re: Why are people so ignorant when it comes to common car maintenance?

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Last week, a younger guy at work payed a fortune to have someone come out and change his flat tire. When I found out I told him I'd help him change it, but he responded he'd rather have a 'professional' do it.

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I had an old boss whose wife had a brand new Range Rover. He had me go fix the flat on it in their driveway. Those things have auto-leveling air suspension - when I jacked up the rear right corner, the entire vehicle raised up to compensate, even when turned off. By the time I got the wheel off the ground the scissor jack was straight up in the air - a medium wind could've knocked it over. I got it changed with no problems but it wasn't ideal.

My point is: sometimes you should have a professional do it.

ETA: after googling, it looks like the air suspension would've been disabled had I opened a door. Now you know too.

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The days of "tinkering" with a car as my father put it are basically over. Those days when I used to hand over the 5/8ths and grab pop a cold one. There's just no way to tinker any more.

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Huh? Nonsense (for the most part).

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Just pulled up a Duramax turbo diesel for a Sierra 2500 just as an example.

What relatively normal tinkering dad would tinker on that when slammed in the engine compartment?

I'm going to take this in a different direction. I recognize the familiar posters here that do a lot of the maintenance themselves. These are the guys that took their bikes and Christmas toys apart the day after Christmas because of their natural curiosity of what makes them work.
This trait will usually stay with someone their whole lives. The troubleshooting, disassembly and repair of a part or whole system is a challenge and self rewarding and most of the time it doesn't have anything to do with saving money or doubting the shop's ability to correct the defect.
Some people hunt, fish, play golf, work on their cars or have other interests. It's mental therapy that takes them away from their 9 to 5 jobs.
If you are content to pay someone else to do basic maintenance on your vehicles, that's fine. It's your earned money to spend how you like. But if you do, to say the person that does his own work and does it because he wants to save a few bucks and the time he spends doing it is wasted, is not necessarily a true and accurate statement.

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The whole thread is a bit amazing... ...to assume that no one either,

A.) values their time more or..

B.) is able to earn more with their time

...than individuals who change car parts for a living.

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Well you assumed wrong if that's all you got from this thread so far. Not just simple, routine vehicle maintenance but basic troubleshooting skills in general are lacking, especially in Millennials. A young couple just bought their first house across from mine and it's obivious the struggle is real for them. They spent $400 for a plumber to replace a toilet that only needed a fill valve kit and 20 minutes with basic hand tools to repair. For a group that is obsessed with "life hacking" they have very poor basic repair skills.

Nah. I design this kind of shite for a living

Do I get a pass for not being able to change a tire cause I’m a chick?

I mean....I guess I could figure it out on my own if I had to. But I’ve had AAA since I first started driving.

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had the battery on a rental recently die. The thing was tucked away under the hood. Not right on top like in my truck. Not a chance in hell I’d feel comfortable changing that battery and removing other mechanical componen

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That was the case with my aunt’s car. My husband went to remove her battery to get it tested....battery is tucked practically by the driver’s side wheel. He could barely jump it so she could take it someplace so they could replace it.

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Last week, a younger guy at work payed a fortune to have someone come out and change his flat tire. When I found out I told him I'd help him change it, but he responded he'd rather have a 'professional' do it.

This morning another guy at work got his car towed into a shop because the battery was dead and took the day off so he could go get it 'fixed'.

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I hope your the boss at the job other wise you might need to start looking for a new job.

If you are the boss I would immediately start looking for the replacements for these employees.

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Last week, a younger guy at work payed a fortune to have someone come out and change his flat tire. When I found out I told him I'd help him change it, but he responded he'd rather have a 'professional' do it. This morning another guy at work got his car towed into a shop because the battery was dead and took the day off so he could go get it 'fixed'.

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Please tell me you: laughed, told them they are pussies, and lost respect for them

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Can I change my tire, my battery, my oil myself? Yeah I can. I rather pay someone to deal with it.

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I mean, I'm not Mr. Mechanic or anything but I'll change my own damn tire and battery