Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Ron Ananian, “The Car Doctor" interview

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Ron Ananian, “The Car Doctor" interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, it's 710WOR Speed on the Street with Natalie Migliore.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Well, this is the segment where we normally have Natalie Migliore,
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: so we kind of played that as a reminder for
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  Speaker 2: you that she's been off, but she is going to
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: be back on Wednesday. Natalie Migliore is going to be
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  Speaker 2: back on Wednesday, and we're looking forward to it. Now,
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  Speaker 2: you've seen a lot of the video, right, of cars
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  Speaker 2: with water up past the doors, and people trying to
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  Speaker 2: drive through flooded areas. What kind of damage does that
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  Speaker 2: do to a car? Luckily, we have one of the
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  Speaker 2: best in the area to talk about that, Ron Ananian,
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  Speaker 2: host of The Car Doctor, which is available weekly on
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  Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. He's also owner of RA Automotive in Waldwick,
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  Speaker 2: New Jersey. So we want to talk about a couple
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  Speaker 2: of things, but let's start with that because you've got
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  Speaker 2: a lot of people dealing with it right now, Ron Ananian.
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  Speaker 2: First of all, good to have you back. And also,
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  Speaker 2: what should people be doing if their cars were flooded out?
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Well, if their cars are flooded out, Larry, good morning,
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  Speaker 3: by the way, to everybody. If their cars are flooded out,
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  Speaker 3: before driving it, a mechanical review, and I would consider
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  Speaker 3: calling my insurance company because it doesn't take much to
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  Speaker 3: total a modern-day car, even if you didn't drive it.
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  Speaker 3: If the water gets above the center of the wheels...
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  Speaker 3: And it gets inside the vehicle. There's an awful lot
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  Speaker 3: of computer power in there that just got wet. And
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  Speaker 3: is it going to be fixable, repairable, correct? You don't know.
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  Speaker 3: And you don't want to start taking that chance and
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  Speaker 3: just assume. Even if the car runs good today, you
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  Speaker 3: still want to have it checked by a mechanic and
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  Speaker 3: looked over because water goes everywhere.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Now, Ron, this is Curtis Sliwa. If you're shopping for
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  Speaker 1: a used car, a pre-owned car, as they now call it,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes they might be cars that actually went through a
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  Speaker 1: flooding situation. How could you check to make sure you're
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  Speaker 1: not getting a potential lemon in that regard?
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  Speaker 3: You look in the trunk. Good morning, Curtis, by the way.
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  Speaker 3: You look in the trunk. You look at the spare tire.
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  Speaker 3: Even if the spare tire well is dry, nobody ever
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  Speaker 3: looks in the trunk. It's really kind of amazing. My
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  Speaker 3: 50 years of doing this, every time I catch it,
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  Speaker 3: it's the spare tire well will be dry. If it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't have water in it, it's dry, but there's a
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  Speaker 3: ring around the well, like the ring around the bathtub.
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  Speaker 3: You can see it had water in it, and it's
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  Speaker 3: real obvious. The other thing is if you're buying a
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  Speaker 3: used car, don't be afraid to ask the dealer, is
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  Speaker 3: this a local car? Did you have this on the lot?
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  Speaker 3: Where did you get it from? because sometimes they come
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  Speaker 3: from other areas, and even the dealer doesn't know they're
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  Speaker 3: buying a flood car. So it's a problem for everybody.
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  Speaker 3: Diligence is the word that comes to mind when I'm
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: dealing with flood cars. You've got to look at everything.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: We're hearing a lot about a motor oil shortage. What
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: should people be doing right now to make sure that
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: they are getting motor oil, maybe at the prices they
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  Speaker 2: are now? Because if there's a shortage, they're going to
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  Speaker 2: go up and up and up.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's already gone up, Larry. What I was paying
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  Speaker 3: $ 100 for in April, I'm now paying $ 172. Oh, my gosh. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: that's a 72% increase. There's a shortage of all the
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  Speaker 3: lighter viscosity oils, the 08, the 016, the 020s. There's
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  Speaker 3: an extreme shortage of all that. A lot of the
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  Speaker 3: manufacturing is overseas. A lot of the manufacturing plants don't
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  Speaker 3: seem to exist anymore for one reason or another. So
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  Speaker 3: it's a game that if you're going for an oil change,
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  Speaker 3: I wouldn't wait, you know, oh, gee, I've only got
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  Speaker 3: 5,000 on it. I'm going to stretch it another 1,000 miles.
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  Speaker 3: You may not have the option of choice of availability,
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  Speaker 3: much less price, because it's a two-pronged problem. It's price
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  Speaker 3: and availability. I've got the shop stacked, ceiling to floor
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  Speaker 3: with oil. I saw this coming in April. I've been
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  Speaker 3: buying oil since mid-August. I was placed on a two-case-a-day
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  Speaker 3: restriction back at the beginning of the summer. Two and
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  Speaker 3: a half, three weeks ago, I was placed on a
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  Speaker 3: one case a week restriction. So it's there. It's gotten bad.
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  Speaker 3: And you're seeing the story break across the country now.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm happy to say we're breaking it here in
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  Speaker 3: New York as far as breaking news because it's a
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  Speaker 3: big deal without oil. They're going nowhere.
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  Speaker 1: Ron, when I got out of high school, I was
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  Speaker 1: pumping gas, and I would actually take the dipstick and
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  Speaker 1: check people's oil. And at times when it would come
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  Speaker 1: out thick and black and gooey, I'd show them. I'd say,
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  Speaker 1: you really need an oil change. And the guy would
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  Speaker 1: tell me, mind your own business. Just pump the gas
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  Speaker 1: and leave me be. What should a person be doing
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  Speaker 1: in terms of the difference in how many months between
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  Speaker 1: oil changes?
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  Speaker 3: So my rule, Ron's rule, is five months, 5,000 miles
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  Speaker 3: on the majority of vehicles. Can you stretch it to
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  Speaker 3: 7,000 or 8,000 miles, six or seven months? You sure
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  Speaker 3: can if you're buying a good grade, a good quality
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  Speaker 3: of oil. But this conversation is about, is that good
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  Speaker 3: quality of oil still available? And it's not. There's such
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  Speaker 3: a shortage right now. And people are going to see
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  Speaker 3: it when they go to buy that oil change, and
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  Speaker 3: you're going to see it over the next four to
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  Speaker 3: six months in terms of availability. My understanding is from
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  Speaker 3: my supply houses, we're going to see a big price
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  Speaker 3: bump come the end of October, and we expect the
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  Speaker 3: shortage to peak somewhere mid-November to late November. Now, this
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  Speaker 3: isn't a case for panic. I don't want anybody to
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  Speaker 3: panic here. There's availability. You're going to pay more. Don't
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  Speaker 3: start stockpiling oil. I've got a supply of oil because
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  Speaker 3: I've got a lot of cars to do. If you're
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  Speaker 3: doing your own car, buy two oil changes ahead. That's
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  Speaker 3: all you'll probably need because if it goes beyond that,
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  Speaker 3: we've got bigger problems.
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  Speaker 2: Great information. Thanks so much. Ron Ananian, host of The
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Car Doctor, available weekly on the iHeartRadio app and owner
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: of R.A. Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey.