Ron Ananian learned some valuable lessons from his father, a mechanic who serviced President Franklin Roosevelt’s DC-3 aircraft during World War II. He got the repair bug helping his father tune up the family car in time for an annual vacation. He taught me to respect tools and machines. My dad, who worked as the lead mechanic for American Airlines at LaGuardia Airport, would say, ''There is a place for everything and everything in its place. Think your way through the problem, use your head, be precise, select the right tool for the job and you’ll find your way'', explains Ron, who got hands-on experience as a teenager taking apart and repairing anything mechanical from lawnmowers, motorcycles, and cars to even a washing machine. The Car Doctor Podcast is available on the iHEARTRADIO APP
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from WOR. Here again is Larry
Minty with the WOR Saturday Morning Show. In the market
for a used car, We've got you covered the car
doctor ron Onanian has you covered ron is always thanks
for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, Larry, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, it is. It is really nerve wracking when you
go to buy a car. Is it true that when
you buy a new car it devalues by thousands as
soon as you leave the lot?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It sure does, and it makes the argument for used
cars in a lot of cases a better option. You know,
the quality of cars has gotten so much better over
the years. That used car, that two to three year
old used car that in a lot of cases from
certain manufacturers will be a CPO, a certified pre owned
car makes a great used car. And as I always say,
(00:52):
the best used cars are usually the best new cars.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
There's a fear in that though as well. There's a
fear on how is this car treated as have any problems?
What are they hiding from me? How do you fix
that problem?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yep? Well there is so you know, you you decide
what you want to buy. And we're not going to
spend time this morning talking about budget because that's a
whole nother separate conversation. But you figure out what you
want to buy, and this is the car for me,
and you find it at your local dealer. Is a
used car. Now, if you're buying a Honda, and hopefully
you're buying it from a Honda dealer. If you're buying
a Toyota, you're buying it from a Toyota dealer, and
(01:24):
so on, because when they sell you that two to
three or four year old used vehicle and they say, well,
it's got a warranty on it, we're going to honor
the warranty. You know, nothing against Toyota dealers, but Toyota
dealers have a hard time fixing Hondas and vice versa
and so on. It just it just doesn't work out.
They're not trained in that. You know, maybe they've got
a relationship with the other dealer that they they'll do
(01:45):
exchange on used cars things like that. But you always
have to consider that. But of course you're going to
either find something that's certified pre owned as I said,
which is pre checked out and it's guaranteed it's certified,
you get you get a almost as good warranties you
do with a new vehicle on a CPO car.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So you're saying that they should buy a used car
from a dealer and not from the owner.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, you know, are those cars out there anymore? Do
they exist? I think? I think buying that used car
from the owner direct you can save a couple of bucks.
But you got to know what you're buying and you've
got to be able to have it checked out by
a mechanic because ultimately, that's what it comes down to,
and you know how much money are you actually saving.
And there's a lot of different ways to look at that.
(02:30):
You know, we see quite a few used cars on
a regular basis and we put them through our own
checklist and you know, safety check and come up with
ye okay, it's got this, it's got that. Here's what's
going on. I think a lot of what people are
buying today, they're empowered. They can do it themselves. For example,
they can go out to NHTSA dot gov National Highway
(02:50):
Traffics Safety Authority dot gov with the vehicle's serial number,
the VIN, the seventeen digit VIN, which will be on
the title or on the dashboard of the vehicle before
they purchase it. And they can run that vin see
if there's any open recalls on it for example.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Oh that's fascinating. Now, how about when you want to
sell your used car? Should should you sell it yourself?
Should you trade it in?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Well, I think when you go to when you to
make that decision, you've got a weigh the numbers. You know,
if you trade in a used car and it's worth
ten thousand dollars and you're buying a forty thousand dollars
new car, you're going to pay sales tax on thirty
not forty. So you know you've got to look at
the cost savings there, and then you know at what
level of aggravation do you want to put yourself through?
(03:34):
How much money are you actually saving? You have to
remember a dealer when they take in a used car,
they're responsible for that car. They're presenting it, they have
to meet certain requirements by state law. They've got to
guarantee it if they're going to guarantee it, or they
have to tell you there's no guarantee, so you're buying
it as is. So you know, listen, it's a project
buying a used car, and you've got to take some
(03:56):
time and some research. As I said to someone this morning,
you don't want to be backed into a corner trying
to do this. You want to take the time to
go through the steps to make sure you get a
good one.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, it's always tough when you have a problem with
your car and it's an older car, whether you sell
it or whether you.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Repair it right, it's you don't want to do anything
last minute. You know, here's a case where whether it's
the dealership that you've got the relationship with that are
working on the car, or you're trusted mechanic that you
know there's one cook in the kitchen, there's that one
voice that stands clear in the forest that when you
go to them, they have good advice. And you know
they realize, hey, they're not necessarily helping you buy the car,
(04:33):
but they are helping you buy the car because they're
guiding you. And that's part of being a mechanic today.
You're guiding people as well as fixing the cars.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Ron and Adian, host of The Car Doctor, which is
available weekly on the iHeartRadio app full of information just
like you heard right now. He is also owner if
you want to go see I'm an r a automotive
in Waldwick, New Jersey. Ron, thanks for your time.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Thank you Larry. We'll see you.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
This has been a podcast from WOI
This is a podcast from WOR. Here again is Larry
Minty with the WOR Saturday Morning Show. In the market
for a used car, We've got you covered the car
doctor ron Onanian has you covered ron is always thanks
for being here.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, Larry, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, it is. It is really nerve wracking when you
go to buy a car. Is it true that when
you buy a new car it devalues by thousands as
soon as you leave the lot?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It sure does, and it makes the argument for used
cars in a lot of cases a better option. You know,
the quality of cars has gotten so much better over
the years. That used car, that two to three year
old used car that in a lot of cases from
certain manufacturers will be a CPO, a certified pre owned
car makes a great used car. And as I always say,
(00:52):
the best used cars are usually the best new cars.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
There's a fear in that though as well. There's a
fear on how is this car treated as have any problems?
What are they hiding from me? How do you fix
that problem?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yep? Well there is so you know, you you decide
what you want to buy. And we're not going to
spend time this morning talking about budget because that's a
whole nother separate conversation. But you figure out what you
want to buy, and this is the car for me,
and you find it at your local dealer. Is a
used car. Now, if you're buying a Honda, and hopefully
you're buying it from a Honda dealer. If you're buying
a Toyota, you're buying it from a Toyota dealer, and
(01:24):
so on, because when they sell you that two to
three or four year old used vehicle and they say, well,
it's got a warranty on it, we're going to honor
the warranty. You know, nothing against Toyota dealers, but Toyota
dealers have a hard time fixing Hondas and vice versa
and so on. It just it just doesn't work out.
They're not trained in that. You know, maybe they've got
a relationship with the other dealer that they they'll do
(01:45):
exchange on used cars things like that. But you always
have to consider that. But of course you're going to
either find something that's certified pre owned as I said,
which is pre checked out and it's guaranteed it's certified,
you get you get a almost as good warranties you
do with a new vehicle on a CPO car.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
So you're saying that they should buy a used car
from a dealer and not from the owner.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, you know, are those cars out there anymore? Do
they exist? I think? I think buying that used car
from the owner direct you can save a couple of bucks.
But you got to know what you're buying and you've
got to be able to have it checked out by
a mechanic because ultimately, that's what it comes down to,
and you know how much money are you actually saving.
And there's a lot of different ways to look at that.
(02:30):
You know, we see quite a few used cars on
a regular basis and we put them through our own
checklist and you know, safety check and come up with
ye okay, it's got this, it's got that. Here's what's
going on. I think a lot of what people are
buying today, they're empowered. They can do it themselves. For example,
they can go out to NHTSA dot gov National Highway
(02:50):
Traffics Safety Authority dot gov with the vehicle's serial number,
the VIN, the seventeen digit VIN, which will be on
the title or on the dashboard of the vehicle before
they purchase it. And they can run that vin see
if there's any open recalls on it for example.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Oh that's fascinating. Now, how about when you want to
sell your used car? Should should you sell it yourself?
Should you trade it in?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Well, I think when you go to when you to
make that decision, you've got a weigh the numbers. You know,
if you trade in a used car and it's worth
ten thousand dollars and you're buying a forty thousand dollars
new car, you're going to pay sales tax on thirty
not forty. So you know you've got to look at
the cost savings there, and then you know at what
level of aggravation do you want to put yourself through?
(03:34):
How much money are you actually saving? You have to
remember a dealer when they take in a used car,
they're responsible for that car. They're presenting it, they have
to meet certain requirements by state law. They've got to
guarantee it if they're going to guarantee it, or they
have to tell you there's no guarantee, so you're buying
it as is. So you know, listen, it's a project
buying a used car, and you've got to take some
(03:56):
time and some research. As I said to someone this morning,
you don't want to be backed into a corner trying
to do this. You want to take the time to
go through the steps to make sure you get a
good one.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, it's always tough when you have a problem with
your car and it's an older car, whether you sell
it or whether you.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Repair it right, it's you don't want to do anything
last minute. You know, here's a case where whether it's
the dealership that you've got the relationship with that are
working on the car, or you're trusted mechanic that you
know there's one cook in the kitchen, there's that one
voice that stands clear in the forest that when you
go to them, they have good advice. And you know
they realize, hey, they're not necessarily helping you buy the car,
(04:33):
but they are helping you buy the car because they're
guiding you. And that's part of being a mechanic today.
You're guiding people as well as fixing the cars.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Ron and Adian, host of The Car Doctor, which is
available weekly on the iHeartRadio app full of information just
like you heard right now. He is also owner if
you want to go see I'm an r a automotive
in Waldwick, New Jersey. Ron, thanks for your time.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Thank you Larry. We'll see you.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
This has been a podcast from WOI
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