Is Saving Eight Dollars Worth Your Life?

A friend of mine recently had his car serviced at a local oil change store that advertises fast and cheap oil changes. They also advertise a 42-point inspection that lists things like tires, brakes, windshield wipers, etc. A week after the oil change, he suffered a brake failure and lost control of his car. He swerved to avoid hitting another car when his brakes didn’t respond and he jumped the curb, hit a light pole and crashed into a retaining wall on the other side of the sidewalk. He wasn’t hurt, but the car was heavily damaged.

This got me to thinking, what’s my life worth? I see drivers on Los Angeles freeways changing lanes 20 times a mile in traffic only to see them alongside of me again. They dramatically increased their risk of having an accident with all of those fast, high risk lane changes and for what? They didn’t even get ahead of me.

Ever see someone really push hard to rush through a yellow light? So hard they really end up running a red light? Of course you have, happens all the time. My neighbor is a Los Angeles Sheriff and on his way home a few years ago the light turned green and he began to accelerate. Next thing he knew it was the following week and he was in a hospital. A car had tried to push the yellow and ended up running a red light and T-boning my neighbor. He was in a coma for a week. The guy pushing the light was badly hurt too.

I like my life, is it worth losing it or getting seriously injured by taking unwise risks to shave a few seconds off the time it takes me to drive somewhere? Not to me, or to my wife or kids.

Getting back to the failed brakes, a post accident inspection showed that a brake hose in the front was badly swollen and had failed. It was just too old and should have been replaced. But what about that "inspection" at the oil change shop? It turned out that the people working there aren’t real car mechanics or technicians. They are minimum wage workers who are given only rudimentary training on the job and then turned loose on your car. What exactly happened during that brake "inspection" will never be known, or what was inspected. It may be that the service person even looked directly at that swollen hose but had no idea what they were looking at.

I go a different route for service on my car. I take my Infiniti G35 to an Infiniti Express Service dealer. There, my car is whisked into the back where real Infiniti certified technician’s inspect and service my car. I have no doubt that if my car had a swollen and bad brake hose, an Infiniti trained and certified technician would know what they were looking at when they inspected it. They do brake jobs, they’ve been trained on brake jobs, they know brake hoses. During my Infiniti Express Service, these certified technicians inspect my lights, brakes, tires, battery, and air filters. They check for leaks around the engine and transmission. And they know what they’re looking for, they’re real mechanics.

When I take my car to the Infiniti Express Service dealer for its oil change and inspection, they even wash and vacuum the car for me. I’m driving away less than an hour after I arrive with a serviced, inspected and clean car. And guess what? I asked my friend how much his oil change cost (the one that failed to catch the bad brake hose). Turned out he saved $8, and he didn’t even get a free car wash and vacuum.

I don’t know about you, but my life and the life of my family members is worth more than $8. I’ll buy the cheap paper towels at the grocery store to save money; a paper towel is a paper towel. But my car’s safety? No thanks, I’ll buy the genuine article.