Never, EVER go to the dealer for work

Dude, you opened the hood of your car by yourself?

You've violated the warranty and it's about to be shut down.

Oh wait, that's xboxes.

 

I find it hard to trust any mechanic anywhere. I just had a fuel pump replaced, cost more than $350 for part and labor, and I'm always suspicious if they tell me the truth about what's wrong in the first place.

Last year, my airbag light kept coming on, and the manual said to have it checked right away in that case. I was told it was some kind of sensor issue and quoted about $160 to fix it. I said I was gonna check around, and found on the Internet that someone said there's a sensor under the passenger seat that could be affected if something is pressed against it. I found a water bottle lodged under there, cleaned out my car, and haven't had the problem since. What a crook.

 

Hopefully someone will provide step-by-step instructions so we can all remove water bottles from under our seats ourselves without having to pay a professional.

 

You are one opportunistic dude.

 

I got tired of my local quick change place overinflating my tires. I'd put them where they need to be, around 30 psi, and without fail those morons would pump them up close to 40. It's a miracle I never had a blowout.
If you go to a quick change place, a word of advice -- always, ALWAYS check your tire pressure when they're done.

 

One stupid thing I pay the dealer to do is change my wiper blades. I know it's ridiculous and they charge like $30 to do it ($15 for the blades, $15 for the service) but I just suck at it. Always have. I'd rather pay the money than screw around with it for an hour and still not have it done.

 

You know they do it for free at Advance Auto Parts and AutoZone, as long as you buy them there, right?

 

Did not know that. I usually don't think about it until I'm getting an oil change, and I tell them to just do it while I have the car there.

 

This story has:

1. Car repair

2. Brett Favre

3. A goat locked in the trunk with a number 4 shaved in its side

Sonny Yang, 24, and Janelle Riopel, 21, were driving through Winona on their way to the Twin Cities for the first home preseason game with Brett Favre when they stopped at a Tires Plus to get their car fixed.

Riopel casually mentioned the goat in the trunk. The mechanics eventually heard the goat crying and opened the drunk to find the Favre goat, with a No. 4 shaved in its side and its feet tied together. Police came to the scene and the goat was taken by animal control.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/10/man_in_favre_go.php

 

From that story:

A Wisconsin couple adopting a goat? I'd say the poor thing's troubles have just begun.

 

I recently bought a Mazda3. Love everything about the car, and had a decent experience at the dealer in the sales process. So when I discovered a screw embedded in a tire, I took the opportunity to see what the service department was like.

Service department assessed the situation and offered to replace the tire -- for $267, including tax and labor. Getting past the fact that my econobox has V-speed-rated tires (like I'm ever going to drive a Mazda3 140 mph), I was appalled that the idea of simply fixing the tire for 10 percent of that -- or, perhaps, simply offering the service as goodwill (as my previous dealer did) -- didn't occur to him. "You guys would seriously consider losing a customer permanently over the profit margin in a tire?" I asked. Response: "Uh, ummm, uh, you really need a new tire."

Took the car to the Goodyear store -- a place where they actually have a vested interest in selling tires. They fixed the tire for $25. And we bought my wife's new CX-9 at another Mazda store.

 

so does wally world