Fifty150

Your insurance guy is sharper than you think. If you didn't stop and question it, he would have sold you a more expensive policy, with a bigger commission. My insurance girl looked at me, kind of did a double take, and asked, "what are you doing with a car like that?" She knows me from the community, outside of the office, and knows my lifestyle. "No way! You bought a minivan? How many girls did you get pregnant?" She said that the biggest issue right now for their agency is all of these people with rideshare apps. She had to tell me, just like everyone else, that if you do not disclose that you are driving Uber or Lyft, and you get into an accident, you will have zero coverage. Even if you are just driving yourself, without a passenger, get into an accident, and you have those Uber & Lyft stickers on your car. Or if your car has a pink moustache. You can ride the moustache.

You owned your own shop, so you know, that there is no way that an independent shop can support more than a handful of guys, and those guys can't unionize against you. But mechanics who work for large corporations, dealerships, fleet service companies, trucking firms, rental agencies, and government will all be union. Imagine mechanics at the airport, the guy who wrenches the police department Harleys, the wrench turners @ Ryder, Costco, Hertz........not to mention all the car dealerships. Geography and demographics. A major metropolitan area, with a lot of Democrats. Unions make a lot of campaign contributions in their direction. Not to mention that the idea of unionization is very left wing. Ever wonder why all those communist groups purport to the "party of the worker"? You're banding together to take back what's yours, which was produced by your sweat, blood, & tears. So that the rich, fat, greedy capitalist stops profiteering from your agony. Interesting story is that I know this guy whose family operates a small electrical service business. Family business. Grandpa started it. His uncle took over. Most of the men, and some of the women in the family work there. Electricians. Run wire. Set up lighting. Install breaker panels and transformers. Nothing complicated. Uncle bid on a county contract and won the bid. They all had to join the union so that the family business could be awarded the contract to change lightbulbs at the courthouse, the jail, sewage plant, wherever. If the county workers in any department go on strike, the entire county is suppose to go on strike. So if the janitors walk off, the secretaries, mechanics, carpenters, clerks, teachers are all suppose to honor the strike line. We always joke about how awkward it would be at the dinner table when you have a picket sign and a bullhorn.

I think that the service manager knows that he is ultimately responsible for what those techs are doing, or not doing. And some, if not all of their activity, is at his direction. I can see how a car comes in for a recall, they take a look at it, park it in the back, return the car without doing the work, then bill Ford for the recall service. Same way lube shops, for years, sell customers on transmission and engine flushes, tell the customer to come back in a few hours, then never do the work but charge the customer. Common practice. A guy I know at a gas station (the owner) likes to have coffee, smoke cigarettes, and tell me about all the BS that other shops are known to do. Sell you a "premium synthetic oil change" and if you're not looking.......they will let 2 quarts out, top off with 2 new quarts, and wipe off the filter. The oil is whatever gunk that comes in a 55 gallon drum. Same way you have no idea what they are using when the lube tech pulls the dispenser gun from the wall. Even the most basic service, an oil change; they find a way to screw you out of the least amount of money, $16.95. Makes me think that even at the dealership level, there is dishonesty. After all, they cheat you when they sell you the car.

Bodycam Footage Shows SFPD Officer Shooting Man in the Back Screen capture from San Francisco Police Department body-camera video showing an officer-involved shooting on June 9, 2018. (San Francisco Police Department via Vimeo) Police bodycam footage released Thursday night at a town hall meeting shows a San Francisco police officer shooting a man in the back

I just got an estimate from a local dealership. OEM Continental tires have a 60,000 mile warranty. From the best of my recollection: no tire has an 80,000 mile warranty. Typically 40,000 - 60,000.

This is what happens when you hit a pothole with low profile tires. I've driven the same stretch of roadway my whole life, but never with low profile tires like on the Transit Connect. While it does not look too bad, and the tire is still holding air, it is nonetheless unsafe. New wheel, tire, TPMS, alignment......Weird that the repair is written up as a purchase of wheel, hubcap, and hardware from the parts counter, then the tire and installation is from a service writer. I guess everyone gets to share in the commission. Final cost is $902.01 from local dealership. For that kind of money, I could buy a new set of aftermarket wheels and tires. If the insurance deductible amount is $1,000......it is all out of pocket.

CA is an at will employment state, but the unions are still very powerful. They lobby the politicians at every level to keep certain jobs as union jobs. Even the government employees are unionized. A lot of government contracts are only awarded to bidders with union employees. Unfortunately, for some jobs, there is no option out. If you want to work there, you have to be in the union. In some cases, the union does not benefit the worker, and union led negotiations result in the workers taking a cut back in wages and/or benefits.

http://www.unionmechanic.org/

Wars are won by soldiers, but lost by generals. Everything is top down. The only reasons that employees at the service level are doing things wrong are: A> Management orders them to take short cuts and do things wrong in the interest of the bottom line, B> Management is incompetent and does not know it is going on, C> Employees are so disgruntled with management that they take it out on the customer. In any operation, management is responsible for training & oversight. Any and all employee failures are management's fault. Got a bad tech? Whose fault is it that the tech is allowed to work without the proper tools and training, and his work is unsupervised? Got a bad service writer? Who is responsible for what that one guy is doing or not doing? If you go to a restaurant without a chef expediting on the line, it is not the line cooks fault that every dish is wrong. As I usually maintain my own vehicles, I don't normally go into the dealership. To do a favor for a friend, I recently brought a vehicle in for an oil change, with an appointment. It took 5 hours. Her car sat there for 4.5 hours. The service writer made some excuse about it being busy that day. I don't care. What is the point of having an appointment system? If you can't service my car until after lunch, why would you make an appointment for 8 AM? That was reflected in the followup service survey. The service manager called me back. But what could he do at that point? I lost 5 hours on a 30 minute oil change. I said, "look dude, Jiffy Lube could do a better job of doing service work with appointments first, and explaining to walk-in customers that there are appointments ahead of them". No idiot would work on cars that the owners have dropped off and won't be back until end of day, while there are customers waiting. A few months go by. Into the next business quarter, I get a call. "Hi, this is ___________. I just reviewed your file. It says here that you wrote in your corporate service survey, that we have lost your business for good and that you will never return to this dealership. I'm the owner of the dealership. How can I change that?"

So in VA, you are allowed to have oversized wheels and tires that spray dirt, gravel, mud, rain, and whatever else onto people and cars that you are passing? Or at least that is how CA Highway Patrol explained it to me. They don't care that you want to look good, so you add a lift kit and big wheels & tires. What they do care about is that you are now spraying rocks onto windshields at 70 miles an hour, and splashing mud on little old ladies at bus stops. Yet, enforcement is selective at best. The cop said that he wouldn't write a ticket, but wanted to explain what the law was about and why they have such a law. I should also have the sense to understand, and make corrections accordingly, without being to forced to. Being a knucklehead, 25 years later, I have yet to put fender flares or mud flaps on any of my Jeeps and trucks. Warnings don't work. Cops have to shoot you in the back, while your hands are in the air, in order to get your attention.

Er...... that's not politically correct. Amarosa may have a recording device.

In most states, your wheels and tires are not suppose to extend beyond the wheel well. Most states also allow an exemption if you have fender flares and mud flaps. The Transit Connect fenders appear as if you can install an aftermarket wheel approximately 1" wider than OEM.

Should be just like insuring any truck or van. I have a commercial license plate, but personal vehicle titled to me, a person, not a business.

But Camaro on truck seems to be the popular mod.

https://www.wheel-size.com/size/ford/transit-connect/2016/

Now let's get back off topic and make America great again.

Windguy, my van & your van have about the same amount of miles. Here is what my OEM tire, driver's side front, looks like. My tires have never been rotated. There is a theory that you don't rotate your tires, because allowing them to wear evenly only hides your alignment faults. Leave them in place, and you can see from the wear pattern, how your alignment is off. Then fix the alignment. Your tires and mine look very similar as far as wear. I think that you are fine, and that you won't need new tires immediately. Look at the wear indicator. You and I both have a few more miles to go before shopping for new tires. Each tire wear indicator on a tire provides a visual indication of whether the tread is worn to 2/32″. When you visually inspect one of your tires, find a tire wear bar and see if it is flush with the rest of the tire's tread. If so, your tire is worn to 2/32″, and you need to replace it as soon as possible. Tire Wear Bars - Tire Facts and Information | RightTurn.com https://www.rightturn.com/tire-guide/tire-wear-bar/

Here you go, mrtn. Just for you. Feds Watching: Ford’s Run Around on “Chicken Tax” Riles U.S. Customs Officials SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 AT 2:33 PM BY CLIFFORD ATIYEH 47 COMMENTS PHOTOS Marijuana smokers in decriminalized states know it best: You can light up in public and get away with it, but if they want, the Feds can crack down with alarming force. We don’t think Ford executives were high when they chose to import vans from Turkey, rush them off the boat to chop shops, and skirt federal laws in plain sight. But from the eyes of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, they’re wrong. At issue is Ford’s Transit Connect, the compact, light-duty van that’s been on sale here since 2009. (The next-generation model, which goes on sale soon, is pictured here. If you want to gawk at a dead van rolling, here you go.) Like with most imports, Ford has to pay a tariff on each vehicle to clear customs. But instead of the normal 2.5-percent tariff levied on passenger vans, cargo vans are charged a heavy 25-percent tariff. (This so-called “chicken tax” was President Lyndon Johnson’s response to high West German and French tariffs on exported U.S. chicken, and was a retaliation that would destroy commercial sales of Volkswagen’s popular Microbus.) So Ford, like many automakers before it, got creative. Even though most of its customers order the two-seat, stripped-out commercial model, Ford ships every Transit Connect to the Port of Baltimore in five-passenger Wagon trim. As soon as customs agents approve the vans, Ford whisks them offsite where a shipping contractor rips out backseats, flooring and rear windows. The brand-new parts then get sent to Ohio for recycling, and a new floor and metal stampings to cover the window openings go in place. Customs officials say it takes Ford less than 11 minutes to convert a Transit Connect from a people mover to a cargo van, and, while everyone knows Ford has been doing this for the past four years, the Feds have had enough. VIEW PHOTOS “The product as entered is not a commercial reality; it exists only to manipulate the tariff schedule rather than for any manufacturing or commercial purpose,” wrote customs director Myles Harmon in an internal document (available here; downloads Word document). To prove his point, Harmon compared the conversions to similar moves by sugar and lumber companies, which modified their products immediately after arrival. He even referenced our own first drive review to demonstrate that the vehicle was really designed to carry cargo, not people. The report, dated January 30, forced Ford to start paying the full 25-percent tariff. But the customs decision came to light only after Ford filed a complaint to the U.S. Court of International Trade on September 17. According to the filing, Ford alleged that officials incorrectly levied the tariff since the vans “have all of the features identified by these authorities as establishing that the vehicles are principally designed for the transport of persons.” Since it began paying the higher tariff in March, Ford spokesman Said Deep says the company hasn’t changed its import practices—and won’t, not even when the new 2014 Transit Connect arrives from Spain next year. Ford doesn’t anticipate raising prices to fully compensate for the losses, he says. VIEW PHOTOS “The tariff classifications are based on the condition as imported,” Deep says. “That’s based on centuries-old legal authority. What we’ve been doing has been known by customs and common knowledge,” he says, referencing a Wall Street Journal story first reporting on the company’s runarounds in September 2009. While customs officials did not respond to requests for comment, other automakers have successfully beat the chicken tax. During the 1980s, Subaru put plastic seats in the beds of BRAT models so they wouldn’t be marked as pickup trucks. Before Mercedes opened a plant to build the Sprinter in 2007, it shipped the cargo vans as kits from Germany and assembled them in South Carolina. Mahindra, which ultimately never made it over, was planning to do the same with its pickup trucks. Feature Test: 2010 Ford Transit Connect Long-Term Road Test Wrap-Up: 2011 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite Instrumented Test: 2013 Ford C-Max Energi Plug-In Hybrid But while Ford protests in court, the company actually supports the tariff—along with Chrysler and General Motors—because it continues to obstruct sales of foreign-made pickups and vans from Japan, China, and other markets. In fact, a bipartisan majority of both houses of Congress are now telling President Obama to keep the tariffs, with the goal for Japan to adopt currency exchange rules and lift quantity restrictions on imported vehicles. Any debate about the chicken tax is largely moot as its definition and enforcement are so liquid. All the Japanese automakers build trucks here, without tariffs, and while the government does have a strong case against Ford—including proof that Ford’s VIN labels show the vehicles originally tagged as cargo vans—this same government is no stranger to mislabeling vehicles. Besides its double standards for fuel-economy tests, the Environmental Protection Agency, in just one example, classifies the Ferrari California as a “minicompact,” the same size class as a Scion iQ. VIEW PHOTOS View Model Details Shop Local Cars View 47 Comments Price Starting at $24,335

Too political. It would "Make America Great Again". U.S.A. company producing vehicles in U.S.A. Surely there would be some sort of government incentive to build the factory and create all of those jobs. Perhaps even using U.S. Steel. Cars made by Americans, sold by Americans, to Americans. America: Open For Business. But nobody is buying. Can you imagine all the people who would boycott Ford and call them Trump-Mobiles?

Those tires look alright to me. I would still drive on them. Some of the tire shops are franchised, and they could work with you. Costco & Wal*Mart may have lower "out the door" pricing. As I drive around here in Norte Califas, I see Firestone, Big O, Bridgestone, WheelWorks, Goodyear, Manny, Moe, & Jack,. In my area, there has to be about 15 independent shops for 1 corporate chain shop. They all want your business. Make sure that you compare "out the door" pricing. Some places quote a price, say that you get free installation, then still charge you for everything as an itemized fee. "Free Installation" only means that they put on your lug nuts free of charge. You still have to pay for disposal of old tires, TPMS service, valve stems, mounting, balancing, weights, "compressed air fee", "torque application", "shop time", "the donut you ate while staring at the receptionist", and "anything else that we can make up to get another $5 per tire". Oh, and ask to see the tire before it goes on your car. Don't assume that it will be fine. I know more than 1 person who got tires "on sale", and they were old stock. Check the production date. My ex bought tires like that. I brought the car right back, and the tire shop owner agreed to replace with new tires if the the tread started splitting or the rubber started rotting. None of that "pro-rated pricing". He also agreed to fix any flats she may get "on the house" - what other people call road hazard insurance. I didn't call the Bureau of Automotive Repair, or the District Attorney's Office, and I didn't beat him up. I was younger then. With the office door closed, I could have given him a real hurting until his guys in the shop break down the door to save him. As I am more mature, I've learned that is not how you do things. Wait for him to go home for the night, and burn down his shop! My ex was one of those independent "I don't need a man" types. She had to prove to the world, or maybe prove to herself, that she was capable of getting through life without help from anyone. Worked out well in my favor. Less heavy lifting for me. Except for when the car dealership service writer sells her the $100 fuel injection cleaning, and all that they did was add a bottle of Techron to the gas tank. Or the tire shop installs tires with a date code from 5 years ago. Or when the dry cleaner adds a "pressing fee" to her business clothes. Or when she pays the extra charge for vegetarian pork fried rice (no pork). No babe. They don't make the fried rice, then pick out all the pork by hand. They just make friend rice, and not add any pork.

You just wait until this thread goes off topic.