Yeah! What LLL said.
Pancho, what kind of beer do you like? I'll stok up on it AND make your favorite dinner as well.
To the people who suggested school, we have an auto shop, but School's out For Summer!
I can see out of the rig-up, but it's a lease, so eventually, I will have to pay.
Waaahh!
When I buy a car, I buy a Chilton's or Haynes repair manual -- or both. Although I am no mechanic by any means, a lot of repairs are easy to do. Changing tires, a woman can do. Changing wires, even spark plugs someone can do without expensive tools [$14 for a spark plug puller].
At the very least, once one has the manual they can tell exactly what is involved in the job. For parts and body there are plenty of places online where one can get parts sometimes as much as 75% off dealer. And these are OEM parts, not aftermarket, either.
I have dealt with a place in Arizona that has consistently delivered me OEM Volvo parts at 50% or less than dealer rates -- the same make, model, everything as the dealer would charge me twice as much for. Orders over $50, free shipping. And they play heads up ball.
One of my first tasks after I move to a city is to find an independent, honest mechanic -- one who doesn't charge the outrageous prices the dealers do and charges by the actual time it takes to do the job -- not "minimum hourly" charge.
Six members of my family are mechanics so I learned from them what is reasonable and what is a gouge. Since I live no where near them, at least I know to find an honest mechanic and with the Chilton's in view, they know that I can speak their language and know exactly what they need to do (and how long it should take, too).
These few steps have saved me hundreds of dollars every year. A woman with the repair manual in her hand isn't an easy pigeon.
All good advice GG. And good for you. I need to learn to be more like that.
As a teacher, I'm almost always the one to say no more programs added to the curriculum, but I think that they need to bring back the programs like auto repair, tech ed., and home ec., and beauty schools. Not only would they be good for the college-bound kids, but they need to start thinking about the kids who just aren't college bound and train them for careers that are worthwhile and where a living can be made. If I were one of these kids parents, I'd be furious that my kid gets no training in the trades in school.
OK, I know, off topic, and I apologize. I'm through.
I agree with you MG, I learned enough in auto shop to save me a lot of money in car repairs over the years. As well as the knowledge I needed to help me get my first job as an apprentice mechanic.
I learned enough in wood shop to help me save money in repairs in the home.
Out here in Cali, they are starting to drop some sports programs which is one of the main reasons some of these kids stay in high school.
They keep shredding away the curriculum and extra curricular programs in the schools without thought to the negative impact this is going to have to the kids. i guess a 46% drop out rate isn't high enough.
One of the biggest culprits in high repair costs these days are unit assemblies . If one $ 3.00 part of the unit fails , you have have to buy an entire new $ 500.00 unit .
posted by Dirck
4 months ago
Had a blowout yesterday, busted a wheel stud taking off the lug nuts.
Used to be $2 for a stud and $1 for a nut, knock the broken stud out, press the new one in and your done.
This stud is integrated into the rotor assy., $85.00
I bet it was an electric mirror if you had just replaced it with a non electric stripped down mirror the cost would have been alot less.
I alspo do not understand the issue of principales, they charged a price you decide what is wrong with that?
Yichel, it is my contention that if a company charged FAIR prices and made a profit, and not profit that RAPES the consumers, the whole capitalist thing would be a win/win situation.
If I had to pay, say $350 for the mirror, I would feel much better. Or since I am a loyal Nissan buyer, if they said "It's $500, but we will give you a twenty percent discount," I would feel better.
Good will will make me open my wallet. As it stands, I am going to try every other alternative route before I concede to these price gouger dealers.
