Yes, I am a little over the top with motor equipment, having a life long passion for cars, trucks and motorcycles. When I was a kid, a friend and I would ride our bicycles around the ‘hood and identify the year of manufacture of cars parked on the street. For confirmation, we relied on the dates of manufacture of the taillights on the cars. I am still fairly competent today in the ID of older, American cars, a talent with declining usefulness in today’s world of imports and late model vehicles. My fascination has taken a hit lately, caused by the inordinate costs associated with today’s fleet.
Our current fleet is comprised of an 8 year old BMW convertible (the orange crush), a much newer BMW (the gray ghost) and Cirrus the Ram my testosterone laden pickup. Leary of dealership costs, the Crush is serviced by an independent garage, Important Specialists, while the other two are still under full warranty. I am addicted to vehicle maintenance, resulting in more than one disagreement with the Patrol motor sergeant over tires. His definition of worn out and mine were simply not in synch as I refused to drive over 100 MPH on worn tires and loathed snow tires on the cruiser.
Imagine my horror and surprise when I drove into our RAM dealer to have the batteries load tested. You see, this truck, a diesel, has two behemoth batteries that apparently wear out quickly. Not wanting to be RVing in some exotic location and wake up to dead batteries, I thought a check would be good. The service manager reported to me that my batteries were at less than half strength, and I ordered up a pair of new ones. I wasn’t concerned about the cost, as a battery is a battery.
I should have been concerned.
The smooth talking service manager found me sipping a “complementary” coffee in an opulent waiting area, watching a gas log fireplace burn and reading a brochure describing the latest offerings from Stellantis. The truck had just turned over 30,000 miles and needed more than batteries. It is equipped with a heavy duty transmission that needed to have the oil changed and bands tightened. Wait, there is more. It also needed the oil changed in both differentials and my fuel filters (yes two of them) had timed out. I Instructed him to do the work, grabbed a package of “complimentary” cookies, fresh coffee and settled in. Let’s cut to the chase.
The heavy duty AGM batteries set me back over 300.00 each and they require extra effort to get to and change out. The other services netted me a total bill of over 2K. It seems the Eisen transmission requires the pan to be dropped in order to service it and well you by now understand my shock. What ever happened to dropping into O’Rileys and picking up a battery, slapping it into your truck and motoring on for well under a hundred? The final blow came when I got home and Sharon confronted me with her I-phone, displaying the charge on our credit card. She asked me if I had traded trucks. A fair conclusion when I left shopping for a battery or two. She misses nothing.
I should have known, as not too long ago, I replaced three trolling motor batteries in my bass battleship and was similarly stunned. Preventative maintenance, tires, wiper blades and such is a priority with me…and today you pay dearly for it.
Have a great week!
SR
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