Floating Leaf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
floatingleaf) wrote2009-11-30 09:57 pm
floatingleaf) wrote2009-11-30 09:57 pm
Entry tags:
car trouble saga - chapter several dozen and then some
I lost my muffler this morning on my way to work. I kid you not. I knew something was wrong with it as soon as I started the engine, because, you know, it ROARED. But I thought, oh crap, I'll just stop somewhere on my way back home tonight and have someone look at it. But then, as I was driving, I kept hearing some odd rattling & clanging sounds in addition to the roaring... and finally, lo and behold, the whole thing just FELL OFF. I clearly saw it detach itself from the car and clatter away to the curb. I probably should have stopped to pick it up - but I was kinda stunned, as well as, typically, running late for work, so yeah. I kept driving. Just another instance of my precious old pile'o'junk falling apart on me right in the middle of the road, lol. Doesn't really faze me that much anymore.;P
But my point is, I left work early to get it fixed, and I went to this little body shop I had accidentally discovered months earlier, when I was having trouble with my windshield wipers. They are called MUFFLERS 4 LE$$, which sounded extremely appropriate for the occasion; but they really do almost everything, and charge very little. The first time one of my wiper blades stopped moving, they fixed it for about 40 bucks (another place I went to wanted to charge me $50 just for testing what was wrong with it, before even deciding whether they can fix it or not). Then, some weeks later, when it stopped moving again, I went back in and they fixed it again for free (they did tell me it was a makeshift fix, but to get it 'done right' I would have to go to a professional Nissan dealer who would charge me an arm and a leg, so I opted for a temporary solution instead). Then, after some more weeks, when it stopped moving again, they just replaced both my wipers with a single big one, charging me all of $10. The big wiper looks kinda funny on my small car windshield - but it's been working perfectly ever since. So anyway... today I got the entire exhaust system replaced (it wasn't just the muffler - all the pipes were eaten away with rust and almost falling apart at the touch, lol) in about 30 minutes, for less than $300. Which means they didn't charge anything at all for labor - just the parts. The last time I had this done - several years ago - I had paid about $800. I remember it well, because I had been at my parents' house for Christmas and had gone to a shop near there, and left the car with them for a good few hours. And even my dad didn't think it was too high a price for such extensive repair. So how come three Mexican guys, who barely speak English, did the same stuff in a blink for about one third of the money?... Just wondering, you know.
Not that I'm happy about another unplanned expense, mind you - but I'm pretty sure that if I'd gone to the dealer, I'd have to part with more than one paycheck. So yay for cheap Mexican body shops. And I got home earlier than usual, since I had taken most of the afternoon off, expecting to spend hours waiting for the car to be done. Feels like a lucky break... well, almost. Now I sort of wonder what other car parts may be expected to spontaneously detach themselves in the near future.
Just saying.
But my point is, I left work early to get it fixed, and I went to this little body shop I had accidentally discovered months earlier, when I was having trouble with my windshield wipers. They are called MUFFLERS 4 LE$$, which sounded extremely appropriate for the occasion; but they really do almost everything, and charge very little. The first time one of my wiper blades stopped moving, they fixed it for about 40 bucks (another place I went to wanted to charge me $50 just for testing what was wrong with it, before even deciding whether they can fix it or not). Then, some weeks later, when it stopped moving again, I went back in and they fixed it again for free (they did tell me it was a makeshift fix, but to get it 'done right' I would have to go to a professional Nissan dealer who would charge me an arm and a leg, so I opted for a temporary solution instead). Then, after some more weeks, when it stopped moving again, they just replaced both my wipers with a single big one, charging me all of $10. The big wiper looks kinda funny on my small car windshield - but it's been working perfectly ever since. So anyway... today I got the entire exhaust system replaced (it wasn't just the muffler - all the pipes were eaten away with rust and almost falling apart at the touch, lol) in about 30 minutes, for less than $300. Which means they didn't charge anything at all for labor - just the parts. The last time I had this done - several years ago - I had paid about $800. I remember it well, because I had been at my parents' house for Christmas and had gone to a shop near there, and left the car with them for a good few hours. And even my dad didn't think it was too high a price for such extensive repair. So how come three Mexican guys, who barely speak English, did the same stuff in a blink for about one third of the money?... Just wondering, you know.
Not that I'm happy about another unplanned expense, mind you - but I'm pretty sure that if I'd gone to the dealer, I'd have to part with more than one paycheck. So yay for cheap Mexican body shops. And I got home earlier than usual, since I had taken most of the afternoon off, expecting to spend hours waiting for the car to be done. Feels like a lucky break... well, almost. Now I sort of wonder what other car parts may be expected to spontaneously detach themselves in the near future.
Just saying.
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Glad you got your car fixed...mine is still laid out to pasture >:D