Inflation and Installing Summer Tires

Inflation (noun): When you pay $20 for the $10 haircut you used to get for $5 when you had hair.

How much does it cost to have your winter tires taken off and replaced with summer tires (all on rims)?

My dealership always charged $48+tax. This time, the price jumped by 42% to $68+tax. That's a huge hike for a simple, routine process repeated twice a year. Well above the rate of inflation.

Recycling Gone Too Far
Also, the snow tires were put back into the same bags the summer tires were in --- not the cleanest after months gathering dust in the garage. Since I have a midsized sedan, two tires were put on the back seat. In the past, they've always used clean bags. Recycling is good, but cleanliness also matters (or so my better half tells me).

I had to stop driving my car for a while ... the tires got dizzy.
--- Steven Wright

I believe in getting service done at the dealership (e.g., they also did a software update under warranty). My lease is up in a year and I'm wondering whether to keep my car (only 29,000 km in 2 years). A big concern is the cost of maintenance and long term reliability. This visit was an eye opener. If the prices shoot 42% for routine service I can get anywhere, what will happen for specialized service when I don't have a choice? Will a $1,000 bill now become $1,420 + tax?

The Result
This visit provided less,cost more and created anxiety about future maintenance costs. A poor combination.

I'm glad I didn't get the wiper blades changed!

Canadian Financial Blogs

You ain't been around
You ain't seen nothin' yet, that's what she told me
She said, I need an education, go to school
--- Bachman Turner Overdrive, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Have you visited Canadian financial blogs (besides this one)?

For whatever reason, I didn't think they existed. They do. I found a list of Canadian financial blogs at CanadianCapitalist.com while searching for something else. What's especially nice is the brief summary of the blogs shown. I visited some and was pleased with what I found.

I'm surprised at how many authors don't give out their identities. What do they think will happen to them? Maybe it's our renowned Canadian modesty. Unless we lost it with The Trailer Park Boys. Unless you're doing something wicked (a word which here means "something you'd get in serious trouble for doing"), then hiding your identity means that you can't get credit for your work.

If you're looking for more to read, take a peek. Support Canadian content before the regulators step in :)