Sacramento, California cited the possibility that homeowners might use toxic chemicals to repair their vehicles or that inoperative vehicles might diminish property values (and taxes) as the basis for making a host of vehicle repairs illegal.
While virtually unenforceable, it provides a snapshot into the mind of the typical California bureaucrat.
The new law specifically outlaws repairs that require "specialized tools" like torque wrenches and air compressors. I suppose that means we cannot add air to our tires without visiting a licensed repair facility.
It also makes illegal repairs that might take more than 24 hours. In fairness, they should also make it illegal for an auto parts store to supply you, the repair person, with the wrong parts for your vehicle. Many of my +24 hour repairs involved "wrong-parts" and multiple trips to get it right
It also makes it illegal to repair a vehicle owned by somebody else. So a resident of Sacramento cannot replace a turn-indicator bulb on a neighbor's vehicle. The City of Sacramento presumably expects the owner to pay to have the vehicle towed (not legal to drive, don't you know) to an approved, tax-paying facility to have the bulb replaced.
While we have not reached peak insanity, we are approaching it.
Wouldn't it be interesting to know if any of the City Council members of Sacramento have family members or "partners" who profit from auto repair facilities?
This isn't surprising... Next thing will be ONLY certified repair facilities, and no modifications allowed. They tried this back in 97-98 and got shot down.
ReplyDeleteNY has been enforcing draconian auto repair regulations for decades.
ReplyDeleteOne of my buddies bought a brand new Toyota truck. You can't add or check transmission fluid. There's no dipstick. It won't be long the hood will be inaccessible by owners. I would love to have enough money to never worry about car repairs. Of course health insurance is something I don't have either. Hoping it will be better in Heaven cause it is touch and go now.
ReplyDeleteBought a (used) 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a diesel engine. I can change the oil...barely. Requires a reset of the computer each time and it isn't just a button push. The rest of the engine...hoo boy. Didn't see anything I could easily turn a wrench on. When I bought it, I did something I never do. I bought the extended warranty. As greg in the preceding comment noted, car repairs are gonna be a bugger. Hopefully, at less than 10,000 miles a year, that will be a ways off. That said, it's a comfy, reliable, fuel sipping computer on wheels right now.
ReplyDeleteGreg said "I would love to have enough money to never worry about car repairs".
ReplyDeleteBingo !! You can bet your derriere that none of the half-wits that passed this law have any money problems. They are politicians and bureaucrats, and as such are extremely well paid, and have not been personally affected in the slightest bit financially speaking due to Covid, and have never gone without a paycheck. Most of them can easily afford to own, and most likely do own and drive brand new or very late model luxury vehicles.
You could also safely bet your last dollar that NOT ONE of these pampered putzes masquerading as our intellectual and moral superiors has EVER worked on their own car. I can guaran-damn-tee ya that none of them has ever changed a set of spark plugs, changed their oil, or even changed a tire before.
I think the appropriate response would be for hundreds of hoi polloi, each with their own cars and tools, to arrive at the personal residence of each of these elites at 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning, and embark on an all-day auto repair project. Repeat every Saturday and/or Sunday morning until law is repealed.
Everything shall either be mandatory or prohibited.
ReplyDeleteAh, for the days you could tune your carburetor by putting a coffee can with water in top of it and adjust the mixture until the ripples smoothed out.
ReplyDelete