Free Stuff - that you have to pay for dearly :-)

I wonder why they include the 30 point inspection "for free" as part of a car's oil change package. I was told by the service desk manager that "it is as a courtesy to the customers". Really!

There has not been many of these inspections in which I have come back with an all clear. Most of the time it is a small warning. The message from the service manager is quite typical "You dont need to get it done now but it is better if you do so soon as you are going to be taking a chance if you are going for longer distances". Now I dont know about many people who only use their car to go from their home to the local convenience store around the corner. Most often you use the car to go "longer distances". The highways are clogged with people making these trips - daily. Dont take my word for it, just tune into any tv or radio news station during morning or evening and you will get a list of sections where the traffic is so thick that you can even squeeze a needle in it. 

So if you are like one of the other 100% folks who have to use the car for travelling, then it is bound to bug you that your car has this defect which can blow up any time. Now you can be going to drop your kids off to school, getting to an important meeting, on the highway, or anywhere else, and it can just hit you. It is like a ticking time bomb. You know this because the "service expert" has told you so. Now you can rely on your instincts to make the judgement that the car is fine. After all, there is nothing visibly or audibly wrong with it. The motor is making the usual sounds, it "feels" right as well. But will you have the guts to move forward and let this "fact" pinch you that there is something wrong. I dont know about you, but in the battle of "instinct vs fact" it is usually the fact which wins in my case. That is why you will see me dishing out the grandiose sums of money to my mechanic. Only for him to find some other flaws in these "free inspections".