand hold the process)

I doubted this seemingly increased efficiency has anything to do with Jerry Brown now being governor of the State of California. Maybe hope exists for this state I have decided to live in after all.