Another one of those topics to spark some discussion.

I'm on a handful of forums / FB pages for 'daily driver' type vehicles (wife's SUV for example) where the vast majority of people are non-enthusiasts, so the interactions are so different than a forum like MCF.

A few examples:

-"My tires are worn out, what are the best tires to buy?" As they give zero context for what they're looking for - everyone just starts slinging random suggestions for what tire they've used (and with so many non-car people, there can be some awful suggestions). I post a response for a well regarded tire brand, and the OP responds "too expensive". Ugh....

-New car still under warranty "Check engine light came on, Autozone said the code is XYZ, can anyone tell me whats broken?". Why would anyone waste even a minute of their time to trying to diagnose a car under warranty? The whole benefit of having the warranty is not having to worry about this stuff - take it in and let them figure it out...

-Car out of warranty. "Check engine light came on, what part do I buy to fix it?" I get there are some codes that only have one or two possible causes, but there are many codes that you need to step through a diagnostic tree to isolate the cause. They get upset when you try to explain that just pulling the code is only step 1 in a process of figuring out what the issue is. Then you see a post 2 weeks later "I replaced X, Y, and Z sensors as different people reccomended in my last post, and the code is still there."

-With newer cars and all of the electronics, parasitic drain can be a common problem when they start to fail. Someone posted the other day "I have to put my car on a trickle charger every night, otherwise it won't start if it sits for a day or two. Battery and alternator both tested as good by mechanic." I respond with a high level overview of the parasitic drain test using a multimeter to determine if draw is too high + isolate the high draw circuit if it is too much. Response: "I don't have a multimeter, I'm just trying to fix the problem." Gotcha, youre hoping someone can magically diagnose your car from across the country with a 1 sentence problem statement and zero other diagnostic data...

-Actual post from this week - "79k miles and the alternator failed, thanks GM for making such a garbage product - $380 for my mechanic to replace it". Baffles me that people expect cars to last indefinitely with no maintenance besides oil changes. I agree, thats on the early side for an alt - but that can and does happen with practically every brand. I really dont think I've had any car make it to 100k with zero maintenence needed (although I buy 99% GM, so maybe that is the problem, lol).

 

A few more:

-You occasionally get those people that are 'dealer service for life' type people that would never consider a 3rd party shop, even well after warranty. One lady was complaining about how often she was having to change some of the fluids (besides oil). She says she used to have a brand X vehicle and it never needed this much regular maintenance done, so she's never buying this brand again as the cost to keep it on the road is too high. Turns out the dealer was reccomending items WAY ahead of even the most strict schedule in the owners manual. Its not a GM problem, its a 'your dealer is a vulture' problem. Read your manual... (and always get a second opinion if something doesn't seem right - the dealers #1 interest is lining their pockets, not saving you money)

-"Im trying to decide between X vehicles, which one is the best?" But instead of a usual person comparing cars from different brands in a given class, they're comparing complete apples and oranges. The recent one I saw was Equinox, Traverse, or Tahoe. But Ive also seen variations with different brands (sometimes even ranging from a 4 door sedan to a full size SUV). Its like - can you afford $60k+ and need to haul school bus quantities of people + stuff, or not?

-This one was on a vette group, but was one of the exceptions there for not being a "car person". Took their car to a 3rd party mechanic they'd used for decades. The mechanic got several big grease spots on the carpet floor mat (which seemed very likely to have been caused by the shop as the rest of the interior was practically spotless besides these greasy foot prints). They posted to complain + put the business on blast, but also to ask what to do. After several replies, the owner admitted they didn't even mention it to the shop. What? You're so ticked off that you're blasting this place all over the internet, but you haven't even given them the opportunity to respond? I wouldnt even have left the parking lot perosnally.

-Last one: I pulled together all of my maintenance spares I had leftover from the Ford Edge we sold last year. It was nothing crazy, but just some of the common stuff - OEM front brake pads, both OEM front rotors, 1 high end aftermarket headlight bulb (HID, about $100), 1 OEM coil/wire, 1 ea engine and cabin air filters, 1 unopened gallon of OEM spec coolant. Posted it all for sale for $50, local pickup only in a major US metro. Dropped it to $20 after a week. Finally dropped it to free. After getting no bites, I posted on a couple local sales pages (not car specific stuff), also for free, and only got one flake hit (guy scheduled a time to come get it, then never showed up or responded again). Tossed everything in the trash (besides the coolant of course) after that. I think it boils down to the general public just doesn't do any maintenance themselves anymore.


Anyone else have interesting interactions like that?

 

I know the title is about "car forums for non-enthusiasts" but what you speak of is not limited to just that, its basically everything anymore, its part of "the bigger picture". Its how the population communicates and functions. Everyone wants someone else to have the perfect answer.

I really want to speak my mind on this topic but this is not the place to be sharing those opinions. Ill keep my input somewhat short on it, even tho I have already dragged it out a bit. In recent history society has been taught to take the path of least resistance, look for magical solutions, "youre entitled to what you want, you dont need to work for it", find a way to be a victim, and so on.

It isnt going to change any time soon in fact, its probably going to get worse but all you can do is help where you can, give your best advice, and try to steer people in the right direction. Whether they accept the help or not is on them.

Looks like we have a little while before strong men make good times again...

Lol, this probably wasnt the type of response you were expecting. Kinda went off the rails there a bit.

 

I like reading Reddit r/askcarsales for the shop talk and the interactions of automotive business people and the public. Sometimes it's like you are a fly on the wall, people are mostly treated with respect.

 

OMG! This read is great! I think any of us who have been around a while have all seen this.

The example Bumpin' gave about the greased up floor mats, I have seen this a lot and it disgusts me. You did business with a shop, something was wrong, you NEVER gave them a chance to make it right.... Instead you put them on blast, publicly shame them before they had a chance to prove "will they do you good because that is what they do" vs "they did you good because you forced them".

Now as for diagnosing something under warranty.... I would at least want to know the code before I took it in for service (that's me). This way I have a heads up on what is going on. And if they came back with extra codes OR unrelated services, then it is clear I might have an issue. But I would NOT spend much more effort since it is under warranty.

I just saw a kid on a 3rd Gen F-body page blast a guy for getting rude with him about a set of Camaro GTS black outs for the tail lights. The kid gave two screenshots and failed to include WHY things got heated. The guy listed them as free and "local pick up only" (which already suggests, he doesn't want to throw them out, but he is on a minimal effort and/or does not want to deal with complaints if he shipped them and not what the other person wanted). I get how some hard to get items you want need shipped. I don't blame the kid for reaching out and asking.... But the kid got pushy. The first screenshot the guy said "I'm lazy, that's why I don't want to ship". Eventually at least one more screen shot surfaced. The kid may not have been super rude but also wasn't super smooth and it escalated quickly.

One of my BIGGEST pet peeves on Facebook, people who will ask a common question in Facebook without ever tossing it into Google or Yahoo. I have been sarcastic on some of those "if only there was a device that you could hold in your hand with a piece of software that can query multiple sources across the Internet and possibly return instant results without waiting on the public". Most common reply "I figure it better to ask a group of enthusiasts than some random search". Really? That is the hill you're going to die on? And some of the replies I read. People who clearly DON'T know but present like they do to be "helpful".