As the owner of a 2006 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer with the V8......I’ll continue to drive my old Explorer over a shitty Dodge Journey. 

That’s definitely a possibility.  I have seen that, and it pisses me off when they do that.  

 Man, if you replaced every last piece, including the rear axle, the uprights, I MEAN everything.......you might get CLOSE. 

I have seen some REALLY asshole shop owners quote dealer parts PLUS margin, and then they go buy the CHEAPEST Chinese shit off ebay or Amazon. 

Victoria,

That’s awesome of you, but my big concern is that her shop is REALLY putting the screws to her.

I really think she needs a second opinion.  If I were in Dallas, I would offer one, however, I’m 5 hours from Dallas.  That’s why I offered to take the estimate from the shop, and re-estimate it using my parts…

Out where I am....pretty close!

3500 before labor.

As a very seasoned mechanic, and shop owner, I’m calling bullshit. Well, mostly, because I don’t know what the other smaller items consist of, and how many of them there are.

I can tell you this - if I had a customer pull into my shop with a ‘96 Suburban and I gave them a 3500 estimate BEFORE LABOR…

That’s just it! It was only 2019 when this happened, and I told Avis this! And this was after I had driven it from Chicago, to Indiana, and BACK to Chicago. And blazed MANY toolbooths with it.

They were simply like “Nah, they’d call and that would be that.”

I was like, “Never been downtown have ya?!”

By the way, never…

The worst rental car story I can share -

I once rented a Toyota Camry at the Avis at ORD, and happily went about my way. I was on a work trip, and making a circuit of the Illinois/Indiana area, luckily working back around to Chicago to stay a few nights while working western Illinois.

Anyway, I noticed halfway through…

You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel!
With four old bald tires, you were such a good deal!
I’ve had some clunkers, some really bad junkers,
But you were just a great steal!
You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel!

Here’s my problem with fantastic ideas from politicians....

None of these motherfuckers actually KNOW how you and I live. They don’t shop at WalMart, or wonder if they can cover the electric bill this month, or even really know what it’s like to scrape out a living.

All they know is sucking high in tit, rolling in…

You may feel free to call me a part of the problem. My 2009 Ford F150 is equipped with the first generation SYNC system, and my phone is paired to it, and I did download my contacts to the truck. However, I am honestly unsure if anyone can get that information from my truck without physically having the SYNC module in…

In my fairly extensive business travels, three places stuck out to me to have the best airport food:

1. Mesa Verde on the upper level at DEN. Get the breakfast platter with the chorizo. McDonalds wanted 8.50 for an Egg McMuffin, and these guys wanted 9 bucks for the whole frekin’ breakfast....and it was awesome.

2.…

Here’s a nifty trick for you. Take that SAME fluid transfer pump, put a Swisher Sweet cigar in one end of, it and hook the other hose to a vacuum port on your car.

Hello, you just made a dirt cheap smoke tester to find your EVAP leak, vacuum leak, or intake manifold gasket failure leak. Just pull the air intake hose…

Who gives a shit?

Insurance will sort ALL of this out, and I don’t know about you, but a fat stack of cash to replace my fucked-up car sounds a hell of a lot better than prison vittles.

Hey, to each their own though! 

Heh. The “Oooooh!” when the car hits the truck is borderline priceless.

Not when the car is rolling away driverless, OR when it falls to its demise off of the transport rig......but when it plops to a stop against the Silverado.

It was almost like she was shrieking because the truck’s bumper bent. 

Came for this, leaving FULLY SATISFIED!

To be fair, this car has not had the easiest of lives. While it may be 2wd, that did not excuse it from being driven through floodwater up to the pinstriping, (it was in Texas..) hit by a bull when it was six weeks old ( oh, shit....FERDINAND!) , hit in the rear by a dually pickup, ( once again, those zany Texas…

Oh these have all been rebuilt transmissions. To be fair, one of those literally exploded on the way home from the transmission shop in such grandiose fashion that it broke the transmission case.

So, would it be more fair to say we are transmission 3.5?

Psshhhht, please! Whaddya think I am, Superman?

I’m on the FOURTH transmission. The engine hasn’t been gone further into the than the valve cover and exhaust manifold, yet still has compression readings within new build specs. I just recently removed the original starter, and I am still running on the original air…