You pay someone to do it. My uncle has owned a car repair shop for 30+ years and he pays someone to do all of the office work.

Your expertise is someone else’s “undifferentiated heavy lifting” no matter what field you’re in.

Well that person doing the repair work isn’t going to use some dumbed down tools. Somebody has to specialize.

Plus the point is that as cars became more ubiquitous, once esoteric skills became the norm, such as checking oil, filling up gas. At some point the baseline has to advance.

> Plus the point is that as cars became more ubiquitous, once esoteric skills became the norm, such as checking oil, filling up gas. At some point the baseline has to advance.

Yes and no. On the one hand, as early cars become more common, more people had to deal with them. But on the other hand, cars became simpler to use over time.

Tinkering with your car used to be a hobby of many people and a necessity. These days, there's not much user servicing left. (I don't even know whether you still have to manually check the level of oil? Don't they have sensors for that these days?)

Gas station pumps have also become much easier to use. It requires some intention and a minimum amount of skill to overfill your tank these days. Similar considerations apply to using computers.

Starting your spreadsheet by typing something in the DOS prompt used to be how things were done. These days, vastly more people are expected to be at least somewhat familiar with spreadsheets--it's no longer something to highlight in your CV--but starting the program used to do so has become simpler.

Similar countervailing developments have been common since at least the industrial revolution. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deskilling

> (I don't even know whether you still have to manually check the level of oil? Don't they have sensors for that these days?)

Most cars do have sensors for this, but they often fail, and even if they're working fine, tell you at a warning level, not at a full level. If you want to be a prepared driver you'd check your fluids regularly, but especially before long trips; The bonus is that the sensors can't tell you that your oil is prematurely dirty, so just by looking at it, you get more information.

This reminds me of Obama recommending people check their tires; yes, modern vehicles have tpms, but if they heed the warning, it often doesn't come on until a tire is significantly low ~20%.

There are so many mechanics that will do free or low cost inspections for things like that, why wouldn’t I do that before going on a long trip?

Speaking of which, that’s yet another thing we pay for other people to do. If it’s a trip longer than about five hours we are flying or if we are being cheap and it’s not too far (around 6 to 7 hours) and if possible, taking the MegaBus.

Going to a mechanic to have your oil level and tire pressure checked sounds like you would spend more time driving than just doing it.

Then there is the fact that about half those places specialize in making up stuff that is wrong with dumb peoples cars to rip them off.

We also fly out of Atlanta - the world’s busiest airport - and live an hour or more away depending on traffic. The calculus between whether it’s worth the hassle to deal with going to the airport, driving, or taking MegaBus changes the calculus considering the ceremony of getting on the plane can take an additional 2-3 hours with travel, security, and getting there early.

It would be great if everybody did this!

Or even rental car companies.

Interesting. Do you know why the sensors seem to have a binary output only, as opposed to checking for full level and dirt?

If we put our minds to it, these days we can often make sensors that are much better than humans for these kinds of applications.

Btw, you are talking about the former US president Obama? Seems a bit weird for him to care about car maintenance?

It was during the 2008 campaigns with high fuel prices; He was ridiculed for the simplicity by the right, but the NHSTA estimated that 25% of American tires are under-inflated at a cost of 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline every year.

> Btw, you are talking about the former US president Obama? Seems a bit weird for him to care about car maintenance?

Why wouldn't the President care about the safety of millions of potential death traps driving to work daily?

More topical was the fuel efficiency at the time

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/aug...

Estimates were that 25% of American tires were underinflated, wasting 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline every year.