This happened two days ago about two miles from my place:
Saturday 2:12 p.m.: A blue car going from Steeles Ave. to Hwy. 410 hit a silver Mazda, causing the Mazda to cross into oncoming traffic and strike a tractor trailer. The blue car fled, leaving the driver of the Mazda to die in hospital and her passenger critically injured.
About two hours earlier, I had used that very stretch of highway.
Last year, when I was driving that same highway, I passed an accident scene that had a car that was almost vertical, nose down between two cars.
When I first saw the story of the more recent tragedy, there was a small map of this on the same page. How nice that people can click on accident sites and read the details of the horrible deaths of their neighbours, friends and family members.
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Showing posts with label auto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label auto. Show all posts
Tuesday 20 July 2010
Monday 7 December 2009
Life in the fast lane
Many times I have bored people with accounts of why I dislike as a group, several professions. They are mostly the usual ones we all have good reason to hate--lawyers, politicians, and despite the dedication and good work of most of them, doctors. This last group because we put our lives in their hands from birth and often right up to death, but some of them cause us more grief than anyone else could given the chance.
Well, today, I'm adding one that I often forget to include. I'm sure you'll agree it is a fine addition to this list of infamy. Mechanics. Not necessarily mechanics per se, but the establishment they work at as a whole. Leaving alone for the time being the shoddy work that sometimes leads to life endangering events, I'm talking about their propensity for unscrupulous recommendations for unnecessary work and gouging both for parts and labour.
Case in point: I was recently stranded and needed a boost to get going. The following day, I took my car to the same place I have been going for about 15 years and to which I have given, as you can imgine, huge sums of money during that time. I figured it was either the battery not holding a charge or else the alternator not charging the battery. I figured if it's the alternator, I'll be looking at a total cost of about $700.
I should mention here that a life truth concerning garages has become evident. "Where there are multiple possibilities of a what the problem is, most of them and others will be found to be the cause."
I got the call--it's going to run me about $600. I won't leave you wondering what I'm complaining about for too long. That price does not include a new alternator. It's for a new battery, to clean up the terminals, replace the alternator belt and doing an oil change which was due, anyway. The bastids charged me $110 plus tax just to diagnose the problem--as if that took more than two minutes and two brain cells to do. With tax, they charged me almost $200 just to replace the damn belt, an item I'm sure costs them about $20.
They also recommended I replace my air filter and all four tires; the latter I said "no" to. I find it interesting that just over a year ago, when I brought my car in to be diagnosed for the smoke that had billowed out from under the hood, they found absolutely nothing wrong (and charged me about $100 for the "good" news), yet when you bring it in for some specific work, they seem to find a whole host of things that need attention, and of course, a sack of money to "fix".
You'd think with so many evil, selfish and uncaring "mechanics" out there, that people would find a good and reputable one and stick with them. The sad truth is that there are so few honest people in the profession, that it's like finding a needle in a haystack. If you're lucky enough to find/have found one, cherish him/her--they are more precious than your soul-mate. In comparison, soul-mates are a dime a dozen.
Click here to go to most recent posts.
Well, today, I'm adding one that I often forget to include. I'm sure you'll agree it is a fine addition to this list of infamy. Mechanics. Not necessarily mechanics per se, but the establishment they work at as a whole. Leaving alone for the time being the shoddy work that sometimes leads to life endangering events, I'm talking about their propensity for unscrupulous recommendations for unnecessary work and gouging both for parts and labour.
Case in point: I was recently stranded and needed a boost to get going. The following day, I took my car to the same place I have been going for about 15 years and to which I have given, as you can imgine, huge sums of money during that time. I figured it was either the battery not holding a charge or else the alternator not charging the battery. I figured if it's the alternator, I'll be looking at a total cost of about $700.
I should mention here that a life truth concerning garages has become evident. "Where there are multiple possibilities of a what the problem is, most of them and others will be found to be the cause."
I got the call--it's going to run me about $600. I won't leave you wondering what I'm complaining about for too long. That price does not include a new alternator. It's for a new battery, to clean up the terminals, replace the alternator belt and doing an oil change which was due, anyway. The bastids charged me $110 plus tax just to diagnose the problem--as if that took more than two minutes and two brain cells to do. With tax, they charged me almost $200 just to replace the damn belt, an item I'm sure costs them about $20.
They also recommended I replace my air filter and all four tires; the latter I said "no" to. I find it interesting that just over a year ago, when I brought my car in to be diagnosed for the smoke that had billowed out from under the hood, they found absolutely nothing wrong (and charged me about $100 for the "good" news), yet when you bring it in for some specific work, they seem to find a whole host of things that need attention, and of course, a sack of money to "fix".
You'd think with so many evil, selfish and uncaring "mechanics" out there, that people would find a good and reputable one and stick with them. The sad truth is that there are so few honest people in the profession, that it's like finding a needle in a haystack. If you're lucky enough to find/have found one, cherish him/her--they are more precious than your soul-mate. In comparison, soul-mates are a dime a dozen.
Click here to go to most recent posts.
Sunday 5 October 2008
The results are in
I entered the CAA (Canadian Auto Club) contest for the greenest driver with this entry:
It seems it wasn't good enough for even an honourable mention. The first place prize of an all-expense paid eco-trip for two to Costa Rica was awarded to (surprise, surprise) a couple who have been CAA members for 28 years. Okaaaaaay. I'm just kidding--I'm not the least bit upset. I wish the lucky winners a great trip and all the best.
Hi. I’m Vinny’s car. Yeah, that’s me in the photo--the one who’s red with anger. Back in the good, old days, Vinny and I were pretty racy, going between traffic lights like jack rabbits. Boy, that was fun. Now, he's so boring, driving all sensible-like. Says it saves gas and wear and tear on the brakes. Where’s the fun in that?
He used to take me out a lot more, too. Now, he works from home and we live across the street from a mall and I have to practically beg him to go anywhere. Even going out for drinks (of oil) has gone from every 3 months or so, to only twice a year, even though it’s less than 4,000 kilometres in between.
Vinny’s been very cold toward me lately, considering he hardly ever turns on my air conditioner. Last week, I replaced my droopy tires with nice, firm, new ones and he didn’t even notice! Sure, he’s getting on in years, but my odometer is barely over 100,000 Kms. One of these days, Vinny will come outside and he might just see a “For Sale” sign on this gal.
It seems it wasn't good enough for even an honourable mention. The first place prize of an all-expense paid eco-trip for two to Costa Rica was awarded to (surprise, surprise) a couple who have been CAA members for 28 years. Okaaaaaay. I'm just kidding--I'm not the least bit upset. I wish the lucky winners a great trip and all the best.
Saturday 6 September 2008
You're in good hands...or are you?
In a recent Allstate car insurance commercial, they explain that they reward their clients with a good driving record by sending them a cheque each year if they did not get into an accident. I have no idea how much the cheque might be for, but regardless, let's think about this, shall we?
Do you believe that Allstate had all this extra cash laying around that they wanted to get rid of? Do you believe that Allstate's premiums are equal to or lower than other car insurance companies and they give away cash to their customers? Let's face it--what they're probably doing is raising rates just a bit across the board, taking that extra cash and redistributing it to the good drivers. That's all well and good if you happen to go year after year without an accident. You can bet your bottom dollar, and you will if you have an accident, that if they are rewarding the good rivers, logic says that they must be penalizing the "bad" drivers by an equal amount just to break even.
Further pondering suggests that not only are you just getting back your own money (if you go accident-free), they've also been kind enough to store it in safe-keeping for you for a whole year. When you get that first cheque, ask them what happened to the interest they earned on your money.
Do you believe that Allstate had all this extra cash laying around that they wanted to get rid of? Do you believe that Allstate's premiums are equal to or lower than other car insurance companies and they give away cash to their customers? Let's face it--what they're probably doing is raising rates just a bit across the board, taking that extra cash and redistributing it to the good drivers. That's all well and good if you happen to go year after year without an accident. You can bet your bottom dollar, and you will if you have an accident, that if they are rewarding the good rivers, logic says that they must be penalizing the "bad" drivers by an equal amount just to break even.
Further pondering suggests that not only are you just getting back your own money (if you go accident-free), they've also been kind enough to store it in safe-keeping for you for a whole year. When you get that first cheque, ask them what happened to the interest they earned on your money.
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