Fifty150

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article216726340.html

80's imaginary technology and David Hasselhoff Dream big, my friend.

The code section you are looking at covers tractor trailers. In excess of 40,000 lbs is an 18 wheeler. In CA, Vehicle Code 27600. No person shall operate any motor vehicle having three or more wheels, any trailer, or semitrailer unless equipped with fenders, covers, or devices, including flaps or splash aprons, or unless the body of the vehicle or attachments thereto afford adequate protection to effectively minimize the spray or splash of water or mud to the rear of the vehicle and all such equipment or such body or attachments thereto shall be at least as wide as the tire tread.

That is nice. What do you do with the other bikes, since that rack only carries 2? My brother-in-law has been talking about buying an adult tricycle for my sister. Only problem with that is there is no way to transport it. And I am not about to follow them around with their family's bicycles in the back of my pickup. Or fold down the rear seats in the Transit Connect to follow them around with her tricycle. Obvious solution is just to lend them the truck or the van, since I can't drive both at the same time. But the both of them have a habit of striking deer. Funny thing about deer who aren't being hunted, they do not have a fear of people. Even though you are not suppose to, people still hand feed deer, turkey, geese, and whatever else wanders down into the city. I'm waiting for an idiot to hand feed a mountain lion.

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/