In my garage is a classic I bought seventeen years ago. For the past few years, it has been parked and not used regularly, but taken out once or so a week to maintain the health of the battery and other moving parts for lubrication and rust prevention. I know many will criticise the soundness of my financial management in keeping such a vehicle. We possibly have a “drug” of some sorts we obsess about, enabling us to be children again. Mine is the love I have for this modern classic.

To avoid having ownership headaches, I have honoured all its annual service maintenance requirements through the dealership of the original-equipment manufacturer (OEM). The move has thus far increased my confidence to have it as an option for any trip I wish to undertake, whether around the corner or over long distance. That my family shares in my confidence is another matter, suffice it to say when the OEM dealership presents me with a bill, I feel like swearing at people in the building, including the state of our governance in the country.

These people are not playing. They do not hesitate to present you with a bill equivalent to a budget of PPEs for a small village of migrant workers! But that is not the main reason for my telling you this story. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 30 March 2021.

Around July of 2020, I took my vehicle to the dealership for its annual service because of the years and not mileage as it barely goes anywhere. So, I was surprised when in January 2021, the vehicle started idling roughly and almost cutting off as if having erratic fuel supply! I was taken aback and wondered what the issues could be considering I had only driven it fewer than 3000KM since its last service. I also felt the dealership should have anticipated something of this nature in the last service and recommended a solution.

I decided to investigate the matter before returning to the dealership to ask for an explanation, though I knew, often, whenever I do so, they somehow found a way of making me part with more money with their elaborate explanation of why things went wrong and could not be identified in the previous service.

My investigation took me to an old gentleman, formerly the mechanic at the OEM dealership, to give me a second opinion before approaching the dealership for their investigation. He immediately “diagnosed” the problem as misfiring owing likely to worn spark plugs and/ or ignition coils. His diagnosis was not based on his use of an on-board diagnostics (OBD) scanner, but his intuition and years of experience in the field. I asked him if he had an OBD II scanner to verify all potential faults with the vehicle, and outright, he dismissed its usage as a gimmick for novices and that it was useless to him.

I knew the dealership had replaced spark plugs a few years ago and that they needed replacement every 160,000KM or so. I had about 60,000KM left before they were due for replacement. On the strength of his advice, I was relieved to rule out incompetence or negligence of some sort of the dealership.

Not wanting to argue with him, I felt I would lose nothing replacing them early anyway and through him considering it was a simple straightforward job and that I would be taking the vehicle to the dealership in seven months’ time anyway for its next annual service.

The spark plugs replacement did not resolve the jerky ride and rough idling. The mechanic then suggested that I should replace all eight ignition coils as well to ensure the old ones do not damage the very new spark plugs I had just installed.

Upon obtaining the quotation from the dealership just for eight of those ignition coils, I nearly fainted because once they added labour and other costs to the repair bill, I would have been better off buying a small vehicle used by students to do business with. I felt I was betraying my wisdom with reluctance to invest in an OBD II scanner and attempting to “do it myself”. I felt before paying a fortune in repair costs through the dealership, let me first confirm all by myself by buying a scanner.

Lo and behold! The scanner mentioned nothing about misfiring of cylinders, therefore implying no fault with ignition coils. It reported low voltage to some exhaust emissions sensors. This sparked me to remember how the vehicle had given many faults when the battery voltage was low. I then charged the battery fully and started it again only for all those faults to disappear! What a quick return to my scanner investment and a kickstart to my newly found DIY vehicle “maintenance and repair” hobby!

Do not get me wrong, the old man is a good mechanic and can rebuild an engine of a modern highly computerised vehicle quickly. I do not think any less of him. His advice would have eventually benefitted me anyway even if it could have taken me to “town and back” before getting it right. But life under covid economy and mismanagement of our taxes requires that we be even more prudent with few resources at our disposal.

I wondered how many of his other clients could have incurred untimely expenses because of his reliance on intuition and aversion to using scanners for the modern vehicle.

This scenario is common among many companies, small and large alike. Their reluctance to use appropriate technologies has led many to lose their profit margins and incur expensive technology refresh programmes.

I do not blame some leaders in their reluctance to invest in appropriate technologies, because IT functions themselves have created that untenable situation. Their past poor performance and costly delivery resulted in many decisionmakers reluctant to invest in technology, preferring doing so only when forced by customer churn or unaffordable ownership costs from payment of licences and support staff salaries.

Increase leverage of existing solutions to lessen the need for large capital outlay in new solutions and delays in modernising offerings to ensure better experience and servicing of customers. Experience, reputation, and brand are no longer sufficient for sustenance. Just as it was in the old man’s situation, a minor investment in simple technology could result in significant financial savings and improved profitability!

Do not be a hater and a loser. Love and embrace technology for your improved welfare.