Cars are such a pain. They are a necessity in our lives. Your
ability to work or shop or anything else depends on the reliability of your
automobile. My Mother-in-law used to say, “You have a car payment or you
have car repairs and sometimes you have both.” Ain’t it the truth!
Every time I take my car in for one of those discount oil changes they always
find something in dire need of repair. The brakes are worn down and they
never seem to be able to turn rotors anymore. They always have to be
replaced because they are too thin. Another time the shocks and struts
were in bad shape which was making the car dangerous. (Making the car
dangerous seems to be the selling point with every repair.) The tires look
fine but they have small cracks in them and could blow at any time, like when
you’re driving your family on the highway. Then there are the ambiguous
problems. There’s a leek and we need to trace it back to its source.
That never ends well. The check engine light is on and that means there’s
a $20 sensor that needs to be replaced but it will cost $200 in labor to get it
changed. Suddenly that oil change has become a very expensive, day long
trip to the mechanic. Engines aren’t the only thing ridiculous about the
cost of cars. My daughter’s car was backed into and the driver was
responsible enough to exchange information. It took about two weeks to fix
the car and thankfully neither we nor our insurance had to pay the bill. I
say that because the bill was $3700 for a dent in the quarter-panel. When
we looked at it in detail we saw that less than $400 went for parts. About
another $250 went to tax. The rest was all labor! I am in the wrong
field. That is a ton of money for labor. With most of these repairs,
however, you have to have them done or else risk your family’s and your own
safety. There is never a good time for a large auto expense but they do
always seem to come when money is tightest. What alternative is
there? Even if you checked five other places, they are all going to give
you at least as grim a diagnosis. At first I was angry at the mechanics
but then I started thinking about it from their point of view. Yes, it is
in their best interest to find things wrong with your car. But consider
this. What if they saw a potential problem like the cracks in the tires
and told you it was something that could wait to be fixed. Then you go out
and have an accident because of the faulty tires. They just opened
themselves up for a lawsuit. So I guess they have more than just selfish
reasons for bringing up these problems. They are protecting
themselves. It doesn’t make me any happier but I can at least see both
sides of the coin now.
ability to work or shop or anything else depends on the reliability of your
automobile. My Mother-in-law used to say, “You have a car payment or you
have car repairs and sometimes you have both.” Ain’t it the truth!
Every time I take my car in for one of those discount oil changes they always
find something in dire need of repair. The brakes are worn down and they
never seem to be able to turn rotors anymore. They always have to be
replaced because they are too thin. Another time the shocks and struts
were in bad shape which was making the car dangerous. (Making the car
dangerous seems to be the selling point with every repair.) The tires look
fine but they have small cracks in them and could blow at any time, like when
you’re driving your family on the highway. Then there are the ambiguous
problems. There’s a leek and we need to trace it back to its source.
That never ends well. The check engine light is on and that means there’s
a $20 sensor that needs to be replaced but it will cost $200 in labor to get it
changed. Suddenly that oil change has become a very expensive, day long
trip to the mechanic. Engines aren’t the only thing ridiculous about the
cost of cars. My daughter’s car was backed into and the driver was
responsible enough to exchange information. It took about two weeks to fix
the car and thankfully neither we nor our insurance had to pay the bill. I
say that because the bill was $3700 for a dent in the quarter-panel. When
we looked at it in detail we saw that less than $400 went for parts. About
another $250 went to tax. The rest was all labor! I am in the wrong
field. That is a ton of money for labor. With most of these repairs,
however, you have to have them done or else risk your family’s and your own
safety. There is never a good time for a large auto expense but they do
always seem to come when money is tightest. What alternative is
there? Even if you checked five other places, they are all going to give
you at least as grim a diagnosis. At first I was angry at the mechanics
but then I started thinking about it from their point of view. Yes, it is
in their best interest to find things wrong with your car. But consider
this. What if they saw a potential problem like the cracks in the tires
and told you it was something that could wait to be fixed. Then you go out
and have an accident because of the faulty tires. They just opened
themselves up for a lawsuit. So I guess they have more than just selfish
reasons for bringing up these problems. They are protecting
themselves. It doesn’t make me any happier but I can at least see both
sides of the coin now.
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