# Should it be illegal to work on your own car? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 9, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631 "2015-05-09T16:31:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/61 "2015-05-16T10:25:34Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > none of that has come to pass, None of what has come to pass ? > [@](#): > > and that appleinsider article is a load of horseshit. Of course, it comes from Daniel Eran Dilger, so it can’t help but be anything but a pile of drivel. Really ? So Blackberry’s **[QNX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QNX)** OS running with Apple is imaginary, and the **[GENIVI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GENIVI_Alliance)** Alliance, the Linux bit with members ‘including BMW Group, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Renault, SAIC Motor’ don’t exist except in Mr. Dilger’s Apple-fermented imagination, or something ? It seems a fairly sober article to arouse such ire. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/62 "2015-05-16T15:22:16Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I haven’t met a “mechanic” in years. I’ve encountered lots of “parts swappers”. They don’t bother to find the real problem, they just throw new (expensive) parts at the symptoms till they get it right. If ever. I want the problem fixed, not masked. > > I’ve been burned too often and now only fix my own shit (unless its a transmission or other serious tight tolerance stuff. Then, its just cheaper to buy a re-man and stick it in myself). If I don’t know how, I study and figure it out. I got nothing but tools, time and space. I manage to keep nearly 2 dozen vehicles up and running. I wouldn’t go that far. Yes there are some shady shops but there are also some damn good ones. The shop that worked on my mom’s car did excellent work. The shop within eyesight would rob you blind. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/63 "2015-05-17T15:34:53Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I’m not sure where you’re getting this from. It doesn’t get anymore factory than an original part from a junkyard car. The one I described had 3 different switches and I could swap the other 2 out so my $15 purchase was backed up with 2 spare parts from the old one. I’m $185 ahead plus the cost of installation. And the Junkyard gives about the same guarantee that new electronic parts get. I was actually talking about the under body panel, where a made up part was substituted. Your comment about junkyard parts is correct-I have used them myself-but once the cars are stripped and crushed, it will be hard to find them. Most mechanics will not use junkyard parts, because they cannot warrantee them. i know that the junkyard will offer a replacement part, but the labor isn’t covered at all. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/64 "2015-05-18T04:15:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Plus I’m guessing what Daylate is talking about also includes a repair info service like Alldata and maybe some sort of hour tracking/billing software. So stuff that’s maybe not critical to fixing cars, but important for fixing them with the minimum of fuss and actually running a shop. Actually, Alldata is not included - it costs us an additional $220 per month. And the tracking/billing is done by software called MotorTraxx, at $99 per month. And did I mention the software that replaces the thousands of individual manuals that would have to be purchased separately if their only source was printed data? Forget how much this costs, but it ain’t cheap. I think the average consumer has no idea of the amount of data, information, procedures, etc., that is needed to efficiently work on all (or at least most) of all those different models of vehicles that are out there. And we’re talking about everything from a 2015 Chevrolet (all models) to a 1975 Volvo (all models). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/65 "2015-05-18T19:27:14Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > No, they did not. They did not have to copy anything. Andrew Tannenbaum created Minix from scratch and Linus based Linux off of that. There is more free software out there than proprietary software – the vast majority was created from scratch or built upon earlier free software, not derived from proprietary code. > [@Claverhouse](#): > > Dunno. The whole point of WINE — Wine Is Not An Emulator — is that it is _not_ a derivative work — it uses APIs etc. that do the same functionality as Windows would, in order to run programs [fortuitously] _designed for Windows_ [but not of Windows] on OSX or Linux or any other OS. We’re talking cars not computers. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/66 "2015-05-18T19:45:45Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > We’re talking cars not computers. We replied to your statement: > [@](#): > > I think the point was SOMEONE had to copy the code in order to modify it. And if so, then that mod could be considered a derivative work. Oddly enough, the legal status of code — which is always under some form of copyright, permissive or restricted — is not affected by it’s application. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/67 "2015-05-18T21:59:42Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Oddly enough, the legal status of code — which is always under some form of copyright, permissive or restricted — is not affected by it’s application. Not true. See [the printer case I linked to earlier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexmark_International,_Inc._v._Static_Control_Components,_Inc.). The issue at question was the protected status of a small piece of code which was used to lock out third-party manufacturers of toner cartridges. A third party had copied a so-called “toner loading program” to allow the printer to recognize their cartridges, and the printer manufacturer had hoped to use copyright law to prevent the third party from doing this. The court ultimately found that the loading program was not copyrightable. Although the program could _in principle_ be written in several ways (and therefore being creative enough to qualify for copyright), as a _practical_ matter, no third party would have the means of implementing the code in any other way. To make a compatible cartridge, a third party would have no choice but to copy the program wholesale. Therefore, it cannot be considered to have copyright protection _even though it would have had the application been different_. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631/68 "2015-05-18T22:43:24Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > We’re talking cars not computers. Over the years that line has gotten very blurry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-it-be-illegal-to-work-on-your-own-car/719631.md?page=3)