The Thai Way

Buy the right one. Make it last. Never overpay at the shop.

Sawasdee, my friend. I was fifteen when I first held a wrench in my uncle’s taxi garage in Bangkok. Those Toyotas ran twenty hours a day in forty-degree heat, and we kept them alive with habits, not expensive parts. Twenty-some years ago I brought those habits to my shop in Houston.

Every week I see the same thing. A good man buys the wrong car, or the right car with the wrong history, and pays for it for years. After Hurricane Harvey, a customer brought me a truck he got for a great price. I pulled up the carpet and found river mud.

This book makes sure that never happens to you.

What you’ll be able to do:

• Know which years to buy, and which to walk away from, for 20 of the most popular Japanese cars and trucks
• Inspect a used car like a mechanic: the walk-around, under the hood, the test drive and the paperwork
• Spot a flood car or a rotten frame before you pay a dollar
• Keep your car running past 300,000 miles, even in Texas heat
• Walk into any repair shop knowing exactly what to say, and which “services” to refuse

What’s inside (68 pages, with photos and diagrams):

• Part 1, Buy the Right One: 20 model cards (Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Nissan and Mazda), each with every generation rated Buy, Careful or Wait, the known problems to check, and the exact checks to make. Plus the 20-minute walk-around, the flood car check, the test drive, the paper check, and scripts for private sellers and dealers.
• Part 2, Make It Last: the Bangkok taxi habits, maintenance by mileage, the 10-minute monthly check, tire and fluid guides, Texas heat checks, hurricane season, and what to do at 100K, 150K and 200K miles.
• Part 3, At the Shop: finding a good mechanic, the 12 common upsells explained, word-for-word scripts for surprising quotes and second opinions, and the “Is It Worth Fixing?” worksheet.
• Printable pages: a used car inspection sheet to take to every car you look at, a comparison sheet, a maintenance logbook, and a glovebox card.

Four bonuses included: Buying This Weekend (the 7 checks that matter most), the Glovebox Emergency Card, Lek’s 10 Engines That Refuse to Die, and Selling Your Old Car for More.

How it arrives: this is a digital book (PDF). You can download it straight after paying, and the link is emailed to you too. Nothing is shipped. Read it on your phone at the car lot, or print the pages you need.

7-day money-back guarantee: if it isn’t for you, reply to your receipt email within 7 days for a full refund.

Listen to the car. It always tells you first.

Lek



This guide is general information, not a substitute for a professional pre-purchase inspection. Always check your vehicle’s VIN for open recalls at nhtsa.gov/recalls.