CAR TALK: Excessive miles on a shop lift don’t add up | Business

Expensive James: Let me guess. You took your car to a store on a Friday, and when you picked it up Monday, it had 300 further miles on it.

So you went to the mechanic and mentioned, what is this? And he defined that they had the vehicle up on the lift, place it in generate, and which is exactly where the extra 300 miles arrived from. When in reality, the mechanic drove his girlfriend to the casino for the weekend.

The response to your issue is certainly, James. If you set a front-wheel-travel motor vehicle on a raise and put it in travel, the front wheels will change and — considering that the odometer steps the motion of the entrance wheels — the odometer will roll ahead.

But it won’t shift rapidly. Let us do the math. Say that at idle pace, the suspended wheels transform at 10 mph. That would indicate the odometer would incorporate 10 miles for each individual hour the vehicle was on the lift.

So to increase 300 miles, he’d had to have left it up there — in drive — for a day and a half.

So if that is why you’re asking, James, I imagine it’s an not likely story. On the other hand, if you might be the mechanic who drove your girlfriend to the on line casino, make positive your story for the purchaser accounts for the working day and 50 percent you have been tied up by kidnappers and were not able to cost-free yourself to put the automobile in park.

Pricey Car or truck Chat: I just turned 70, and I feel I am going to obtain just one additional car in my lifestyle.

My recent experience is a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid. It is the finest car I’ve owned, but it will require a substitution hybrid battery sometime, and that’ll charge a handful of thousand bucks.

So my system is to wait an additional year and then get an all-electrical 2023 Ford Mustang Mach E.

It has a ton of basic safety features that we geezers need to have. It also has about the exact cargo location as my Ford Escape, which I have to have for my son’s wheelchair.

I am hoping that by 2023, Ford will have knocked out any issues that new designs could possibly have. Does my prepare make sense? — Paul

Expensive Paul: Yes. I like the Mustang Mach E. Good motor vehicle. Good space within. Fantastic electric vary. And, most importantly, you are going to look fantastic in it.

By the way, I get letters all the time from folks who say “I system to purchase just one very last car.” Then they publish all over again five or 10 years later on asking what to buy future. So be optimistic, Paul. You may perhaps have numerous much more many years of car or truck payments remaining in you. I am positive Ford joins me in hoping so.

— Obtained a question about automobiles? Create to Ray in care of King Options, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email by visiting the Auto Discuss web page at cartalk.com.