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drscottSo I took my car into the nearest smog station (the 76 across El Camino.) I ask them to change the oil at the same time -- I only drive about 5K miles a year, so I have trouble remembering when the last one was. I'm told they can get it done within two hours, so I walk home.
Three hours later, I get a phone call from a mechanic -- he says they've found my front brakes are dangerously near to being worn out. Will I authorize repair? That will be $150 plus $40 to just adjust the rear brakes. I figure this will save some time since I'm vaguely aware the brakes are getting tired. Okay, now the time for completion is advanced an hour to 5PM.
An hour later, another call from a different mechanic -- he says they found the rear brakes also need work, but just one side, probably because they had been adjusted wrong in the last brake job. But the front ones are okay and they won't charge anything to adjust them. Okay, I say... now the car's to be ready at 6 PM.
6 PM rolls around, and I go to the garage. The bill is displayed: $550. Both front and rear brakes completely redone plus the other work. Huh? After some discussion it's determined there have been "communication problems." So I wangle $20 off the bill and pay it. Another lesson: do not authorize work beyond what you intended at a non-trusted shop. I have a preferred mechanic for non-routine work, and I'd have been much happier taking the work to him.
Good news: my car is among the least-polluting on the road even though it's 10 years old ('94 Geo Prizm, basically a Toyota Corolla from the NUMMI GM-Toyota joint venture plant in Fremont.) Bad news: it's only worth about $2,000, so putting $400 into repairs was painful.
Lifting note: another personal best on the leg press Monday; 830#, 5 sets, 18 reps.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
excessor was hanging around looking impressed, and we went to Togos afterward for a celebratory dinner.
Three hours later, I get a phone call from a mechanic -- he says they've found my front brakes are dangerously near to being worn out. Will I authorize repair? That will be $150 plus $40 to just adjust the rear brakes. I figure this will save some time since I'm vaguely aware the brakes are getting tired. Okay, now the time for completion is advanced an hour to 5PM.
An hour later, another call from a different mechanic -- he says they found the rear brakes also need work, but just one side, probably because they had been adjusted wrong in the last brake job. But the front ones are okay and they won't charge anything to adjust them. Okay, I say... now the car's to be ready at 6 PM.
6 PM rolls around, and I go to the garage. The bill is displayed: $550. Both front and rear brakes completely redone plus the other work. Huh? After some discussion it's determined there have been "communication problems." So I wangle $20 off the bill and pay it. Another lesson: do not authorize work beyond what you intended at a non-trusted shop. I have a preferred mechanic for non-routine work, and I'd have been much happier taking the work to him.
Good news: my car is among the least-polluting on the road even though it's 10 years old ('94 Geo Prizm, basically a Toyota Corolla from the NUMMI GM-Toyota joint venture plant in Fremont.) Bad news: it's only worth about $2,000, so putting $400 into repairs was painful.
Lifting note: another personal best on the leg press Monday; 830#, 5 sets, 18 reps.
excessor was hanging around looking impressed, and we went to Togos afterward for a celebratory dinner.
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Sunken costs
Date: 2004-07-29 03:29 pm (UTC)At 171K+ miles on the old beast (a 1988 Accord), it still isn't burning any oil - yet.
The last major thing done to the car was the timing belt package and possibly a new oil pump as well. fortunately, that was OK, but I did have the valve cover gasket replaced instead as it was leaking in the area of the new belt. The timing belt package included new service belt and the water pump since all are right there and it costs less to them all at once, rather than one at a time. All to the tune of $450 or so, which in the ballpark of what they had estimated ($400-600).