France's Quiet Quitters Get Louder This Summer
We're almost into the second week of August, which means fewer cars on the streets of Paris, more boulangeries with the shutters down and more out-of-office replies piling up. Not all politicians have fled to the beach, though, with increasingly unpopular Prime Minister Francois Bayrou putting in the hours to try to win the French over to his plans for €44 billion in savings to get the public deficit under control. He's taken to social media to drive home the message that France's debt pile will endanger the country if it's not tackled.
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New Discoveries Abound for Italian Marble and Fine Stone Companies
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2 hours ago
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Mechanic reveals ‘expensive' cars Aussies should avoid buying: ‘Don't last'
An Aussie mechanic has revealed the popular car brands he recommends people steer clear of unless they are prepared to be hit with extra costs. He said the brands 'don't last' as long and are more expensive to service and maintain. Talal Almasri has been a mechanic for more than 15 years and said he'd seen his fair share of car brands. The 42-year-old Sydney mobile mechanic, who works on Airtasker, told Yahoo Finance he generally advised people to avoid buying European cars like Volkswagen, Mercedes, Audi and BMW. Almasri said European cars were built for colder environments and were 'very expensive' to get parts for and more expensive to service. RELATED Major EV warning as true battery range for big brands like Tesla and BYD exposed ANZ hikes home loan interest rates in 'surprise' move ahead of RBA cash rate meeting Little-known Centrelink perk offers Australian students free flights 'The brakes will cost you more, the maintenance will cost you more, parts will be on order and you have to let it sit there for a few days, for example, for the mechanic to order the part,' he said. 'As long as you're prepared [to pay that extra cost]. If you're not prepared, that's when I say don't buy one. If you're on a budget with your expenses, the European car is not going to help you.' Almasri said one of his customers, for example, was recently quoted $3,000 to do the front brake pads on her Mercedes AMG GLC63. Almasri said he would instead recommend people go for a Japanese car, such as a Toyota, Nissan, Mazda or Mitsubishi. 'Parts are available, they are reliable and they do last in the Australian climate as long as you maintain them,' he said. Almasri said customers often told him they didn't like the more 'basic' Japanese cars and preferred the look and feel of European cars. 'As long as you're happy to pay the maintenance cost, that's all that matters. It's going to cost you more, the parts, the labour, everything's more expensive,' he said. Major car mistake millions of Aussies are making No matter which car brand you go with, Almasri said the key to making sure your car lasts was regular maintenance. 'If you don't maintain it, it will blow up, even if it's a Toyota. Toyota is unbreakable as long as you maintain it,' he told Yahoo Finance. 'It's the people that leave it overdue and wait and wait and wait, this is where you are going to have problems, where you're gonna get something damaged and it's gonna cost you more in the long term.' Recent Finder research found that one in four motorists had avoided taking their car in for a scheduled service due to financial constraints. Finder insurance expert Taylor Blackburn said many households were finding it harder to prioritise car maintenance given the rising cost of living. 'Keeping a car on the road is becoming increasingly expensive due to rising costs in maintenance, fuel, and insurance," he said. 'Ignoring minor car troubles, like a cracked hose or a dirty filter, might seem like a way to save money now, but these cheap fixes can quickly escalate into expensive repairs if left unaddressed." Almasri recommended servicing your car every six months or every 10,000 kilometres, whichever comes first. He also urged drivers not to wait until their fuel tank was nearly empty before filling up. 'You've got to fill up as soon as, minimum, you have a quarter of a tank. Do not run it lower than that because that's when you can create problems from the bottom of the fuel tank and the fuel pump can get damaged by sucking up usually dirt at the bottom of the fuel tank,' he said. 'When people drive with the fuel light on, I would not recommend that. Do not do that, that's very dangerous.'
