Posted by Thomas Wed, 21 Jun 2006 01:00:43 +0000
And, of course it was the latter. My car was ready on Saturday. Hrumph. $908 later I have my car back. Also, of course, it still has pulsating while breaking (~$300), a broken driver’s side door lock (~$250), a broken catch on the right rear cargo door (~$150), and my third brake light above the cargo doors is out (~$160). So that totals another almost $900 at their exagerated prices. :( Why does it cost so much to make things right?
Honestly, why can’t I go a day without feeling like I’m getting screwed with my pants on? Has the American dream so warped our society that we cannot do business without trying to take our customers to the cleaners? How is it that the market cannot seem to produce a sustainable business model where I receive a quality good or service at a reasonable price? I would even pay more for such a luxury. Yes, I would pay a premium for a mechanic who I know has my best interests in mind, making reasonable repair decisions and using quality parts. I would gladly do this for a home as well. I have heard horror stories of builders who will gouge you, esp if they learn that you work for Google. These are sad times indeed. :( </rant>
I replaced the brake light on my truck and I think it might have cost me $2.50 for the bulb and took about 5 minutes. So that equates to the mechanic’s time costing about $1920/hr. Man I wish I could get paid that well. I guess there’s overhead too. And the fact that the mechanic probably didn’t even do it, but rather some lackey that they were paying $5/hr. So the dealership is making a killing.
yea, i would never recommend taking it in to the dealership, especially for regular maintainance work. do some research, talk to some people (oh no!) around ya and you probably can find a decently honest repair shop. but i guess in a big city, that’s easier said than done. you could always try the hit or miss method and do a yellow pages search…