Tires are expensive. On Monday I went in for a routine oil change. $600 later, I came away with 3 new tires, a fixed tail-light, an alignment and a new wiper-blade.
Can I really put a price on safety? I think I just did.
-Krishna
P.S.: I’m liking the color accents with gray scale, so expect to see that from me in future UNcubed installments.
Ah, the wiper blades. Mine were replaced during service too, even though the old ones were wiping perfectly. And the new ones screech…
Why replace 3 tires and not all 4? That sounds like it sets you up for a problem in the future.
It also sounds like you need a new mechanic that you can trust. We found a local guy that always looks out for what you need so when he says we need something done, we know it needs to be done and that he isn’t just trying to get more money out of us. I’ve had situations where we’ve had a fast one pulled on us, and it usually involves that shop never getting our business again.
The fourth tire was replaced mid last year, so it’s still in great condition. Actually, outside of the expense incurred, the shop I took my car to, most recently, were thorough and honest. What I’m describing above is a general feeling I have gotten from mechanics over the years…
I left a mechanic once because he said that my wiper blades were old and that he could put on new ones for $50 (you know- labor!). I turned him down because the wiper blades that were on there were purchased earlier that week! I have never been back since.
Why can’t mechanics just do what you tell them to do? lol
That sort of stuff makes me glad I’ve never owned a car.
Here in India the newspaper has stories every few weeks about people dying in accidents on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway from tyre blowouts. This whole thing about roads where drivers can go over 80 km/h for more than short passes is still fairly new and lots of tyres for sale aren’t okay with that kind of speed and most vehicle owners aren’t into preventative maintenance, either (which is really noticeable by the hundreds of trucks up on jacks in the road all over with tyres in shreds).
I know exactly how you feel. I took my car in for an oil change and they told me I needed a new kidney. LOL. Seriously, tho…The exact problem you highlighted in today’s comic has forced me to learn how to actually do light maintenance on my car.
It’s funny how the world has changed. Used to be people tinkered around with their cars in their drive ways a while before ever taking it to the shop. People who were good at it always had friends needing help. Now days it’s people are good with computers who get the calls. I fear for people who have to take their computers in for repair. I’d much rather take my chances with a mechanic than a PC repair shop.
This is why we never bring my wife’s car in to the mechanic and my computer in to Geek Squad in the same day!
Krishna I understand your feelings completely.Seeing as how over the years I’ve had to bear witness to my mom having to deal with shady and/or shoddy mechanics and therein fuming about costs and how what they “fixed” usually ended up acting up again over the years,it has stemmed into me inheriting this trait from her.Compound that with intense disdain for how some computer repair shops are,and I’m just a pool of seething contempt for them.Not so much for what they do,because many DO get the job done right,it’s just that many of them seem more intent about your money than whether or not your machinary is working properly or not let alone costs.
“Apple owns up to odd—but serious—Snow Leopard data-loss bug”:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/10/apple-owns-up-to-oddbut-serioussnow-leopard-data-loss-bug.ars
Interesting… I’d heard about that. Hope there’s a fix soon.