Random Questions

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And what improvement does that bring? How is it justified? This is a good example of “fixes” that simply are not fixing anything. SMH. This is what happens when there isn’t clarity.

Maybe this explains duplicate threads.

Toyota Service center called me to schedule routine maintenance for my 2019 Avalon. It has been maintained impeccably up to this point. I want to keep it in good shape. Would you take it in, or skip this checkup?

It has hardly been driven for the past two months.

I’m concerned about someone sitting in my car and those germs being suspended in the enclosed interior, which, if Covid germs, would infect me when I drive it home.

Help me think through this.

@FlyMeToTheMoon have you asked the service center what precautions their technicians take? Like do they wear masks, put plastic on the steering wheel, wipe things down when done?

@FlyMeToTheMoon I just dropped my car off for service this morning as my service light has been on for 2 weeks. As we keep our cars a long time, I didn’t want to wait too long. I was told they will be using a steering wheel cover and will be wiping the car down when done. I will have wipes and sanitizer with me, so will clean before I get in. I am also going to spray Lysol aerosol disinfectant spray inside the car, and will leave the windows down while I drive the 2 miles home.

@FlyMeToTheMoon We assume that time deteriorates as much as miles, so I’d factor that in. (We’re in New England, many climates are kinder.) Ditto what others said about asking dealership about their precautions.

Or if logistics allow . . . maybe you drop it off, get ride home from family, pay remotely, have dealership drop it off at your home, then wait X number of days for virus to die before going back in the car? To wipe it down, of course, but maybe time would be a friend in this case.

@bajamm , I haven’t spoken to them yet. They just left a message, but those sound like good precautions to take, and I would hope my service center would do the same.
@snowball , thanks for the additional ideas for precautions. I think I will discuss it with them, and if they are willing to do their part, I’ll take my car in.
@HouseChatte , good idea about asking them to drive it home. Thanks.

If it’s just for routine stuff like an oil change/inspect stuff, I would skip it.

I also have service light on and have been ignoring it for wees now. I drive it once every 10 days so I am not too concerned. Will deal with it in June, if things start to open up.

I have a very silly question - where is the “ignore” button that people keep talking about? I see Quote, Agree, Like, Helpful, Reply, Share, and Flag. What am I missing?

My car is ready, I paid online, and my husband will drop me off to pick it up this afternoon. I decided I will actually wear my mask while I drive it home; usually I don’t drive with it on. After I clean it at the shop, I will let ir percolate in the sun for a bit at home, again with windows down. If I get COVID from someone that touched my car hours earlier, after cleaning it myself and taking precautions, then I might as well live in a bubble. Believe me, I am staying home other than a doctor’s appointment and labs, so I am doing all I can, but I don’t need the expense of a major car repair.

@Nhatrang Click on the user’s name and you’ll be in their profile screen. There’s an “edit profile” button on the right. Click on that, then on “ignore” in the resulting dropdown.

The service light is pretty meaningless, it’s basically just a timer. You can shut it off yourself if you want, just Google it or search on YouTube.

@notrichenough You are correct, but my husband is a car person and likes our cars serviced regularly. Who knows if things will be better in months, or I might be back at work and dropping off the car would be more difficult.

I am not suggesting that what I decided to do was correct, just what I am comfortable with. It could have absolutely waited.

I think the suggestions make sense. If my car needed servicing, I’d have it done. I guess it also depends on how many cases are occurring in your community and how urgent servicing is. In our state, there have been single digits of new cases for the past two weeks, so pretty low transmission. Have been feeling it’s pretty safe around here and folks have been good about wearing masks and socially distancing.

Our clothes dryer started making metal scraping sound so We were able to get appliance repair guy to come over and evaluate it. He’s got the part (broken shaft) and will be repairing it when he can squeeze us into his schedule. They asked if we had traveled, any covid symptoms, etc and he wore a mask the whole time. He’s a nice but and repaired our dryer last time when the belt broke. The dryer is about 30 years old—Maytag and he says it’s a workhorse we should keep forever.

Do you start with the edge or the inside when you put a puzzle together?

Edge. Always.

Border, for sure. And it always takes me three passes through the pieces to find all of them!

I have never considered starting in the middle. Now I’m trying to visualize a puzzle where that wold be an advantage…one red rose on a black background?

Don’t want to create a new post for this…thinking of giving D one of those meal prep services for her birthday. Blue Apron comes to mind. She lives alone and is a pescatarian but I’m sure they can all accommodate that. Does anyone know if any of those services are better or worse than any others?

Second question. I wondered if this topic had been addressed before so tried to search and, even though I know I’ve searched for things before, can’t find the search function. Can someone point it out to me. I’m guessing it’s right there in front of me but…?

Read the owner’s manual to find out if your car is actually due for service based on time and mileage since the last service. Dealers only guess at when your next service may be due, and some dealers promote their own more frequent service schedules (compared to what the owner’s manual says) for more service revenue.

Also, read the owner’s manual to find out what the manufacturer’s recommended service items are, since dealers sometimes try to sell you much more service than the manufacturers recommend.