Noah Michelson (2:12)

I don't have a car and partly that's because I live in Brooklyn and having a car in New York is a nightmare. I don't know how you do it, but also, yeah, I had a car for so long I lived in the Midwest and it was just I didn't know what I was doing. It stressed me out. It's time to get an oil change. What if they tell me I need something? Is it really? Do I need it?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (2:31)

Ah yeah.

Noah Michelson (2:32)

So I'M not doing it wrong, but I feel like at some point I'm gonna have a car again and I'll need to know how to do it. So I am just like a baby looking out at the world, being like, I'm ready to soak up anything that our expert is gonna tell us. What about you? You do have a car?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (2:47)

I do have a car. I was gifted little Toyota Yaris by my favorite uncle before he moved back to India, and I took it, and I was like, yes, let's do this. I have a car in New York City. It's insane. That's a story for another day. I will tell you. I'm definitely doing car maintenance wrong.

Noah Michelson (3:02)

Okay.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (3:03)

I don't pay attention to the sounds and the tire pressure as much as I need to. I also am very defensive about not knowing about cars. So anytime anyone says anything to me, I'm like, ah, I got this. I know, but it's. It's just, like, psychological and weird. So I'm hoping to, like, loosen up a little bit, learn and empower myself and improve the chances of my safety and everyone else on the road. Thank you.

Noah Michelson (3:26)

Well, my friend, you are at the right place because we're gonna help you do it better. We have Kaya Milstein. She is the founder of Mechanic Shop Femme and the author of the Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership. And she has dedicated her career to educating the average car owner, particularly women and queer people about. About their cars.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (3:45)

Vroom, vroom.

Kaya Milstein (3:48)

Vroom.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (3:49)

Kya. Thank you so much for being here. We're so excited to have you.

Kaya Milstein (3:53)

Very excited to be here. Thank you for the opportunity.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (3:55)

We're kind of obsessed with origin stories. We love to hear how you became a car superhero. Can you tell us a little bit about where you got your expertise, how you started?

Kaya Milstein (4:05)

Absolutely. That's definitely something nobody's ever called me, but I like it. I like it. Car superhero. I started working in the automotive industry completely by mistake. I was 18. I was aging out of the foster care system, and I unexpectedly got a job in the automotive industry. Right. It wasn't a job that I had planned for. It wasn't a job I had understood. I didn't even have a driver's license at the time. I used to say I didn't know the difference between a bumper and an oil change. And I came in, you know, Sears Auto center was my first job. And I came in. I have nightmares and about tires falling off of people's cars because I didn't understand how the sizes worked and, you know, and all these problems that I had. And really I think that my experience going into the industry and my experience, you know, with my parents, cars breaking down and all that helped me have the, you know, the empathy that's necessary to do this. You know, I walked in not as a customer to the mechanic shop for the first time, but as an employee at the mechanic shop for the first time. And, and I had to learn everything from the ground up. I asked a million questions and every time a customer would come in and you would see the fear on their face like they had been had such terrible experiences in the automotive industry. They were scared that they were going to get scammed. They were worried about their car. It's just a terrible experience, right? And they would come to me and I would explain to them the problem and I would answer all their questions and I would take the time, frankly, I wouldn't let up on the mechanics until I understood what the issue was so that I can translate that problem to the customer. I went from Milwaukee to Brooklyn. I ended up at one of the largest Sears auto centers in the country. But eventually I decided to start packaging some of that information and knowledge and assistance that I was offering to people by writing a blog. I started my blog and people loved it. People loved to learn about cars. And I was like, oh, there's something here. Then I started teaching automotive classes virtually. And I had a big problem because everybody wanted to learn how to do things, but they were missing the foundations. And I didn't want to teach people how to DIY car repairs. Cars are complicated, they're expensive. Fixing them requires knowledge and time and tools and so much that for the average consumer, it's not the point. It doesn't make sense. So my first class was, how the heck do I buy a used car? Let me help you through that process. So you buy the right car the first time and you have less problems with that car down the road. As my business evolved, I continued working in the automotive industry. I worked in dealerships, I worked in franchises, I worked at an independent shop. And then I ended up in the collision industry eventually. And In April of 2020, I was laid off from my full time job. And I said, well, I guess I'm going to have to try to take this business that I'd been working really hard on and turn it into a full time job. I started writing more, I started speaking more, I started teaching more. I started getting requests from libraries all over the country to teach my virtual classes because suddenly they couldn't have in person programming and I had been teaching virtually for a couple of years at that point. My business grew and my social media content grew and I had the opportunity to write a book that where I was able to take all these classes that I was teaching and all the social content I was doing and all the speaking I was doing and put it in one place, in one easy reference where people could open it and say, okay, today I'm getting an oil change. What do I need to know? Or today I'm hearing the sound from my car, what do I need to know? Or I have this dashlight in my car. What do I need to know? That book was Mechanic Shop Femme's Guide to Car Ownership. And that's sort of, kind of where I am now. My goal with all of this was to empower people through education is to get people to say, I can do this, I'm capable, I know enough, or I know where to get that information. And now I don't have to be so scared. And by not being scared, you're not putting off repairs, causing your safety to be compromised and repairs to become more expensive and more extensive. Some people will replace their cars rather than get the car fixed because that's how much they're afraid of mechanic shops. And that's what I'm trying to fix.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (8:26)

It's a cool story.

Noah Michelson (8:27)

I love that. I also love it too, because the way that I found out about you to have you on the show is that we were going to do this show and several people gave me your social media and they're like, well, you should check out Kya. And I was like, oh. And then I did and I just fell in love with you. And so I think it's really apparent that you love what you do and, and that you want to help people. And I think that that is like the best way to do something.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (8:50)

Yeah. And I think like the elephant in the room, like it's still an industry that women are underrepresented in and femmes and non binary people are underrepresented in. So it's very empowering that you're so knowledgeable in all of this.

Noah Michelson (9:03)

Yeah, completely.

Kaya Milstein (9:05)

Yeah. It's a very white male dominated industry, that's for sure.

Noah Michelson (9:08)

Absolutely. I mean, even also, like, as a queer man, I am terrified to go to an automaker.

Kaya Milstein (9:14)

Right.

Noah Michelson (9:14)

You know what I mean? Just like I'm terrified to go to a tattoo shop or a barber shop anywhere that's like this sort of like cult of masculinity exists. So many people don't feel welcome there. And so to have someone who's, like, demystifying it and saying, no, actually, you do belong there too, or I can help you figure this stuff out. Amazing. So we are going to pick your brain. We have so many questions from listeners. Raj and I have questions. I think one of the things people want to know is, like, how do we save money as car owners? So why don't we start with some of that? Let's start with gasoline. Do we ever want to pay for one of those higher quality gases? I never have in my life, and whenever I go to fill up, like, my mom's car because I don't have a car, I'm like, should I be paying for that? What are those? And what do you think about that?

Kaya Milstein (9:58)

That's a great question. First of all, I have to dispel the myth that it's a higher quality, more expensive gas is not necessarily higher quality. More expensive gas tends to be higher octane gas. And they brand it as premium or mid grade. Right. But that doesn't mean it's a better gas for you. And to be frank, Triple A did a study back in 2016, and they said that Americans waste $2.1 billion per year on premium fuel for vehicles that will not benefit from this fuel.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (10:31)

Oh, my God. I knew it. I knew it was just like the Louis Vuitton of gas.

Kaya Milstein (10:37)

It's not even that it, like, literally provides no benefits, like if people want to take better care of their car, but there's so many other ways to do that. People are putting premium fuel in their car, and they're not getting oil changes on time, and they never check their tire pressure. And, you know, they go to a Jiffy Lube to get their. To get their car serviced. You know what I mean? So if you want to invest in your car, we'll talk about all the different ways that you can do that. Premium fuel doesn't necessarily make a difference. Now, are there exceptions to every single rule? Absolutely. Here's the deal. If you are driving a car and the car requires premium fuel, the manufacturer says that it requires premium fuel. You should absolutely be using premium fuel in that vehicle. However, most cars don't require premium fuel. Okay? The regular car that you're driving to school to work, that's not turbocharged, and it's not a sports car. It's not a luxury vehicle, and it's nothing fancy. It doesn't need premium fuel. And if it does, owner's manual will say so.

Noah Michelson (11:35)

Okay.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (11:36)

Okay. I've. I Have a car. Never seen the owner's manual. I need to stop anthropomorphizing her and being like, do you want a little treat? Here's some premium gas. Okay, so no premium gas for my 2007 Yaris.

Noah Michelson (11:48)

Right?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (11:48)

Good. Right.

Kaya Milstein (11:49)

But let me tell you by your owner's manual real quick, because I can help you with that. Okay, so I know the owner's manual in your glove box is very intimidating. Right. It's big and thick and it has all these tiny letters. And you have to learn how to use an index because I know most of us millennials don't use that on a regular basis. Right. To figure out what you're looking for and whatever. I have a better solution. The better solution is a digital owner's manual. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to Google. You said it was a 2007 Yaris.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (12:16)

Yeah.

Kaya Milstein (12:17)

Okay, so you're going to Google 2007 Toyota Yaris owner's manual, and you're going to find a digital one, usually right on the manufacturer's website. But it's easier to find it if you Google it rather than try to find it on their website. Right. You're going to go into this owner's manual and you're going to use control F to find what you're looking for.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (12:36)

I love a control.

Noah Michelson (12:38)

Yes.

Kaya Milstein (12:39)

And the most important thing in your owner's manual is going to be your maintenance schedule, how often you should be doing services for your vehicle. Because a lot of times when we talk about cars and car problems and everything, we're talking about fixing problems that already happened. But I want to take us back from that. Let's help prevent those problems from happening in the first place. And that's preventive maintenance. And that's the information you're going to find in your owner's manual that's going to help prevent you from being like, oh, what, I need this extra $150 service I didn't prepare for and there's nothing wrong with my car. Well, now you can budget for it. Now you can prepare for it. Now you know, when those things are.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (13:14)

Coming up, this episode is going to be life changing for me.

Noah Michelson (13:18)

I just want to say I hope this is inappropriate, but, like, I'm so turned on right now, and I don't even have a. Like, I'm not. But I'm just like, we are getting such, like, the secret.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (13:28)

No, it's really helpful.

Noah Michelson (13:30)

What. What would you say, Kaia, Is there a way to save Money on gas. Is there something that we can do just every day or when we're driving? Give us a secret.

Kaya Milstein (13:40)

Okay, so there's quite a few things you could do to save money on gas. I will say that one of the ones that I talk about most frequently is your tire pressure. Checking and adjusting your tire pressure has so many benefits to your vehicle and your pocket and, and your safety, right? So if you check your tire pressure, if you have tire pressure sensors and those tire pressure sensors are working, you can check your tire pressure once a month. If you have tire pressure sensors and they're not working or you do not have them, your car was made before 2008, then you should be checking your tire pressure at least twice a month. So here's what you're doing when you're checking or adjusting your tire pressure. You are helping yourself save money on gas because tires that are improperly inflated are going to cause you to spend more on gas. You are saving yourself money on tires because tires that are properly inflated will last close to 5,000 miles more than tires that haven't been properly inflated. That's like close to five months of extra driving. And tires are expensive. If you've put tires on your car, you know you're looking at 7, 8, 9 and up from there, especially if you have a larger vehicle and SUV like most of us. So, and that's not even enough. So you're going to save money on gas, you're going to save by not having to replace your tires as frequently and you're going to make your car safer while you're driving for you and for everyone else around you on the road. I think in 2020 there were, I believe it was over 600 deaths directly in linked to tires on our roadways. And keep in mind, 2020 was also the year that we did the least amount of driving probably in recent history. So so many of us were working from home. So that's another reason. So we have tire pressure. If you have a problem with your car, if your check engine light is on, your car is going to be using more gas and more in most circumstances. Fixing that is going to help prevent those problems from getting worse and more expensive and, and also help you in gas properly, maintaining your car, getting your oil changes done when your oil changes need to be done. Use cruise control. That's another big one. If you're driving on open roads or highways, cruise control tends to be able to manage your, your gas use a little more efficiently than you do. But it of course depends on your Specific driving. Another thing is if you have bike racks or roof racks on top of your vehicle, take those off when you're not using them. Close your windows when you're driving at highway speeds, if you're trying to save money on gas, okay, Everybody always goes wild. I don't want to. I like driving on the highway with my windows open. Then do you. Nobody say, you got to stop. It's not like a problem. It just costs you a little bit more money. But maybe that's worth it to you.

Noah Michelson (16:27)

Why does having your windows open cost? What's. What's the cause and effect there?

Kaya Milstein (16:32)

It's aerodynamics. So you have your windows open, the air is blowing through, and it's the same thing as with your bike racks and your roof tracks. You're messing with the aerodynamics that were developed in your vehicle. So it's like when you're driving on regular roads, not at highway speeds, keeping your windows open and your air conditioning off is usually the best bet. But if you're driving on highway speeds. Now we're getting into a little bit of a more difficult territory.

Noah Michelson (16:58)

Okay, okay.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (16:59)

Fascinating. And do these kind of guidelines also pertain to electric vehicles? How do people save electricity?

Kaya Milstein (17:06)

So for electric vehicles, when it comes to, like, saving money on electricity, there's a few things that you can do. One, charge your car at home whenever possible. Charging at public charging stations is. Tends to be more expensive, sometimes a lot more expensive than charging the car at home. Secondly, some areas have different rates for electricity depending on the time that the electricity is being used. I don't live in one of those areas, but my understanding is that some, like in nighttime hours when there's not as many people using electricity, the cost is lower. If you live in one of these areas with tiered prices, charging your car when the rates are the lowest are often going to be your best bet. And in some of the electric vehicle apps, you can actually set, like, the time frame for when the car will charge and up to what charge you're going to charge the vehicle.

Noah Michelson (17:59)

So.

Kaya Milstein (18:00)

So you can, like, pull your car into your garage at night or into your driveway, and you can plug it in and it won't start charging until you tell it to in some cars.

Noah Michelson (18:08)

I love that.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (18:09)

Fascinating.

Kaya Milstein (18:10)

The other thing is, with electric vehicles, if you're living in an area where it gets very cold, the heat saps the power in your vehicle, and you'll get far less range than you would in times when you're not using the heat. So sometimes what people will do is they'll turn on their seat warmers and, and their steering wheel warmers and use that to kind of supplement or replace the heat if the heat isn't completely necessary to get a little bit more range.

Noah Michelson (18:39)

Very tricky. I like that. We have a listener question from Cambria. She said, if I don't drive a lot, definitely not 10,000 miles in six months, should I still get the premium oil change or is a regular oil change fine?

Kaya Milstein (18:55)

That's a great question. So a couple things here. The average American driver drives 12 to 15,000 miles a year, so about 6,000 miles, 6 to 7,000 miles every six months. So driving less than 10,000, definitely not a problem. Second part to this question is about the premium oil change. There really isn't a premium versus regular oil change. When it comes to oil. There are different types of oil, and, and these different types of oil depend on the specific needs of your particular vehicle rather than your specific driving habits. So there's synthetic oil, there's synthetic blend oil, which we won't get into, and then there's your organic or your conventional or your regular, however you want to call it, type of oil, right? For decades, this conventional organic oil was used in the vast majority of vehicles. And. And that's the oil that you have to replace every three months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first. But as car technology developed, synthetic oil, which was already being used in luxury vehicles and hybrids in sports cars and things like that, has come over to the average vehicle side of things. This synthetic oil is more expensive, but it also tends to last much longer than your organic oil, so sometimes double or longer what your organic oil cost last. So even if it costs more, double, usually it's the right oil for your car, which will help maintain your engine, which is one of the most expensive components in your vehicle. It will help get you the best fuel efficiency as well. And using the correct type of oil is going to maintain your warranty, right? So it doesn't matter how much driving you're doing. The oil that you should be using in your car is the oil that the manufacturer says should go into your vehicle. If they say it should be synthetic, synthetic should go into your car. Now, if your car calls for organic oil, sometimes people will put synthetic oil instead. But that's a whole nother conversation for another time. But if it calls for what I'm guessing you're calling premium oil, then yes, absolutely, that should be the oil you use. And even if you are not driving, the oil will still break down. It will just break down differently. Based on the car just sitting. So when you're driving the car, you're getting all the grit and grime and the that comes with driving, right? But when you're not driving, the oil isn't just, you know, it's not just sitting and doing the same thing. It's still going to be breaking down. So you definitely want to still continue to change it on a regular basis.

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Kaya Milstein (22:22)

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Raj Punjabi Johnson (23:05)

Okay, let's talk about the opposite of saving money. Because having a car can be expensive. And let's say, like me, you're on a budget. What do we want to make sure that we're spending on? Right? Is it, you talked about tires. Is it tires? Is it the brake pads? Is it a fan belt? I don't know what a fan belt is. I've just heard people say fan belt. When my car is making this noise, where should I be spending my money?

Kaya Milstein (23:31)

Yeah.

Noah Michelson (23:31)

Or like fancy windshield wipers. Like, if someone's gonna splurge, where do you think they should splurge?

Kaya Milstein (23:38)

Okay, great. I love this question. Great question. That said, if your belt is squealing, you need to replace your belt because it's bad and not because you're splurging on your car. Because it's gonna cost you a lot more money if you don't. Sounds like you are familiar with that. Roger. Sounds like you're familiar with that sound. Replace your belt, because otherwise the belt will break. And if you have one single drive belt, it could screw up your alternator, it could screw up your water pump. It could cause significant amount of damage. You have your. You know.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (24:10)

Does that sound I made sound like a bad fan belt to you? I'm getting free mechanic advice.

Kaya Milstein (24:15)

So if you turn. I can't diagnose your car over the Internet, but if you turn your car on and you open your engine and the squealing is coming from underneath your hood, it's likely that it's an issue related to the belt system.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (24:27)

Okay.

Kaya Milstein (24:27)

There are other.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (24:28)

Sorry, returning to our regular programming.

Kaya Milstein (24:29)

No, there are other squealing sounds, like from your brakes and so forth. Right. So, number one, if there's something wrong with the car, it needs to be fixed. It's not a splurge to get that thing. Okay. If you have extra money laying around beyond all the stuff that you already need to be doing for your vehicle, getting better tires is definitely a good option. Tires are what's between you and the road. Tires are going to determine how fast you can stop. They're going to determine how your traction is in snow and ice and rain there. They have a lot of direct correlation to the comfort of your vehicle while you're driving. Like, if you have a fancy car, you put shitty tires on it, it's going to change the ride of the car. Right. So tires are definitely a good place to invest. If you do not have a good quality relationship mechanic, you need one of those. Okay. And I wouldn't consider that a splurge again. I would consider that just a regular part of being a good car owner. This will help you trust the people who are fixing your car because you've developed a relationship with them and you're not there when there's an emergency. Like, you've been fixing your. You're good getting your oil changes left, right, and center. And then all of a sudden there's this big emergency and you have to go find a new mechanic to deal with and have them help you. Right. A lot of people skip the maintenance that they should be doing with their vehicle. Yeah. So before you consider spending extra on stuff that isn't necessary, I'd want you to go back and make sure that you're doing everything you already should be doing for your car? Are you checking your tire pressure? Do you have an inflator where you can inflate your tires at home yourself? Do you have a jump starter that you can use to jumpstart your own car instead of having to ask a stranger in a frozen parking lot and late at night? Right.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (26:21)

I want to ask the triple A question as a follow up, please. I have triple A. I think it's phenomenal. I've used it many times. How do you feel about, do you feel like if you're pretty car savvy, you don't need aaa? Like, how valuable is that membership?

Kaya Milstein (26:34)

The difference between whether you need roadside assistance or not, regardless of whether it's through aaa, really has to do with how much money you have, right? If you have enough money that if there's a car emergency, you're going to call the towing company and you're going to spend your 3, 4, 500 or however many dollars it is to tow your car and that's not going to hurt you, then you don't need roadside assistance, right? But if you're somebody who's going to make decisions about whether to tow their vehicle or not based on whether you can afford the tow and not based on the safety of the vehicle, then 100% get roadside assistance. Now here's the thing with triple A. Specifically, I write for Triple A for Via magazine. I love triple A. Triple A is expensive, right? And if you're somebody who's in that position where finances is a big concern for you, AAA might not be the best option because you might just say, that's too expensive. I'm just going to skip it. Roadside assistance is available through all sorts of different providers and it can be a lot less expensive. Now that's not to say triple A doesn't have its benefits. Triple A will often tow further, sometimes have better service providers, have better customer service. They have all kinds of other benefits that go with aaa. For example, I don't know if you know this, but they will also tow a bike that's broken down. The one time I had triple A was because my wife, she didn't drive at the time. My wife just got her driver's license a couple of years ago and she had an electric tricycle and she decided to tricycle her way to work one day. And on her way back, the battery, it was her first electric tricycle. She had just gotten it, the battery fell out of the back of the, of the thing and it went, oh, My God. Right. Got damaged. Now, here's the thing. This tricycle is giant, and you cannot fit it into a car. And she's far away now. So it turns out AAA will send a flatbed tow truck for your bicycle if you have aaa. So I. I did end up getting it for that. But AAA is one option. Your car insurance provider probably offers roadside assistance for 1 to $3 per month. That's a lot less than what AAA would cost.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (28:47)

Okay. So I. I'm comparing it to health insurance. Like the roadside assistance. Like, you can kind of choose. But that's a slippery slope, right? That comparison.

Kaya Milstein (28:56)

Yeah. Like, I don't know if I'd compare it to.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (29:00)

Yeah.

Kaya Milstein (29:01)

If you get the wrong health insurance, you might be in debt for the rest of your life. Right, Right. If you get the wrong roadside assistance, maybe you won't get a tow truck when you need one. Or your tow will be limited to 10 miles or 15 miles or something like that rather than 50 miles. So the ultimate impact of that is significantly reduced. Now, I will say if you frequently take road trips or you work really far from home, getting something like AAA and making sure you get enough miles to get you back to where you're supposed to be and all that is very important. But for the average consumer and the average driver that needs roadside assistance and is deciding whether they should get it or not based on whether they can afford it, options like going through your insurance are, you know, a great alternative and something that I utilize myself makes sense.

Noah Michelson (29:57)

I want to know what you think are, like, two or three things that the average person who is not handy doesn't really know car maintenance at all that they should be doing at home, and that could save them money. I always remember, like, maybe I'm having, like, an implanted memory. Like, I feel like I remember my friend's dads, like, changing their own oil. And that seemed like such a mystical. I was like, I would never know how to do that.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (30:20)

Yeah.

Noah Michelson (30:21)

Is that something a normal person should do? What can we do if we own a car that we're going to save money by just doing it in our garage or our driveway?

Kaya Milstein (30:28)

Sometimes people will come to me and they'll say, I want to learn how to do my oil change. But they're not doing any of the fundamentals and basics when it comes to how they should be taking care of their car at home between visits to the mechanic. And then they're taking away their most frequent contact with the mechanic by doing their oil change at all. So now not only are you changing your own oil, something that you probably Learned using a YouTube video, not doing anything else that your car needs. Now you're missing the opportunity to have your car checked out by a mechanic every time you get an oil change to make sure everything is operating the way that it should. And there's nothing that you're missing by the time you get to a mechanic, you might end up in a position where problems are significantly worse than they could have been had you just been taking your car in regularly.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (31:16)

So we want to go to the mechanic to get our oil change, but what are the basic things you're talking about that we could do, like prevention related things?

Kaya Milstein (31:25)

There are things that you should be doing at home between visits to your mechanic. We talked about tire pressure, right? So that's once or twice a month, depending on your car, right? Checking your oil level. A lot of these things that you're doing with your vehicle, like checking your oil level, paying attention to your car is not as much about finding a problem every single time you look. And it's about getting a baseline. Here's what things are supposed to look like, right? No, you keep talking about how you don't know anything about cars and you don't know anything about fixing them. And changing your oil is dismissive, mythical thing, right? If you don't know what your car is supposed to do and how it's supposed to behave and what things are supposed to look like, you don't know when there's a problem. So here's what you're doing. You're opening your hood every month and you're checking your oil level. During this time, you are getting a sense of what's under the hood supposed to look like. What's the oil supposed to look like? What are all these things supposed to work? Now, a year and a half down the line, you open your hood and suddenly there's green powder around your battery. You say, oh, I should probably get that looked at, right? Or you open your hood, you pull out your dipstick, and suddenly the oil is a lot murkier and filled with little specks that you've never seen before. Oh, this is something I need to address. You open your hood and something looks weird or funky or discolored or unusual. This gives you an opportunity to go in advance to the mechanic and say, hey, is something wrong? Is this something I have to fix before that things gets worse, right? So check your oil level. Listen to your car. So many of us are driving with the radio up, and if something's wrong, we're turning the radio up a little higher, pretending it doesn't exist. My friends, it only gets worse and it only gets more expensive. Once you take your car to the mechanic to get something checked out, you can always make a decision to not get the service or repair done. But you cannot undo significant damage that's been caused by not catching it in time. Brakes are a good example of that. Right. Listen to your car at once a week. Roll down your windows, drive, and just pay attention to how the car sounds. You're not looking for anything wrong. You're just getting a baseline. One day you start hearing a squealing sound every time you're pressing on the brakes. That sound wasn't there before. You notice that there's something wrong, you go in and you get your brakes checked. And all you need is some brake pads. If you miss the squealing sound and you get to the point where it's a grinding sound, now you need pads and rotors. You've effectively almost doubled the cost of your repair for most vehicles. And if you continue past the grinding, then we have a whole nother situation. So check your oil, check your tire pressure, listen to your car. Those are going to be big ones. There's a lot of other things that you could do to maintain your vehicle. You can check your other fluids. You can look at the condition of your belt, you can look at the condition of your battery. You can brush off that powder off your battery to help it expand dead, its life a little bit more. But those three are like the first ones that I would focus on and sort of the big ones that I want to pay attention to.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (34:37)

Okay. I have a follow up. Do you have these, like, baseline things somewhere on your social media? Because as much as I love pulling out my dipstick as much as the rest of the world, I really didn't even know what that looks like or what that's supposed to be.

Noah Michelson (34:49)

But you know what I also want to say too is that, like, I'm such a. I'm so afraid of technology and like, I hate it. But it's great that we live in a world now where you can go on YouTube.

Kaya Milstein (34:58)

Yes.

Noah Michelson (34:59)

And there will be 12,000 people who are like, I'm going to show you how to check your oil.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (35:03)

This is what your under the hood is supposed to look like.

Noah Michelson (35:06)

Yeah. So I'm assuming you probably have it on your social media, but you can also find this in a lot of places. Yeah.

Kaya Milstein (35:12)

Yes. So I do have fundamentals like checking your tire pressure and checking your oil. Level and all of that on TikTok and on Instagram at Mechanic Shop them on all the different platforms. I also teach car classes that are virtual, where I walk through all the different maintenance that your car needs. Everything about tires, if you want to buy an electric car, stuff like that. I offer consultations where you can just call for 30 minutes and ask me all your car questions. Not that I'm going to diagnose your car or fix your car, but I'm going to help you understand the things your mechanic is saying or the problems you're having. You're too worried about taking your car to the mechanic. Something like that. And then, of course, I wrote a book, Mechanic Shop BEM's Guide to Car Ownership. It does not have video tutorials in the book, but it has a lot of information that would help you understand these things. And then you can get a visual tutorial for some things. You need a vehicle specific tutorial. So let's say you do want to change your own oil or you want to change your own air filter or something like that. I suggest you look up a vehicle specific tutorial. If we go back to your 2007 Yaris, you would want to look up 2007 Toyota Yaris Air filter tutorial. And then going back to your question about things you can do at home yourself, we talked about three different things that you're doing to make sure your car is operating the way that it should. There are some things you can also do in between visits to the mechanic or instead of the mechanic that are very hard to mess up, and that will help you save a little bit of money and that will make you feel connected with your vehicle and want to take care of it. Things like that would be like replacing your engine air filter, which is located underneath your hood, and it helps filter the air that your car is breathing because your vehicle uses gas and air combined in order for you to accelerate. And then another option is the cabin air filter, which does the same, but it filters the air that you breathe inside the cabin of your vehicle.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (37:10)

Okay, so I understand the importance of going to the mechanic, the expert. Like, I'm not out here doing my own highlights. You're not doing your own tattoos. We respect the expert.

Kaya Milstein (37:18)

Right.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (37:19)

So when you go to the mechanic and they say that you need a repair.

Noah Michelson (37:22)

Yeah.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (37:23)

What are the questions you need to be asking them? Because when I go to the dentist, I'm like, how long can I go without filling this? Because it's $700 before my, like, mouth falls out. So what should we be asking, is it, should we ever be trying to delay anything? Urgency, like.

Noah Michelson (37:36)

But that is such a good point actually about the dentist. Because I also feel like when I'm at the dentist, I'm like, I can't see in my own mouth, really. I don't know what to look for. I'm just going to blindly trust you. Do I really need that filling? And this is how I also feel about auto mechanics. And they also have a reputation where I'm like, do I really need that change? Are you just trying to get money out of me? Especially I think again, if you aren't a mask guy, there is this idea that they're going to take advantage of you. So I think that's a great question.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (38:04)

I'm like, they're like, ma', am, your bumper has fallen off. I'm like, no, it hasn't.

Noah Michelson (38:08)

Right. So, yeah, what do you think about that?

Kaya Milstein (38:12)

I want to take us back to when we were talking about a relationship mechanic. Having a mechanic that you go to for all of your services year in and year out that you develop this relationship with, you also develop a certain level of trust in this person that helps a huge amount in these sorts of situations. When you have a problem because it's somebody that you've already dealt with, it's not some creepy guy that you've exacerbated in your head based on movies you've watched and your parent stories and social media videos and all of that, right? At the end of the day, independent mechanic shops are small businesses, right? And most small businesses have a. People have a level of trust in them that they don't necessarily have in major corporations and other places. But mechanics are not afforded that trust for a myriad of different reasons, right? There's the, the cultural and media portrayal of mechanics. There's the, the history of misogyny and, you know, homophobia and sexism and racism in the automotive industry. There's the fact that the automotive industry is hyper conservative and, you know, male dominated and white male, straight male dominated in particular. And it's considered like blue collar work, right? So there's that. But there's also great mechanics out there. And if every time throughout the life of your car, you take your car to a different shop, if every time there's something going on with your car, you can't find somebody to trust, that's not a great way to live your life, right? And that's a way that your car becomes something you fear. And going to the mechanic to get proper maintenance, which is to Prevent problems from happening is something you delay and you put off and you. And ultimately exacerbate problems. So the number one thing that you can do to be able to make these big car decisions is to find a mechanic you trust. And I like to, to sort of look at finding a mechanic, kind of like dating, right. First of all, you have to go in with some level of trust, a baseline, human to human. I'm going to at least hear you through. A lot of times people walk into the mechanic shop and they're angry, they're frustrated, and their car just fell apart and they know they're going to spend so much money and they take it all out on the person in front of them and they won't trust a single thing that comes out of their mouth. Right. So a take it like dating. First of all, you don't want to wait until you want to get married to date, right? You want to start dating early on. So I suggest you start looking for a mechanic when you do not need one.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (40:44)

Right?

Kaya Milstein (40:44)

Okay, you need an oil change. You're thinking about buying your car. Now is a great time to start. Take your car in for service. First. You want to start with like putting up a Facebook post and looking in your local spaces and saying, hey, what are mechanics that people trust? And then kind of make a list. You have a few options and take your car to the first place on the list. I'm going to take my car in for an oil change. Oil change is a great example because not only are they changing your oil and usually rotating your tires, but they're taking a look over your vehicle. It gives you a chance to ask them questions and to have that sort of back and forth to begin to build that relationship. So mechanic does an oil change and they come to you and they say usually they're going to call you, right? They're going to call you and they say, hey, your car needs coolant to be replaced and your brake pads are starting to get low and you know your belt is probably going to need to be replaced soon. Right? Your first question is, why do I need these? Can you explain to me what's wrong with the car? What is the reason that I need these services? Is something broken? Is this maintenance? What's the reason that I need this? Why do I need this? Can you show me the problem? If there's a problem, can you show it to me either by you walking up to the car and them showing you where the problem is or by sending you pictures or something like that. Now keep in Mind, you can't show everything. There are some things that you can't show inherently. For example, you need to replace your coolant based on a specific time frame, which you can find in your owner's manual. They're not gonna be able to show you that necessarily the coolant's bad because there's nothing wrong with your car. It's just something you do for preventive maintenance. But they could certainly show you brake pads and worn tires and bad control arms and a whole host of things that your car might need. Why does it need this? Can you show it to me on my car? Can you prioritize these repairs? You say, I need these three things done. I cannot afford to do all of them today. What's the most important? What could I hold off on? And if I hold off on it, how long do you suggest that I hold off? Sometimes there aren't going to be things you can hold off on. Right. If you need tires and brakes at the control arm, you might not have an option to hold off on one of these things if there's a serious problem going on with the vehicle. But if you need coolant and brake pads and eventually a belt, then, you know, I need my brake pads first, belt second, and coolant third. That's the way you're going to prioritize it, because you prioritize safety. Then you prioritize things that are going to cause a safety problem within a short period of time, and then preventive maintenance, maintenance that prevents problems from happening in the future. So you're going to go in for this oil change, you're going to have the conversations, you're going to look at the car, and then you're going to go home and you're going to assess how you felt about the situation. Did it feel like they were being honest with you? Did it feel like they were explaining to you the problems your car had in language that you can understand? Now, that doesn't mean that the first thing that comes out of their mouth is something that you understand, but that they're willing to explain it to you until you do understand it. Did I feel respected? Did I feel heard? Okay, we're not saying you're going to have some glamorous situation. It's a first date. It's a first experience. Is it okay? Do I feel good? Does my gut feel good about it? Okay, next time I need a service, I'm going to go back there. And then next time I need a service, I'm going to go back there. And every time I'M going to evaluate how I feel about this interaction and I'm going to build on that until this is a place that I can trust. There are shops like that. Okay, I've got cookies for my customers. There was a customer who I went to every year for Christmas for three years. Okay, there are great shops out there. There are great mechanics out there. There are people who care. There are also people that are hardened from being screamed at and yelled at and accused and threatened and believe that they are the bottom of the barrel in the industry. So walk in, treat people with humanity and basic respect, and if it's not the right shop for you, move on to the next one. Right. And at the end of the day, the only thing you can do is trust yourself. So many people in car situations don't trust their gut. They're like, oh, I don't know anything about cars, so how do I know if they're saying something wrong? Well, it's not really about cars. It's about interpersonal communications. It's about. That's right, right. Like, hello, is this person somebody who, if I give them an honest chance, do I feel like they're doing their best? And if you don't go to the next shop, and maybe after a couple of these, you'll discover that the first shop was actually great. And you just have a lot of trauma around going to the mechanic shop. But that's sort of where to start.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (45:12)

I have to say my dad's mechanic's name is George. I don't even know the name of the auto shop. Shout out to George in New Jersey. My dad would not dream of taking his car, my mom's car, or my car to anyone else.

Noah Michelson (45:25)

Yeah.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (45:25)

The loyalty is unparalleled. And I get it now that I hear you talking. It's like you find someone you trust, they're not gonna lie to you. They're gonna keep it a hundred with you. You're gonna stay with them.

Noah Michelson (45:35)

I also love what you said about, you know, asking around, putting something on Instagram or Facebook and saying, who do you go to? Does someone have a mechanic that that they love should go to George. Go to George.

Kaya Milstein (45:45)

Exactly.

Noah Michelson (45:46)

And we also learned this in our online shopping episode where look at some reviews. People love to leave a review now. And especially look at those three star reviews because a lot of times the one star people who just want to complain, the five star might not be taking everything.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (46:02)

They might be sleeping with George.

Noah Michelson (46:03)

Yeah, exactly.

Kaya Milstein (46:04)

He knew those three stars.

Noah Michelson (46:06)

But the three stars are pretty going to be right down the middle and usually pretty honest. So that's a good way to also to have a look.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (46:12)

I love that tip.

Kaya Milstein (46:14)

Did you ever leave George a good review on Google?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (46:16)

I've left him a good word of mouth review.

Noah Michelson (46:18)

Right.

Kaya Milstein (46:19)

But no good review on Google.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (46:21)

No.

Kaya Milstein (46:21)

Should I, should you not?

Noah Michelson (46:24)

You definitely said if the people who.

Kaya Milstein (46:26)

Are leaving reviews, especially when it comes to mechanic shops, okay, this isn't a restaurant or a, you know, a store or something that you, that you review in that specific way. Most people, when they have, when they're going to review a mechanic shop, it's because they have problems with the mechanic shop. So sometimes I have a hard time looking at reviews for mechanic shops for this particular reason. Right. But that's not to say that you should discount them completely and of course your three star, your two star, your four star reviews. But also looking at how the owner responds to those reviews is a big.

Noah Michelson (46:59)

Oh, that's a great point.

Kaya Milstein (47:02)

Because sometimes you could see the character of a person if they're responding themselves rather than like a PR agent or something like that. What I do normally recommend when somebody is going out to look for a mechanic instead of posting, hey, what are the worst mechanic shops out there? So I could avoid them. Don't do that. You're going to get all the horror stories. You're not going to end up at any mechanics.

Noah Michelson (47:22)

Right?

Kaya Milstein (47:23)

Say, hey, what is your favorite mechanic? Do you have a mechanic that your family's been going to year over year over year? Kind of like George, right? Can you tell me your favorite shops? And then you're going to look at those comments. And usually I suggest posting these things in like hyperlocal Facebook groups, hyperlocal WhatsApp groups, if that's what your community does. Next door is another option, even though nextdoor is accessible. But for something like this, asking your friends and family and people who live in your area, hey, what are, what is the mechanic that you've been going to for a long time that you love, that you can recommend and you're going to see there's quickly going to be a theme. There's going to be two, three shops that people are going to recommend over and over again. Those are the shops that you want to put on your list. Those are the shops that you want to go to first. And sometimes hearing people's horror stories is the opposite of helpful. Yeah, yeah.

Noah Michelson (48:18)

Do we want to go to one of those mom and pop shops or independent shops versus like going to the dealership?

Kaya Milstein (48:25)

For most people, going to your local independent mechanic Shop is going to be the best option for most services right now. There's going to be times you're going to have to go to the dealer and you should go to a mechanic that will advise you to go to the dealer when those situations occur. A good mechanic isn't just somebody who does every single thing on the vehicle. A good mechanic is somebody who has a network of other shops that specialize in certain things. For example, most independent mechanic shops do not do full service transmission work. It's a specialty. It takes up their base for too long. They don't have enough space or time or, you know, sometimes the knowledge to do that. They should have a good transmission guy to send you to that's going to be able to fix the transmission on your vehicle when they cannot do so. If you have a recall on your vehicle, they should recommend that you go to the dealership. If your glass is broken, they might have a suggestion for a local glass person. When I worked at a franchise shop in Brooklyn, I had a stack of business cards from a bunch of different specialty spots that if it was something that we weren't going to be able to handle, that we'll still be able to send you to to somebody who will. That's not because we're getting kickbacks. It's because we know that this is somebody who we trust to do service on our vehicles and we're going to trust to do service on yours. So, so that's a big one. So, yes, independent shops, for most customers, for most cars, for most services, are going to be your best bet. They're going to cost less, they're going to treat you better, they're going to be able to get you in faster in most cases. Now, there are times we have to go to the dealership, you have a recall, you have a specific problem that is specific to this vehicle, or on the flip side of things, you have a problem that your mechanic would love to fix, but the car manufacturer is restricting access to the data or tools necessary to do that. And that's where we all have to advocate for the right to repair. The right to repair our phones and our washing machines and our cars and everything else, not just so that we could fix them ourself in our own driveway, but so that the mechanic we choose to hire to fix our car is able to access all the necessary tools and data to make that happen.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (50:28)

Okay, we talked a little bit about this already, but if there's any other tips you can give someone like me who is not a white CIS straight Man going to the mechanic to make myself feel more comfortable and empowered and not skeptical. Although this industry has generally marginalized me and made me feel weird. Um, anything else you want to talk about? If we're newbies and we. We want to start this, this mechanic relationship, absolutely.

Kaya Milstein (50:55)

Here's the thing. You need to give yourself more credit. Okay. You are capable, you are confident. You know what you're doing in every other area of your life. There is no reason why going into a mechanic shop should be any different. Women make 85% of all car buying decisions in the United States. Even when there is a man sitting in that chair buying the car, there is a woman on the phone telling him what to get and what to say and how to negotiate. Okay. When you walk into a mechanic shop, you are often far more educated than the man who walks in after you. I don't know how else to say this because of the fear and the societal implications and the history of repairs. And women have been conditioned. Women, people of color, queer folks, marginalized, people of all backgrounds have been conditioned to fear this space. Yeah, it's your money, it's your car. The power is in your hands. You need to trust yourself when you walk into that space. Not just trust yourself that you're going to make the right decisions. Trust yourself that you're going to be able to. That if something feels off that it. It's okay to walk away and go to the next place. Now, that's not me saying that if you have some major problem with your car, you should say, hey, I. I think you're lying to me. So I'm just gonna go home and pretend this doesn't exist. Okay?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (52:21)

Right.

Kaya Milstein (52:22)

Go get a second opinion and make sure that that's the case. But remember, going back to what I said about trusting your gut. We spend our whole lives dealing with other people. Co workers, friends, neighbors, strangers in the subway and the grocery store. Teachers, professionals, all these different people in our lives that we develop a sense of knowing when somebody's being genuine, when somebody's being honest, when something doesn't feel right and doesn't feel wrong. Right. All of those senses and all of that history that you bring inside to the shop with you, it's important that you are okay with trusting that and leaning on it, regardless of what your knowledge is about your vehicle, because that's not as important as paying attention to how the interaction is going and how you feel about the situation and. And all of those kinds of things. So that would be probably the top of my list of Things, you gotta trust yourself, believe in yourself. And you have way more knowledge going into these spaces than you think. And I really believe that education is empowerment and education is power in these spaces. So if you're afraid, well, use that to your advantage by learning and reading and watching videos and taking the time to at least get a foundation to what car maintenance should be, to what car repair should be, to what car emergency should be. Right. You don't have to fix the car to get that foundation.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (53:47)

And it's never been easier to obtain information, truly. Like, it's never been easier to be like, what should this look like? Or whatever.

Noah Michelson (53:54)

I feel like I've just been in like a teen movie that has like a really rousing pep. You know what I mean?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (54:01)

The riveter. Right now I'm like, let's go.

Noah Michelson (54:03)

Yeah, I'm very empowered. I don't want a car. But now I'm kind of like, I, I need a car.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (54:10)

No, you do need a car. And I can do to reach your highest potential.

Noah Michelson (54:13)

I mean, that is a gift that you have, Kaya, because.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (54:17)

No, I feel very motivated.

Kaya Milstein (54:19)

Yeah, I'm very glad. And don't forget, you can always say no and you can walk away. And that's hard. It's especially hard when you're getting pressured.

Noah Michelson (54:28)

Yeah.

Kaya Milstein (54:28)

But you can always choose to say no and walk away and get a second opinion. You can always say, hey, I need to sleep on this. Or you can just not answer the phone if they're pressuring you. Right. Take your car in, drop it off. There's an issue with that. Let them leave a voicemail and sleep on it and then, you know, get back to it a little bit more confident the next day.

Noah Michelson (54:51)

Beautiful.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (54:51)

I love it.

Noah Michelson (54:52)

Kya, thank you for being here. This was such a pleasure.

Kaya Milstein (54:55)

Thank you so much for having me. I truly appreciate this opportunity.

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Noah Michelson (56:41)

And now it's time for better in five. These are your top five takeaways from this episode.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (56:45)

Number one, your owner's manual is really your best friend. Tells you exactly what your car needs, and you can find digital version online. Control F Nation.

Noah Michelson (56:54)

Control F. Number two, one easy thing you can do right now is check your tire pressure. Maybe not right now, but. But today. Yeah, it's going to save you money on gas and it's going to keep you safe.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (57:05)

Number three, look for a mechanic you trust before you need one. Shout out to Georgia, New Jersey, and ask your friends and family for their favorite.

Noah Michelson (57:13)

Number four, listen to your car and take a look under the hood so you have a baseline of what normal looks like.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (57:20)

When you hear that Eee, eee, eee.

Noah Michelson (57:21)

You know that is not normal.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (57:23)

That's not. And last but not least, if you're told that you need repairs, ask them why if they can show you. And to prioritize the urgency. Depending on how deep your pockets are, you might only want to pay for one.

Noah Michelson (57:37)

Raj, that was quite an episode. So I have to ask you, were you doing car maintenance wrong?

Raj Punjabi Johnson (57:43)

Oh, without a doubt. So wrong.

Kaya Milstein (57:45)

So wrong.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (57:46)

I don't want to be right.

Kaya Milstein (57:46)

No.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (57:47)

But I also realize I am holding onto a lot of shame and animosity about, you know, not knowing about this stuff, feeling like I'm purposely left out of these circles. And Kya is right. It's really about education and empowerment and. And listening to her made me want to go to YouTube and learn some things and be safer about all of it. So I feel better overall and I won't do it as wrong perhaps in the future. What about you?

Noah Michelson (58:12)

It was really empowering.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (58:14)

Very empowering.

Noah Michelson (58:14)

I loved when she was like, you walk into that shop and you own a car and you have money to pay for it and act like it.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (58:20)

I'm gonna crash in there like the Kool Aid man.

Noah Michelson (58:23)

Yeah. And I also love that she said too, there are great mechanics out there. There are great women mechanics out there. There are great queer mechanics out there. And, like, I think it's probably time for us to, you know, be smart. Not just put our trust in someone we don't know, but, like, not just paint everyone with the same paintbrush.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (58:38)

Yeah.

Noah Michelson (58:39)

And if we go in with some of the advice we got today and asking our friends and family for their. Their thoughts, like, we're going to be really well situated to, To. To win, basically.

Kaya Milstein (58:49)

Yeah.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (58:49)

We're better off than we think we are in these situations.

Noah Michelson (58:52)

Yeah. But it's nice to have someone just say that to our faces 100% and be like, you know what? Buck up a little bit.

Kaya Milstein (58:57)

Yeah.

Noah Michelson (58:59)

And it doesn't have to be such a scary thing. I still don't want a car. At least not in New York.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:04)

Listen, not now, not today, Maybe tomorrow.

Noah Michelson (59:07)

I'm in awe of you, but I.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:09)

Like a little road trip.

Noah Michelson (59:10)

I do too. But then I go to someone like you who has the car and I don't have to deal with it.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:16)

You're welcome in my car anytime.

Noah Michelson (59:17)

Thanks, Raj. Anyway, as long as there are things to get wrong, we're gonna be right here to help you do him better.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:24)

Love y'.

Kaya Milstein (59:24)

All.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:27)

Am I Doing it Wrong? Is a co production between HuffPost and Acast.

Noah Michelson (59:30)

Our producers are Eve Bishop, Carmen Borca, Carillo and Malia Agadello.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:35)

Our executive producers are Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rutter.

Noah Michelson (59:38)

Special thanks to HuffPost's head of audience.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:40)

Abby Williams, Head of video Will Took.

Noah Michelson (59:43)

As well as Kate Palmer, Marta Rodriguez and Terry d'. Angelo.

Raj Punjabi Johnson (59:46)

And we're your hosts, Raj Panjabi Johnson and Noah Michaelson.

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