The Value of a Second Opinion
June 26th, 2006 by Grant in: Frugal LivingIt’s never good when you have to take your car to a mechanic for repairs. It will always cost you an arm and a leg, no matter what kind of work you have done.
Recently, we took my wife’s Honda Accord to a Honda dealer to service the air conditioner. The result: A leaky evaporator, a leaking Schrader valve, a bad o-ring, a leak in the…. I quit listening at that point, all I wanted to hear was how much it was going to be to fix the darn thing.
$826.79
Ouch! Smoke started pouring out of my ears, gears were moving at warp speed, the grip on the phone was starting to cause damage…
The reason I was so irritated is that just 6 months before, we’d had the car in to the dealer for the same symptoms. At that time, we needed a new compressor, some new hoses, and a new drier, all of which totaled around $850.00.
Six months later, the same shop is telling me we have three new leaks that they didn’t find last year… how convenient.
So now it will cost nearly $1,700 to get the air conditioner working again, which is more than the value of the car. I told the supervisor I wasn’t happy, and was going to get a second opinion.
So I took it to my local mechanic for a look-see, and he can replace everything for $525.
Ah the value of a second opinion: $325
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July 9th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Dealers are really taking people to the cleaners as far as maintenance goes. I took my Lincoln Mercury in to both the dealer and a local repair shop and the repair shop could do the same work for half the dealers quote. What really burns me is that some auto manufacturers are not releasing repair manuals or specialized tools to non-dealer shops, forcing the customer to take their vehicle to the dealer for repair. Be careful and make sure the local shop is using new parts and not used or refurbished parts.
July 18th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
This is why I always let my husband deal with the car maintenance. On more than one occasion I’ve felt intimidated and quite frankly lied to by auto mechanics.
Jaime