KLZ 560 AM DENVER'S CONSERVATIVE HOME STATION
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From warranty headaches to used car horror stories, this episode of Drive Radio dives deep into the real-life issues drivers face every day. John Rush and Mark Guernsey unpack the confusion around extended warranties—like what’s covered, what’s not, and why your camshaft should be considered internally lubricated.
Lonnie from Denver calls in with a case that many drivers will recognize: buying a used car with a “warranty” that doesn’t cover critical components. John offers practical advice for navigating service contracts, fighting denials, and when to bring in legal help.
Mike shares a smoking Subaru story that turns into a PSA for
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s a mighty fancy automobile. Oh, she’s a real road king, all right. Zero to 60 in 7.5. She’ll do a quarter mile, 13.40. 390 horsepower, 500 foot-pounds of torque. Whatever that is. Performance and image, that’s what it’s all about.
SPEAKER 16 :
There’s no such thing as a stupid question. This is Drive Radio. All of your automotive questions are just one phone call away. 303-477-5600. Drive Radio is made possible by the member shops of Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. To find one near you, go to drive-radio.com. Now, Drive Radio on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio KLZ 560. And really quick, Paul, did some research even through the top of the hour. Had a couple of people that actually messaged in on the LN2 battery. And it is specifically a group size of that battery. There is no liquid nitrogen in that battery. I can’t find a single source that tells me that there is liquid nitrogen in that battery. And I’ve had several people confirm that. via some links and other things they have sent me so if you determine that it is please send me something that confirms that is I’ve read some of the forums by the way where these guys on forums are talking about it being liquid nitrogen I think they’re way out I think they’re way off base to my knowledge there is no liquid nitrogen in that battery at all so everybody that’s texting me agrees with me that that’s a group size on the battery there’s ln1 ln2 ln3 and and those are the group sizes for those particular batteries, and that’s all that is. That’s a group size. There is no liquid nitrogen in that battery. Lonnie in Denver, you’re next.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi, how are you doing? Good. How are you, Lonnie? Not too bad. So we purchased a 2015 Honda Fit off of one of those lots on the side. And it came with a basic three-month, 5,000-mile warranty for just the drivetrain, engine, and tranny. And the first paragraph says all internally lubricated parts are covered on the engine. Well, the camshaft is out, the VTC actuator, and they’re trying to deny that it’s an internally lubricated part. But every mechanic I’ve taken it to says it is.
SPEAKER 11 :
It is.
SPEAKER 05 :
Everything I research, by definition, it’s objectively an internally lubricated part as far as I’m concerned.
SPEAKER 20 :
It is, yes, definitely.
SPEAKER 05 :
So they’re trying to deny responsibility and saying it’s not covered.
SPEAKER 20 :
What year is it again? Sorry.
SPEAKER 1 :
2015.
SPEAKER 20 :
2015. And I’m sorry, I was answering an email and talking at the same time.
SPEAKER 05 :
Honda Fit.
SPEAKER 20 :
Honda Fit. Okay, thank you. Honda Fit. Perfect. Just make sure I got my notes right. So 2015 Honda Fit and the warranty companies have nine coverage because they’re claiming it’s not an internally lubricated part.
SPEAKER 05 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, so has the shop gotten involved, or is this you talking to them?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, so initially I spoke to them, and then I took it to my buddy’s shop, because I’ve been in the industry a long time. I’m a mechanic myself. And he doesn’t deal with warranties, so I took it to another friend’s shop that does, and he called me the other day and said they’re trying to deny it. And I said, well, did you go back on the dealer that we bought it from and see if you could get recourse that way? And he’s like, well, I don’t know.
SPEAKER 20 :
They’re not going to do that. No offense. I wouldn’t even make that phone call, because all they do is broker the – paper on that particular warranty, which is not a warranty. It’s a contract. It’s an extended service contract is what they called. Unfortunately, we’ve called them like Kleenex being Kleenex and everybody that has any kind of a facial tissue box, we all call it Kleenex even though every brand is different. These are not warranties. The only warranty that you can get that’s extended on a new car comes from the original manufacturer itself. Anything else is a service contract. All the dealer is doing is brokering a service contract. for you and it’s up to you now to deal with that service contract company to get reimbursed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
So there’s nothing the dealer is going to do on that end of things at all.
SPEAKER 05 :
So at this point, I just left the vehicle with my friend and he said he was going to call him back. He had another I don’t know what he was doing, so there’s no disposition yet from him, but I’m kind of waiting until next week to hear if they’ve decided they were going to go forward.
SPEAKER 20 :
And I guess the thing I’d have to look at, and this is where I’ll have to, and maybe Mark, I don’t know if you’ve already pulled this down, I’d have to get an actual schematic. There’s no way it’s external. It is. Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s integrated in the camshaft relies on engine oil for lubrication to pump them properly. It’s very clear-cut.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay. Then that one is a clear-cut situation and shouldn’t be hard to get them to cover that particular repair is my point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, well, they’re trying to deny it. If they do on Monday, what would you suggest I do next?
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, first thing to do is, number one, you’ve got to figure out who you’re talking to and is there a supervisor that you can get a hold of that is above the person that is denying said claim. And then I guess the next question, Lonnie, would be what state are they out of or do you know?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’m in Denver, Colorado. MVP, I don’t know. That’s a pretty – I think that warranty company is popular.
SPEAKER 20 :
So it’s MVP as a service contract company?
SPEAKER 05 :
N is in Nancy, B is in Victor, P is in police. Okay.
SPEAKER 12 :
And this warranty came with your car as the purchase, or you purchased the extended service with it?
SPEAKER 05 :
It was a used car. It was a used car that they offer that warranty. It’s three months, $5,000. They get that with the car so they can mark it up. So it’s part of the sale. Okay. Correct.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, and I’m on their website right now. MVP warranty keeping you on the road, blah, blah, blah. Uh… What I would say is, again, find out exactly who you’re talking to, what’s their level inside of the company. You can always ask for a supervisor or a different adjuster to step in and start looking at it. And then last but not least, you can always let them know that you have legal options. Kevin Flesch, I talk about him being one of our sponsors all the time, this kind of stuff that’s right up his alley, one of those things where you can always get an attorney and go that direction if you have to.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. Well, I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Because, yeah, I think in your particular case, if it says specifically that it will cover internally lubricated parts and one of them have failed, then, yeah, that’s pretty cut and dried if you ask me.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is. It’s one sense that all internally lubricated parts.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I mean, this one’s pretty cut and dried.
SPEAKER 05 :
There’s no discrepancy. It’s no gray area.
SPEAKER 20 :
And, by the way, which one do you have? The powertrain, three-star, four-star, five-star? Which one do you have?
SPEAKER 05 :
Just the powertrain. Just the powertrain. Just the powertrain. Engine and tranny. Yep. If you read the first sentence, what does it say? It should tell you.
SPEAKER 20 :
I’m looking at the engine right now. All internally lubricated parts, pistons, piston rings, crank shaft, connecting rods, cam shaft, hydraulic lifters, solid lifters, valve seats, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, everything on here, even the, you know, like the rocker arm shafts, intake valves, cylinder heads, exhaust valves. I mean, timing chain. I mean, there isn’t anything here that excludes you from having a claim covered.
SPEAKER 05 :
And he doesn’t say on there specifically that that part is excluded. So that makes them liable, in my opinion.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, I think just the fact that they cover timing chain and camshaft and so on makes them, yeah. And again, the first line, all internally lubricated parts. I mean, yeah, I think it’s pretty cut and dried, Lonnie. Thank you. So, yeah, I mean, to me, you’ve got a pretty good case here. I think so, too.
SPEAKER 05 :
I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 20 :
You’re very welcome, Lonnie. Let us know how it goes, and I appreciate the phone call. Mike, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
John, I was just following behind a lady in a Subaru. It appears, based on the shine and the wheel treatment, the tire treatment that she just bought it, and it was smoking like a locomotive. Jeez. And I pulled up beside her and waved at her to roll down her window. And I suggested to her that she, I said, your car is absolutely burning a tremendous amount of oil. And she said, well, I just bought it. And I went, okay, you need to, we stopped at a light. I said, you need to take it in to a good Napa shop. to have it looked at because I said, you’ve got a real problem here. She says, yes, but I just bought it. I said, well, all right, I don’t know what else to tell you. My point is here, and I’m going to use your platform for a moment, people, go have your car, you know, if you’re going to buy a used car, take it into one of John’s Napa shops and have it gone through. Yep. You know, just have them take a look. Spend the money. It’s well worth it. What she’s going to spend either on heads, valves, and I suspect with a Subaru, I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you what year it is. It may be the heads. You know, certainly something, the valves. Who knows? Maybe piston rings. You know, who knows? But, you know, I’m happy to have your…
SPEAKER 20 :
forum to be able to say to people please go out and have this done Mike I don’t know why I mean we have harped on this for so long that yet there are still individuals that will buy cars not do this have a problem afterwards and then What’s my recourse? Well, for all of you listening, really quick, and Mike knows this, but in the state of Colorado, you’re assigning an as-is, and by the grace of God, a used car dealer decides they want to help you with something and take care of it after you’ve bought it. It’s only because of their grace that they will. Now, if they knowingly sell you a bad car, in other words, if they knew this car was smoking, And the only other recourse she may have, Mike, is the fact that every car has to pass emissions that a dealer is selling. And if it’s smoking like that, it probably won’t. That’s probably going to be the only recourse that she has is the fact it won’t pass emissions.
SPEAKER 09 :
I get it. I wish I could have helped her. She said, you know, OK, I’m going to pull over to the side and turn here. And I went, well, that’s not going to do it.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s not helping you.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, I know. But anyway, my point is great point.
SPEAKER 20 :
No, I mean, to me, it’s one of those things that I just continually battle because the other thing people do not to belabor this, but the other thing people do, Mike and Mark knows this is they get the post vehicle purchase inspection. I just bought this vehicle. Can you check it out for me? Well, yeah, I’d be happy to. But guess what? Whatever we find, you’re on the hook for it.
SPEAKER 12 :
It happens every day.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s constant, Mike. It’s like, I know you just bought it. That’s great. But you could have avoided all of this by doing this prior to the purchase.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I’m hoping that being able to use your platform to shout out to everybody that listens, you’ve got to do this, folks.
SPEAKER 20 :
You’ve got to do this. You do. All right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Mike, thanks.
SPEAKER 20 :
No, I appreciate it. Great testimonial, and I appreciate that. All right. Conrad, hang tight. He’s got an answer for us on the question of the day. Mark and I will be right back. Don’t go anywhere. This is Drive Radio KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
And I do have a couple of email questions we will get answered, never fear. We’ll get Conrad in and do that. Conrad, what’s up, man?
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, guys. Yeah, the worst job I ever had, I’ll get to it here in just a minute, but I was living, to set the story up, I was living in Anaheim, California, and I was working in a head shop across the street from Disneyland, okay?
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 08 :
That wasn’t the worst job I had. I actually liked it, but I just wasn’t making enough money to survive, so I came back home to Colorado and took my… Mom and dad, I was 20 years old. This was 1980. So I helped my dad out with harvest. And then I told him, I’m not going to work for you because we don’t get along. And I said, I’m going to go work out at Sterling Colorado Beef Company after we get done with the harvest. But he was tight buddies with the guy that was the president of that packing house. So I went and got a job out there, and they stuck me down in the rendering department at night to clean up the rendering department.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, yeah, okay, you got me beat, Conrad. That’s not cool. Yeah, you got me beat.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I mean, it’s grease and snappy.
SPEAKER 20 :
So far, you’re the prize of the day. Actually, I had somebody that went to the service, which I know you did as well. So, you know, those of you that went into the service, yeah, that was a job that, frankly, is not fun either. But thank you guys all that did that as well. But, yeah, no, that one in particular, Conrad, yeah, that’s a rough job.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and then at the very end of the week, you always had to clean this one pit out, and that’s where all the nasty flowed into, and that’s how you shovel it out. No thanks. I don’t know. I kept from puking, you know. No thanks.
SPEAKER 20 :
Conrad, you’re a better man than me.
SPEAKER 08 :
My dad did that to me, you know. Anyway, he was tight with Cal Humphrey, the guy that ran the place. Anyway, on to more pleasant subjects, I got a call from my – engine builder last week and he took my block and crank shaft and rods over to really automotive machines so we’re going to get the machine work done good guys so i’ll move things along here i hope to get it get it that 521 those are good guys so absolutely good guys they’re good guys i’m glad to hear that yep they are all right all right good oh good let me know how it progresses hope that was a nice growth story for everybody that is
SPEAKER 20 :
You’re a better man than me, Conrad.
SPEAKER 09 :
God bless, man. You bet, man.
SPEAKER 20 :
Appreciate you. All right, I got a couple of emails. Let me answer these. One of these is, thinking of buying a used car from Hertz, and do you know if the vehicle is still under the original Ford warranty? Can I still buy the Ford extended warranty? You can only buy the extended warranty typically right from Ford, and that typically comes through a dealer. Sometimes, sometimes. You can still buy that extended warranty on your own, but it’s rare that you can do that. There are certain circumstances where that might happen. I’ve got some examples of my own where that did, but normally that has to come through the dealer. Now, here’s what I would tell you. Don’t buy a car from a rental lot, period, ever. And here’s why. And by the way, as far as the original factory warranty continuing on, if it’s a new car and there have been no major accidents or reasons for the new car warranty to not be in effect, then it should be in effect until it expires. Depends on the year of the vehicle and what you’re talking about, whether it’s bumper to bumper, powertrain and so on. That’s something you have to just look at on your own. But that doesn’t matter to me because I wouldn’t buy a car from a rental lot, period. The only exception to this is Enterprise because they have a leasing program whereby they sell corporate vehicles. And some of the vehicles you’ll see on an Enterprise lot have not necessarily been in the rental fleet. They’ve probably been in the leasing program that Enterprise does for a lot of large fleets that are out there. So they’re an exception there. But all of the other rental car folk that sell rental cars, here’s why I wouldn’t buy their cars. When rental car companies buy cars from the manufacturer, Toyota, GM, Ford, whoever, they buy a lot of them, by the way, and they will typically put an agreement in on the front side saying that, okay, we’re going to buy this car for X amount. with the agreement that if we meet, manufacturers saying, Mr. Hertz, if you meet these requirements, oil changes can be recorded and they’re all done within this amount of time and you’ve done all the other maintenance that are needed and the car hasn’t had an accident and it’s under this mileage, then we’ll go ahead and take that car back as a part of our program. We’ll resell that through our program. And we’ll do the deal again. And that’s typically how this is done. So when you see cars that are on rental lots, typically what that means is something in that criteria that was set at the time of that sale from GM, Ford, Toyota, whoever it is, has not been met, meaning maintenance wasn’t done on time. There was an accident. It’s over mileage. Who knows? Something’s happened whereby the OEM will not take, the original equipment manufacturer, will not take that car back, meaning that now Hertz, Avis, whoever, has to sell that car on their own. So, frankly, I wouldn’t buy a car from a rental company. On top of that, Mark and I were talking about this earlier, there’s that old saying, drive it like you stole it. And that’s what happens to rental cars. The majority of them are not treated very well. They are driven like someone stole it. It’s a vehicle that, frankly, I don’t want to own because I have no idea how many drivers have been in it, how it’s been driven, what’s been done to it. Run, run, run, run, run, as far as I’m concerned. And I’m sorry for all of the Hertz, Avis, all of you guys that are out there. I’m sorry, but I’m just going to tell you straight up, I would not buy your cars for all the reasons I just said. And that’s my take on that end of things. So I hope, Adam, if you’re listening, please let me know. I appreciate that question. It applies to a lot of people that are listening, by the way, not just you. So, again, Adam, no, I would go find a nice, good, solid, reputable used car. There’s plenty of them out there. New car dealers have used cars. Used car dealers, of course, have used cars. You can buy private party as well. Multiple ways to buy a used car that I wouldn’t buy from the rental company. John and Cheyenne, you’re up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, so right there out of the box, I don’t know if you remember, probably during COVID, we needed to get my wife a new car to keep it at Dallas Airport. And went to the Kia dealership here in Cheyenne. He had a used Sportage. I texted you. You said it’s fine. I told the guy, I said, before we sign anything, I want to have my mechanic look at it. Local guy. He goes, who’s your mechanic? I told him. He goes, oh, I’ve known him for years. Our mechanic has been in business for over 20 years. He goes, no problem. We’ll bring it over in the morning, and I’ll have him send you the report.
SPEAKER 20 :
Nice.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s the kind of people you want to deal with.
SPEAKER 20 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
Came back, it needed tires and brakes.
SPEAKER 20 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
I called my mechanic. I said, can you put the brakes on it? I went to the tire guy I’ve been using here at Big O for 20 years. I’ve been dealing with the same guy, so I usually don’t have an issue. He said, yeah, I got tires in stock. Bring it by tomorrow or the next day. You know, not a problem. And then we negotiated a little bit off the price because it needed tires and brakes. But that was all it needed. And I had him, before we left to take it to Texas from Cheyenne, I had him do an oil change. Because I didn’t know the last time the oil was changed. So let’s start with a fresh oil change. And since then, the guy you referred me to in the Dallas area, Plano area, Scott at Rally. Yeah. He’s been taking care of all the maintenance.
SPEAKER 20 :
Scott’s a great guy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. I know. And, you know, his business, every now and then we’ll get a text. Hey, how’s the Kia running? Does it need any services? We haven’t seen you in a while. But, I mean, she uses it two weeks out of every month to drive maybe 10 miles a day, if that many, or 10 miles every three days. So it sits more than it does anything. We do the oil change twice a year just because of the humidity down there.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER 06 :
So going back… I got a vent. Last night, we’re coming up out of Laramie, going home, I-80. If you look at it from the top, it’s 8,600 feet, drops down to 7,200 feet in 7.5 miles. It’s a 7% grade. YDOT has a speed limit going downhill down to 65. We’re coming out of Laramie, tipped over tractor trailer, blocking two of the three lanes. Probably had to block the whole highway to flip it. Dry, clear roads. Why can’t these truckers obey the friggin’ – because they will not obey the speed limit. And I can’t really blame them. They’re trying to make time. I blame YDOT and the Highway Patrol for not having Highway Patrolmen out there enforcing the speed limit on the truckers.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, I think it’s a two-fold problem. Yes, I agree with you on that one, although I do blame – I don’t know if I blame is the right word – What I think I’m blaming is, A, it’s ultimately the driver’s fault. But a lot of these drivers, by the way, are literally shoved through a very quick testing procedure to get their CDL. They’re shoved in the driver’s seat. Frankly, they’re not a full-fledged, in my opinion, CDL driver. They’ve been put through some sort of an internal CDL program. And I think, John, where I’m going to point blame is the fact that CDOT, YDOT, and others allow these companies to administer and handle their own CDL testing, meaning that there’s a lot of folks that get thrown in the cab of a truck that frankly shouldn’t be there in the first place, but because they’re so quote-unquote lax on getting that CDL requirement met, and in those cases it’s done on an internal basis, personally, I don’t think that should be allowed. I think every one of those companies should have to do some sort of an outside testing for their drivers, and I don’t think they should be allowed to do it internally.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I did, when I got my CDL, gosh, 34 years ago, a long time ago. We’ll just go with that. How’s that? The company I was working for, I was getting a bus license. They took me in the bus over to the state of New Jersey, and I had to pass the road test there.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, that doesn’t happen much anymore, if any. I mean, again, a lot of these companies, these larger companies, I won’t name names, but one of them starts with an S. You can go out there and look at a lot of these that have accidents and pretty much tell what’s going on. And I’m not far off in what I’m talking about, John, because the reality is a lot of these drivers were just driving a Kia Optima two days ago, and now they’re driving an 18-wheeler, and I’m not exaggerating.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, I agree with you 100%. The other thing, the reason I’m a little annoyed with the highway patrol, both probably in Colorado, is they don’t want to pull these guys over because half the time they’re going to have a reason to put the truck out of service. Yeah, and that’s a big, huge ordeal. Yeah, and all the paperwork. Yeah, and yet at the same time, this is my beef with all of this.
SPEAKER 20 :
Sorry to get on a tangent here, John, but then on the same token, they’ll run these little mobile weigh stations all around in town whereby they’ll pull everybody over, including the guy with the landscape and three mowers that he’s hauling on the back that, frankly, isn’t really a big issue one way or the other, but they’ll pull those guys over all day long and write citations for everything from the breakaway switch not working properly to the guy doesn’t have the right safety chain crossed to there might be a… license plate bulb out to you name it. They’ll catch those guys all day long, but they won’t do what you’re talking about. That’s my beef.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Because it’s easier to do that than to act. Yeah. And it’s the money, too.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s easy money, and they’re going after the easy money. That’s my beef.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s not a safety issue. It’s a revenue collection issue, John, is what it is.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wyoming Highway Patrol is looking for speeders With out-of-state plates, usually California, because they’re assuming that there’s going to be something not right and they’re going to make a drug bust. Yep. And that’s their main thing they’re looking for. You’re right. Because they want the, you know. They want the cash. And I’ve seen that. They want the cash. And, you know, I’ve seen that where there’s two highway patrolmen and usually a county sheriff. And that county sheriff’s the one with the drug dog that they call out to the scene to smell the car. And, you know, they’re going to be there. But the other thing was, worst job I ever had, I worked for about eight months in a butcher shop when I was 14 or 15. Saturday was the worst day of the week.
SPEAKER 11 :
Hmm.
SPEAKER 06 :
Monday to Friday, I did deliveries, and I cleaned. Saturday, I had to take all the meat out of the cases, the display cases, put it all in the freezer for the day, and then I had to get hot, soapy water in a hose and lay in there and scrub them out of all the blood and everything else. Not a fun job. Yeah, I can imagine. If I remember right, minimum wage I think I was getting was $1.95 an hour back then. Wow. And then I also had to clean the cutting blocks. Hot, soapy water and a big, heavy-duty wire brush, and you just scrubbed everything, all the fat and blood and everything out of them.
SPEAKER 20 :
No thanks.
SPEAKER 06 :
Disgusting job. Yeah, no thanks. No thanks. I always say every high school kid should have a job. Yeah, that’s true. Something like that.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I can’t argue that.
SPEAKER 06 :
So they learn not to drop out of high school.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah. I hear you. John. You too, man. Appreciate you. We’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 19 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Myself, Mark Guernsey, accountable up in Broomfield with us today. Eric, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
Good afternoon, guys.
SPEAKER 20 :
Afternoon.
SPEAKER 10 :
So after your last conversation, I guess you might have thought if I was listening I might call in. I want to throw a few things out here. One, CDL school, I don’t care who you go through, it’s a 160-hour requirement. It’s $4. 40-hour weeks. That’s a federal law. Everybody, whether I go to community college, Joe Blow’s trucking school, or Joe Blow’s trucking company hires me off the street, that’s a federal requirement. You have to show proof that you had all 160 hours when you go to obtain your CDL. You have to show that you passed that 160 hours. Okay. When I did mine 30 years ago, it was only 120 hours. For whatever reason, they bumped it up.
SPEAKER 20 :
Dumb question on my part then. You see the same thing I see. Why is it half these guys can’t drive?
SPEAKER 10 :
Why is it that 70% of the people that drive passenger vehicles can’t drive?
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, no offense, Eric. Two different things. The passenger… No, no, let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. The passenger guy is not required to do 160 hours of classroom training like you just said. So, no, they are not the same. So, yes, I’m going to give a pass to the… Let me finish, Eric. Let me finish. I’m going to give more of a pass to the passenger car drivers that are still idiots. They can’t drive either. I will agree with you there. But why is it we have so many semi-drivers? Because I see a ton of them. You know where I live, and you know how many I see on a daily basis. And I’m telling you, half of them can’t drive.
SPEAKER 10 :
I think where it comes down to is, as was brought up, is there’s a lack of enforcement. You know, like talking about the summit, they’re going between Cheyenne and Laramie. I would argue that the speed limit at 65 is too fast. It should be 55 for commercial vehicles. I mean, I’ve been running back and forth to Laramie once a week for the last five weeks, and I’m coming down the hill empty at 65 miles an hour being passed by guys with their hair on fire. And I’m like, why?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I see the same thing on I-70, you know, going up and down I-70. I mean, I travel that one all the time, as you know, and I see that constantly as well. You’re 100% correct.
SPEAKER 10 :
because there’s no enforcement you know we had that huge crash seven years ago and every trucker in the state popped it came up and said the same thing there’s zero enforcement and i’m going to make an argument here that a lot of people aren’t make the point here a lot of people aren’t going to like on uh you or some people aren’t going to like so You know, we just had those Mesa County deputies. We’ve had other deputies.
SPEAKER 20 :
Right, right, right.
SPEAKER 10 :
For cooperating with ICE.
SPEAKER 20 :
Right.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, well, Colorado State Patrol puts more officers towards targeted enforcement on I-70 than they do commercial vehicle enforcement on I-70. And their targeted enforcement is not targeting commercial vehicles.
SPEAKER 20 :
No.
SPEAKER 10 :
They’re looking for the drug bust.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s what they’re looking for. They’re not going after this thing. And the same thing holds true. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department is authorized to patrol 285 and I-70 on those hills. They’re understaffed. They just don’t have the officers to do it.
SPEAKER 20 :
I can’t argue with you on that one. You’re 100% correct on that one. Wyoming’s the same situation. I’m still, Eric, you could be right, although I have to wonder, just from what I see, do some of these big companies, like the letter S… do they get by with less of that whole classroom training and so on? In other words, is there sort of a wink of the eye and, yeah, you passed because we need drivers? Is there some of that that still goes on? And that’s the question I have.
SPEAKER 10 :
I would probably have the same question, but I think it’s less likely, although here’s the thing I will say on that is, You know, all this here recently, they’re talking about getting rid of drivers who can’t speak English, and there was a discussion with some FMCSA guys on the trucking channel on Sirius here a couple weeks ago, and somebody posed the question to them, okay, what is the crash rate for drivers who don’t speak English or speak limited English as compared to the white guy, black guy, whatever, who speaks perfect English, and they said, well, there’s no crash data to identify that. And it’s like, okay, well, maybe that’s a whole, I mean, it’s all something that needs to be looked at. And I would agree that if somebody has zero English skills, yeah, they shouldn’t be driving. If somebody has marginal skills, I mean, I got a coworker that speaks better Spanglish than he does English. And I would trust him to haul radioactive waste any day of the week.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, to me, I mean, personally, this is me, Eric. I’m not so worried about the English side of the fence as I am can they actually drive and understand the vehicle and what needs to be happening. I’m more worried about that than do they speak good English. Truthfully, that’s just me. And I know that goes against the grain of some that are out there, but I’m more of that than I am anything else.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and I am too. And I am too. And I think it’s general carelessness. You know, Colorado passed a law here recently about no handheld cell phones. And they said they’ve been enforcing it. Well, who’s enforcing it? But I see it every day in the truck, my fellow drivers. We’ve got one of our competing companies that they require all this safety stuff when I go on their property. But yet I watched their guys drive down the road with a cell phone in their hand. I filmed one one day and sent it to their safety officer. And rather than disciplining the guy, because I know for a fact they didn’t say anything because I was told they didn’t talk to him, they actually sent me an email back saying, well, why were you filming him while driving? And I said, because I also forwarded that film on to Colorado State Patrol. And I said, it’s all about carelessness. And for some of these guys, they get going too fast. Here’s where part of the mountain crashes come from. When I got my CDL and started driving, the first company I worked for, the school that I went through, they’re no longer in business here in Colorado anymore, but we did two days in the mountains learning how to drive. Right. The first company I went to work for, I went out and rode with another driver in the mountains. And I was doing local delivery before they hired me. That was part of the road test. And the guy said, yeah, you’re fine. And I said, okay, great. And I see companies that will hire Tom off the street and put him through school and put him out there with Jerry in the truck. And they’ll run him up and down town. i-70 between denver and kansas denver and dallas denver and billings and then for two three four weeks then they put him in a truck by himself and say hey go to grand junction right not good enough what am i doing in them yeah yeah there should be there was a discussion um here not too long ago regarding how some of the stuff in the winter is there’s legislation that was just signed and the one state senator involved in this, there was a suggestion made that Colorado for in-state drivers should create, or for drivers who are licensed in Colorado and work for companies that are based in Colorado, a mountain qualification.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I can’t argue that. It’s never going to happen, but that should.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, because, I mean, somebody like myself who’s been doing this for 30 years and probably has, 3, 4, 5, 6,000 trips to Grand Junction and the Western Slope, if I’m going down I-70 at 80,000 pounds doing five over the speed limit, it’s because I am 100% aware of what’s going on and how my vehicle reacts and handles. If I’m John, who just started its first trip, it’s his first trip and he’s doing five over, John needs to get a speeding ticket and a talking to.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep, can’t argue that. Eric, I’ve got to run to break, though. Appreciate it very much. Thank you. I’ve got lots of other comments on this. Del, I’ll get you in a moment. Don’t go anywhere. Drive Radio KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
Hi, John.
SPEAKER 20 :
How you doing?
SPEAKER 07 :
Good, sir. In reference to your deal, I had a Class A years ago before it became CDL.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
And so did my ex-wife. She got out of it for a while and then went back to get recertified for CDL and was going to a school here in town. And her biggest complaint was they had all these Middle Easterners in the class at the time. Not only could not speak English, but they couldn’t even back up a truck and trailer.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah. I’ve heard stories dealt along those lines whereby in a lot of the terminals, there’s somebody there that actually climbs in the truck and does the backing into the docks because the drivers can’t.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. So I don’t think you’re wrong in that. Yeah. Yeah, she was going to that one over in our data.
SPEAKER 20 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 11 :
Good to know.
SPEAKER 20 :
Good to know. No, I appreciate that, Del. Thanks. Good story. Okay. No, I appreciate that. And, again, a lot of you texting in. I’m not trying to create a big argument here, but you guys that all have texted in are – correct and Eric love you but you were incorrect in the mandatory there’s a lot of companies that will recommend that and they will do their their best to have that but there is no law state law that says they have to have that so again I don’t know some of the internals of some of these companies I’m just throwing it out there because I watch the way some of these folk drive which a lot of you by the way have agreed with me and confirmed that in a lot of cases Yeah, they struggle to get that semi-truck from – I mean, just as an example, I was telling Mark this during the break. Where I live, not far from Highway 58, there are trucks that I can watch come out of the terminal. And as they’re trying to decide whether they’re going east or west on I-70, which, by the way, you would know I would think on the front side, am I going east to Kansas or am I going west over to Grand Junction, Utah? Where am I headed? And you’d think that you would pretty much know I need to be in the left lane to go east or the right lane to go west. I mean, not that complicated. And I can’t tell you how many I watch as the road starts to split, try to figure out whether they’re going to go east or west. Now, I’m sorry, but as a long-haul driver, even somebody short-haul, you would think you would know your route on the front side. And, you know, where am I headed, east or west? Not that complicated. One or the other. And they struggle to know, am I going to go east or west? Now, I don’t know what’s involved when it comes to the driving test part of it on the CDL. But I would think that knowing where you’re going, because you’re in a 18-wheeler, you’re not driving a Ford Taurus. You are driving something with some substantial length that switching lanes is not super easy, especially if there’s traffic. you would think that you would automatically know which direction I’m headed and what highway I need to take, and you would think some of that would be a part of the overall class. But anyways, I’m digressing. So Mark from Accountable with us, as I said earlier. Mark, really quick before we – we’re not close to ending. We’ve got a couple minutes here left. But talk about Accountable, what you guys have going on, what you do. Back to school, folks are starting up. What are things folks need to be looking at? And give your phone number and how they can get a hold of you.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, we’re located up in Broomfield. They’re near 120th and Main Street. Phone number 303-460-9969.
SPEAKER 20 :
If you’ve been up in that area to get an admissions test, you’ve probably been very close to Mark.
SPEAKER 12 :
You’re in the area. You’re in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER 20 :
You’re right there.
SPEAKER 12 :
If you Google our name, you can make an appointment online anytime, so it’s convenient after hours, weekends. Very cool feature. Set up your own appointment, and we’ll take care of you when you come in.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, Mark’s got a system for you guys listening whereby you can actually log, you know, go to make your appointment, pick your day, figure out what slot you want, pick it, do it, done, handled. It comes up on Mark’s end so he knows exactly what’s going on. It’s a very slick system whereby you can do what you need to do and see what’s available. It makes it really slick for you getting that information. Mark also does a lot of the stuff that we’ve talked about today, from alignments to air conditioning work to drivability work to all the different things that we mention on a routine basis. Mark does all of that. I think, Mark, your only exception is when you get into some of the larger trucks. I mean, room-wise, you get into box trucks and things like that. You can do some of the small stuff, but you get into some of the larger stuff. That gets a little bit more difficult, right?
SPEAKER 12 :
Right, right. The big diesels, the biggest trucks, it’s just not –
SPEAKER 20 :
ideal for our you know i know rvs right correct no rvs yeah we don’t need it which for i get that question a lot by the way folks want to know who in our group does rv work um legacy up in boulder can do a little bit of that although i will tell you that rv work in and of itself especially when it comes to inside the unit We don’t have anybody that does anything inside. So if you’ve got a fridge that doesn’t work, for example, we don’t have anybody that does anything along those lines. And it’s pretty limited even on the drivetrain chassis end of things because of the amount of room required to actually work on them. So we don’t have anybody really that is specifically designed to work on that. Some of the lower classes maybe, but you get into some of the higher class RVs. Yeah, we just don’t have anybody in our network. So a lot of you guys will email me and text me on, you know, who do I have that does RV work? Quite honestly, we don’t. We don’t have anybody in our group that specializes in that. That’s something that, you know.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s a different animal.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s a totally different world.
SPEAKER 12 :
Kind of like boats.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, Mark, thank you for saying that. Yeah, it ends up being literally its own animal, and finding people that can do good RV work is not hard. Now, what I will say is if somebody out there finds somebody that’s good at doing it and they would like to be a part of what we do here, I get questions on who can do that work on an ongoing basis. So if you are someone or you know someone that does good work that would like to be a part of what we do, we can definitely get connected and maybe make that happen. I would fully enjoy that. having that connection and having that ability to refer some people to somebody like that? Because, again, that’s one of those questions that we get quite often. We can cover pretty much everything else out there. We’ve got guys that do everything from Euro to Asian to the Subaru end of things that we’ve talked about even today to the trucks and diesels and so on. We pretty much have everything else covered. But the RV thing, no. We do not have that covered. And as you guys all know, we can do auto glass and all the rest of the stuff as well. Last but not least, please, when you look, I’ve had this comment before. You guys love the show. You love what we do. And so on. You’re always thanking me. Don’t thank me. Thank the guys like Mark. Thank all of our other sponsors, the Kevin Flesher, the Michael Bailey’s, everybody that makes this show happen on a weekly basis. Novus Auto Glass, all those guys. Thank them. They’re the ones that make this show happen weekly. But Mark, thank you for taking time on your Saturday. Larry Unger answering phones for us today. Charlie, appreciate it very much. Thank you as well. It’s his birthday this weekend, by the way, so make sure you wish Charlie a nice happy birthday. And we appreciate all that you guys do. Thanks for listening. Have a great weekend. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 16 :
Still haven’t had enough? Go to drive-radio.com, email your questions and comments, download previous programs, and find lots of useful information, including your nearest Colorado Select Auto Care Center. That’s drive-radio.com. Thanks for listening to Drive Radio, sponsored by the member shops of Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. On KLZ 560.
