(no subject)

[oakenguy]

So we took the car to Midas for a tune-up the other day, and they found some things wrong. They said it would cost $700 to fix. I left, cursing them (under my breath) as rip-off artists, and took the car to a local garage with a good reputation.

They found all the things wrong that Midas found, and a lot more. They're saying
$2600.

$2600.

I think I need to go throw up now. And pass out. And get drunk. Maybe not in that order. But maybe in that order, yes.

Comments

[sistahraven.livejournal.com]

2600...
bleagh.
I'll throw up for you, how about that?

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Hee--it's kind of you to've been doing it retroactively. :)

[sistahraven.livejournal.com]

you know me :)
Hey, I can throw up barium for you today ;)

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

It's all glowy!

Where were you during the Haunted Castle? We would've made you a star!

[sistahraven.livejournal.com]

Damnit.
I forgot to go
:(

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

*hugs* It's okay. Just stockpile some barium for next year.

[sistahraven.livejournal.com]

noice. I have a quarter bottle left that I can't stomach right now...

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I would go get a third opinion, if the second garage found so much else wrong and jacked the price up 3.75 times in the process.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Fred Dubie
Affordable Auto Repair
Waltham
(781)647-5825

Whatever the customer service equivalent of bedside manner is, he doesn't have it, but if it can be done for less, he'll do it.

[enidenvy.livejournal.com]

im so grateful for my mechanic. sometimes he doesnt even charge me. you should get on the good old yahoo and talk to me! =)

It cost ...GAH?

[malterre.livejournal.com]

We have a rule in our house. If the repairs total more than 6-8 car payments it is time to get a new car.

I know that stomach pit feeling, got it before my road trip when having the car serviced. But I knew I was safe.

It is better to be safe and loved than rich. Got it?

Re: It cost ...GAH?

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

$2600 is more than three times what we paid for the car. So, yah, definitely time to work out a different car. Or Zipcar.

But first, several days of moping and depression.

[aquagirl.livejournal.com]

strangely, I've found that places like Midas, Monro and Meineke are among the more competetively priced places to take one's automobile for servicing. Plus, since they are big companies they are heavily regulated and more easy to hold accountable for their actions.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

Christ on a crutch!! You could buy a decent used car for that.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

...and yet there are people out there (I know one personally) willing to shell out that much money, or more, just because they like the shell of the car. Which is not to say I agree with it. I think it's ludicrous to spend that much money on fixing a car.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Well, personally, I'm shelling out about $1700 on car repairs because basically, I find you need at least $4,000 for an even halfway decent used car, and I don't have the (regular) money for payments.

But student life is different, I suppose.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, I have a built in mechanic (my husband), so I don't have to worry too much about that sort of thing.

[lemur-catta.livejournal.com]

So sell your car and get a unicycle and some juggling balls?
It'd be more fun and people might throw change at you and then you can save up for a car that will live a long time but you wont really need it `cause you'll be living right downtown in a great loft space with some other circus freaks...uh...maybe I'm projecting my own feelings onto this a bit much...

Ever practical,

Lemur

[akycha.livejournal.com]

OOOG.

Oaken, I am so sorry. What a thing to have happen.

Other Rose

[superrob.livejournal.com]

This may be late in the game, but you should tell the person right off the bat, you're freakin me out. They're your eyes, attached to your brain and all. It's personal, man. Let em know the visual conduits of symbolic knowledge to your central nervous system deserve not this unkindly assault.

Or, you could say: "Cut the shit, dude".

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Um. What's their list of things that are wrong with the car? Are these *safety* issues? Are they things that you could get rebuilt or off a junker and save megabuck$$$? There may be a way to prioritize and just fix certain things and therefore save more buckage.

Or, for a relatively decent monthly payment, you could pick up a $4000-5000 car with lower mileage and more reliability.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, as a person who drove a rattling death-trap for many years, let me toss in my $.02 worth. :)

It is surprising how long a Toyota will hold together. I only did repairs that had cautionary statements like "your wheel is about to fall off". Everythign else was optional. Of course, I had a certain Zen about that car which may not be available to all. As you may well remember from a certain drive down to Connecticut a few years ago. :)

I worked it this way, I was willing to spend $50-100 a month to keep the car going. So I would put in $500 if I though it would get me another driveable year. If not I would just drive it till it died, then use the money I saved to get a new car.

Oh, I have bought my replacement for the old Blue Toyota of doom. Two years younger (88 this time), but it has 434,000 kms on it! Woo, to the moon and half way back!

Stephen