To the editor:
This November we will cast our votes on no less than eight — count them, eight — referendum questions. No. 3 is the question regarding Maine’s electrical system and it has drawn the most lightning by far, all negative.
Question 4, though, is just as important, but few have heard about it. If auto dealers get their way, you will have no choice but to take your cars to them for any and all repairs and maintenance.
Experience, they say, is the best teacher, and this weekend I was schooled in the auto arena. At my car’s dealership, I asked them to check out my noisy exhaust/muffler system. Their auto tech informed the desk manager that to correct the problem would involve removing the entire exhaust system, which would cost an astounding $3,250. The dealer’s desk manager then leaned over and whispered they were not supposed to tell me this, but advised me not to get it repaired there because it is a dealership. If I took it to an independent garage, they would be likely just to fix the specific problem for significantly less money.
When I got back to my hometown I got a local mechanic to look at my car. When I told him the sum the dealership had quoted, he simply smiled, told me the specific problem and repaired my car for just $200.
Using this personal experience of mine as an example, if dealerships get their way on Question 4, we can all expect to pay many, many multiples of what our repairs should cost us.
I don’t like being played the fool. Do you? Questions 3 and 4 alone are good enough reasons to get out and vote.
Clare Kierstead
Presque Isle
