April 21, 2025 • 9 mins
Ron Ananian joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about what to check for in your car’s maintenance and seeing if you should keep your car or look to buy a new one before the tariffs hit.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So when is it time to get rid of your car?
Great question, and for that we go to Ron andany And,
host of the Car Doctor, which is available weekly on
the iHeartRadio app. He's also owner of our a Automotive
in Walldwick, New Jersey. Good morning, Ron, Good morning Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
So what is the first sign that it's time to
get rid of your car?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, I think in these tumultuous times, you know, stock
markets up and down, we don't know what it's going
to do, Tariffs are coming. Do we want to get
rid of our car or not? And you know, I've
come up with a short list five things that vehicle
owners can do sort of empower everybody. Okay, and you know,
let's figure it out. Do we want to get rid
of the cars? And now the time to get rid
of the car? First thing, go sit in your car,
(00:46):
look at the odometer. If it says thirty thousand miles
on it, and the oil change sticker in the top
left corner, which should be there, says the oil change
was due at twenty five thousand miles four months ago.
That's a problem, you know. So it's really about the basics.
How how well have you taken care of it. What
sort of oil change maintenance has the car gotten? Because
(01:07):
that's critical today?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Why why so critical for that? I know it's important
to get your oil change, but so it does that
much damage to the car? Early on?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well not well early on? The problem becomes and what
if the car has sixty thousand miles on it, Larry?
What if the car has eighty thousand miles on it
at thirty? Maybe it's it was due for Maybe we've
given that car five six oil changes, but the number
exponentially goes up and it gets worse as the car
gets older. The point becomes, what sort of maintenance plan
(01:40):
have we been following? And have we been paying attention?
You know? Are we are we leasing the car with
the hope that we're going to get another lease if
the lease numbers come in right, or are we leasing
the car with the option to buy. I always say
cars are like small children, you know, when they're when
they're young and they're new, they can fall from the
top of the stas head first, they get up, they
(02:01):
bounce up, they survive, and then as we get older,
we don't bounce up like we use Yes, and cars
are sort of the same way, right, So the care
we provide when we're younger, when the car is newer,
reflects how well the car lasts as it gets older.
So go look at your odometer, go look at your
oil chain sticker, and make that decision. Where are you
in the in the grand scheme of things? Step one?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So what's next on your list?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Mileage isn't just the number. It also becomes that maintenance timeline. Right,
if you've got sixty four thousand miles on the car,
for example, you should have done you know, you did
all your oil changes, and you've done your tire rotations.
You should have done some kind of a major service
at thirty and at sixty. And you know it varies
(02:42):
by manufacturer. It's oil changes, it's rotations, it's cabin filters.
Some cars call for spark plugs at sixty thousand miles.
Now you know some cars call for fuel system cleaning
at thirty and sixty. The point becomes you would see
a dent in the checkbook, probably in the range of
five to eight hundred dollars for each service, depending on
the car. But have you done those? You know, I'm
(03:04):
trying to get people acclimated towards the idea that they've
just been driving the car. And cars are so much
more durable today. Cars can go eighty to one hundred
thousand miles with a minimal amount of maintenance. But you
know it's it's not one hundred thousand miles is considered
life cycle of a vehicle anymore. Two two point fifty
is not out of the realm. You can drive a
(03:24):
car a quarter of a million miles with proper care
and maintenance. And that's that's what we're trying to get
people to look at. Don't just look at the mileage.
What have you done along the way?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And one thing they should look at, and I've been
guilty of this, are those dashboard warning lights.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Oh yeah, you know, how long is it? I love?
You know? Hey Ron, I'm leaving my car for the
old change. Anything going on? No, that check engine light's
been on for a while. Well, you know what's a while?
Last Tuesday? Last month? Oh you know, it came on
at Christmas. Now this is this is April. You know
it came on at Christmas. But I haven't been I
haven't had time to get here. And then how many
(04:01):
other dashboard warning lights are on? If there's a warning
light on. It's telling you so well, it's trying to
tell you something, and you know how much attention are
you paying. Something's wrong with me, Please get me fixed.
So you know, the earlier you get it diagnosed, they're
better to know. You don't. You're not caught off guard.
You're not slowly driving that car into the ground.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Now do you try to time it to sell it
before you have major repairs coming up?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, you know, and there's step four, Larry, right, So
it becomes a question of math your car. Maybe your
car has sixty to eighty thousand miles on it, maybe
it's got one hundred thousand miles on it. You know,
you've got to sit down and look at the recommendations.
Hopefully your mechanic's been giving to you all along. Look
(04:49):
at the maintenance schedule the manufacturer says, are there any
notes here that says, hey, you're coming due for breaks,
You're coming due for tires, breaks and tires in the
world today, there's three grand, you know, so if you
take that three grand and maybe your car's worth ten grand,
And without opening up Pandora's box, you've now you're playing
with thirteen fourteen thousand, dollars. What are thirteen fourteen thousand
(05:12):
dollars look like? Do you apply that to another car?
Can you you know, can you find something in a good, clean,
used car in that number range, which you probably can't
because I think the magic number now is you spend
between twenty two and twenty five thousand dollars to get
a basic, certified, pre owned something. I mean, cars are
not cheap anymore. You know, it's thirty five thousand dollars
(05:34):
for a new vehicle of something beyond a beer can
with four tires. You know, it's hard. So that's why
we gotta we got to. We gotta crunch the numbers
before you make major repairs on that car at one
hundred thousand miles. If you're thinking of getting rid of it,
now's the moment. That's what step four.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Becomes, right, it's more sellable. And I saw I'm looking
ahead to step five. And you mentioned mechanics. Having a
trusted mechanic is a big deal, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah? Really is. You know, you'd be amazed the conversations
we have with customers on a daily and weekly basis.
You know, we've become their conciliary area. You know, We've
become their advisor, their trusted advisor. When do you get
rid of it? When do you keep it? You know,
is it worth fixing? And I think that the mechanics
that really have the customer's best interested at heart, they're
(06:21):
advising them, no, don't fix this. I play the what
if game I call it. I call it the what
if game. You know. I'll tell somebody, hey, your card
needs three thousand dollars worth of tires. It's got one
hundred thousand miles on it. They're kind of on the
fence and they go, what do you think? I say,
it's what if? They go, what do you mean? What if?
I go, what if after we do this six months
from now, the transmission breaks? Would you be upset? Yeah? Okay,
then don't fix it. Now's the time to replace it.
(06:44):
You know, I said, what if what if the trans breaks?
Would you fix it? Yes? Well, then go ahead and
fix the breaks and tires because you're in it for
the long haul. And that's really part of it too,
you know, it's what is the what is your mindset?
What are you trying to accomplish? You know, everybody's got
different requirems today, believe it or not. A lot of
things change. You get that car that's six seven years
(07:06):
old and the kids are fourteen fifteen years old, and
I've said to people, when is the kid going to college?
When do you need that big Chevy suburban behol everything
to East Jabib? You know, are you going to start
to buy a new car now or are you going
to buy a new car as they go into college
so you can take them back and forth to college.
A lot of things come into the play of deciding
(07:26):
when to get a vehicle.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So we're done to five points. But playing into all
of this, or maybe they it doesn't play into it
is the idea and the fear of the tariffs making
car prices go even higher. Yeah, should we be thinking
about that? And if we're talking about buying a car
that we have to get out there now before the
tariff's hit.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I think it depends on what we're trying to buy.
You know, the price of repairs is going to go up,
the price of cars is going to go up. I'm
hoping that as it happens. I'm an optimist. I hope
it's a shit or term thing. I think things will
bounce back and come back to some stability. You know,
it's the idea that we want to We want to
empower people and prepare. We don't want to panic. I
(08:12):
think this is a big, big thing we have to
be aware of. We actually took this list, these five points.
They're up on our website cardoctorshow dot com. People can
go there and read it. It's right on the front
page about midway down. It's also in the news section
because we want people to be aware. It's it's I
wouldn't rush out and buy a car tomorrow if I'm
not planning to. But if I'm planning to buy a
(08:33):
car in two months, this is a great time to
sit down and think about it.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So sooner rather than later.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
You're saying, ye, sooner rather than later. You know, everything's
going to be relative. Listen, I I from what I understand,
some of the cars that are going to be imposed,
you know, higher terraffs, some of them are just crazy numbers.
Some of the Jaguars land Rovers are going to be
hit the hardest, you know. But then you get into
(09:00):
in my mind, if you're paying eighty thousand for a car,
does another eight thousand matter? Yes?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh yeah, that's a great point. Ronananian host of The
Car Yeah. Absolutely. Roninanean host of The Car Doctor, which
is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app, and he's owner
of RA Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Ron talked to
you next week.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Thanks, Thanks Larry be Well
So when is it time to get rid of your car?
Great question, and for that we go to Ron andany And,
host of the Car Doctor, which is available weekly on
the iHeartRadio app. He's also owner of our a Automotive
in Walldwick, New Jersey. Good morning, Ron, Good morning Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
So what is the first sign that it's time to
get rid of your car?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, I think in these tumultuous times, you know, stock
markets up and down, we don't know what it's going
to do, Tariffs are coming. Do we want to get
rid of our car or not? And you know, I've
come up with a short list five things that vehicle
owners can do sort of empower everybody. Okay, and you know,
let's figure it out. Do we want to get rid
of the cars? And now the time to get rid
of the car? First thing, go sit in your car,
(00:46):
look at the odometer. If it says thirty thousand miles
on it, and the oil change sticker in the top
left corner, which should be there, says the oil change
was due at twenty five thousand miles four months ago.
That's a problem, you know. So it's really about the basics.
How how well have you taken care of it. What
sort of oil change maintenance has the car gotten? Because
(01:07):
that's critical today?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Why why so critical for that? I know it's important
to get your oil change, but so it does that
much damage to the car? Early on?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well not well early on? The problem becomes and what
if the car has sixty thousand miles on it, Larry?
What if the car has eighty thousand miles on it
at thirty? Maybe it's it was due for Maybe we've
given that car five six oil changes, but the number
exponentially goes up and it gets worse as the car
gets older. The point becomes, what sort of maintenance plan
(01:40):
have we been following? And have we been paying attention?
You know? Are we are we leasing the car with
the hope that we're going to get another lease if
the lease numbers come in right, or are we leasing
the car with the option to buy. I always say
cars are like small children, you know, when they're when
they're young and they're new, they can fall from the
top of the stas head first, they get up, they
(02:01):
bounce up, they survive, and then as we get older,
we don't bounce up like we use Yes, and cars
are sort of the same way, right, So the care
we provide when we're younger, when the car is newer,
reflects how well the car lasts as it gets older.
So go look at your odometer, go look at your
oil chain sticker, and make that decision. Where are you
in the in the grand scheme of things? Step one?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
So what's next on your list?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Mileage isn't just the number. It also becomes that maintenance timeline. Right,
if you've got sixty four thousand miles on the car,
for example, you should have done you know, you did
all your oil changes, and you've done your tire rotations.
You should have done some kind of a major service
at thirty and at sixty. And you know it varies
(02:42):
by manufacturer. It's oil changes, it's rotations, it's cabin filters.
Some cars call for spark plugs at sixty thousand miles.
Now you know some cars call for fuel system cleaning
at thirty and sixty. The point becomes you would see
a dent in the checkbook, probably in the range of
five to eight hundred dollars for each service, depending on
the car. But have you done those? You know, I'm
(03:04):
trying to get people acclimated towards the idea that they've
just been driving the car. And cars are so much
more durable today. Cars can go eighty to one hundred
thousand miles with a minimal amount of maintenance. But you
know it's it's not one hundred thousand miles is considered
life cycle of a vehicle anymore. Two two point fifty
is not out of the realm. You can drive a
(03:24):
car a quarter of a million miles with proper care
and maintenance. And that's that's what we're trying to get
people to look at. Don't just look at the mileage.
What have you done along the way?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And one thing they should look at, and I've been
guilty of this, are those dashboard warning lights.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Oh yeah, you know, how long is it? I love?
You know? Hey Ron, I'm leaving my car for the
old change. Anything going on? No, that check engine light's
been on for a while. Well, you know what's a while?
Last Tuesday? Last month? Oh you know, it came on
at Christmas. Now this is this is April. You know
it came on at Christmas. But I haven't been I
haven't had time to get here. And then how many
(04:01):
other dashboard warning lights are on? If there's a warning
light on. It's telling you so well, it's trying to
tell you something, and you know how much attention are
you paying. Something's wrong with me, Please get me fixed.
So you know, the earlier you get it diagnosed, they're
better to know. You don't. You're not caught off guard.
You're not slowly driving that car into the ground.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Now do you try to time it to sell it
before you have major repairs coming up?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, you know, and there's step four, Larry, right, So
it becomes a question of math your car. Maybe your
car has sixty to eighty thousand miles on it, maybe
it's got one hundred thousand miles on it. You know,
you've got to sit down and look at the recommendations.
Hopefully your mechanic's been giving to you all along. Look
(04:49):
at the maintenance schedule the manufacturer says, are there any
notes here that says, hey, you're coming due for breaks,
You're coming due for tires, breaks and tires in the
world today, there's three grand, you know, so if you
take that three grand and maybe your car's worth ten grand,
And without opening up Pandora's box, you've now you're playing
with thirteen fourteen thousand, dollars. What are thirteen fourteen thousand
(05:12):
dollars look like? Do you apply that to another car?
Can you you know, can you find something in a good, clean,
used car in that number range, which you probably can't
because I think the magic number now is you spend
between twenty two and twenty five thousand dollars to get
a basic, certified, pre owned something. I mean, cars are
not cheap anymore. You know, it's thirty five thousand dollars
(05:34):
for a new vehicle of something beyond a beer can
with four tires. You know, it's hard. So that's why
we gotta we got to. We gotta crunch the numbers
before you make major repairs on that car at one
hundred thousand miles. If you're thinking of getting rid of it,
now's the moment. That's what step four.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Becomes, right, it's more sellable. And I saw I'm looking
ahead to step five. And you mentioned mechanics. Having a
trusted mechanic is a big deal, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah? Really is. You know, you'd be amazed the conversations
we have with customers on a daily and weekly basis.
You know, we've become their conciliary area. You know, We've
become their advisor, their trusted advisor. When do you get
rid of it? When do you keep it? You know,
is it worth fixing? And I think that the mechanics
that really have the customer's best interested at heart, they're
(06:21):
advising them, no, don't fix this. I play the what
if game I call it. I call it the what
if game. You know. I'll tell somebody, hey, your card
needs three thousand dollars worth of tires. It's got one
hundred thousand miles on it. They're kind of on the
fence and they go, what do you think? I say,
it's what if? They go, what do you mean? What if?
I go, what if after we do this six months
from now, the transmission breaks? Would you be upset? Yeah? Okay,
then don't fix it. Now's the time to replace it.
(06:44):
You know, I said, what if what if the trans breaks?
Would you fix it? Yes? Well, then go ahead and
fix the breaks and tires because you're in it for
the long haul. And that's really part of it too,
you know, it's what is the what is your mindset?
What are you trying to accomplish? You know, everybody's got
different requirems today, believe it or not. A lot of
things change. You get that car that's six seven years
(07:06):
old and the kids are fourteen fifteen years old, and
I've said to people, when is the kid going to college?
When do you need that big Chevy suburban behol everything
to East Jabib? You know, are you going to start
to buy a new car now or are you going
to buy a new car as they go into college
so you can take them back and forth to college.
A lot of things come into the play of deciding
(07:26):
when to get a vehicle.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So we're done to five points. But playing into all
of this, or maybe they it doesn't play into it
is the idea and the fear of the tariffs making
car prices go even higher. Yeah, should we be thinking
about that? And if we're talking about buying a car
that we have to get out there now before the
tariff's hit.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I think it depends on what we're trying to buy.
You know, the price of repairs is going to go up,
the price of cars is going to go up. I'm
hoping that as it happens. I'm an optimist. I hope
it's a shit or term thing. I think things will
bounce back and come back to some stability. You know,
it's the idea that we want to We want to
empower people and prepare. We don't want to panic. I
(08:12):
think this is a big, big thing we have to
be aware of. We actually took this list, these five points.
They're up on our website cardoctorshow dot com. People can
go there and read it. It's right on the front
page about midway down. It's also in the news section
because we want people to be aware. It's it's I
wouldn't rush out and buy a car tomorrow if I'm
not planning to. But if I'm planning to buy a
(08:33):
car in two months, this is a great time to
sit down and think about it.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So sooner rather than later.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
You're saying, ye, sooner rather than later. You know, everything's
going to be relative. Listen, I I from what I understand,
some of the cars that are going to be imposed,
you know, higher terraffs, some of them are just crazy numbers.
Some of the Jaguars land Rovers are going to be
hit the hardest, you know. But then you get into
(09:00):
in my mind, if you're paying eighty thousand for a car,
does another eight thousand matter? Yes?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Oh yeah, that's a great point. Ronananian host of The
Car Yeah. Absolutely. Roninanean host of The Car Doctor, which
is available weekly on the iHeartRadio app, and he's owner
of RA Automotive in Waldwick, New Jersey. Ron talked to
you next week.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Thanks, Thanks Larry be Well
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