Karma

[taerowyn]

This is my karma for being a bad environmentalist and not selling my car. I seriously considered it with the move to a place where I no longer have a garage spot. I mean, I only drive once or twice a week for groceries and laundry with an occassional road trip. In a lot of ways ZipCar makes a hell of a lot of sense for me. But somehow I just can't get over the mental block of...well...not having a car!

So service engine light came on last weekend. Took it in yesterday and I'm slated for about $650 worth of repairs for an oxygen sensor and some "coils and wires" for the starter. Ouch! Unforutnately, I believe the guy as, before the light came on, I've been having occassional problems with the engine turning, but not catching when I go to start it. Still...why did I not seel it when I was considering it? And to make it double painful, insult to injury and all that, the mechanic had scribbled the parts cost of these repairs on the back of his notes as he was working up the quote. Closer to $250. So that's over $400 for labor.

Car mechanics are evil.

Comments

[micahchaplin.livejournal.com]

Don't trust him. An oxygen sensor takes fifteen minutes or less to install. A starter needs to be replaced entirely. You can't rebuild one. And it takes less than an hour to install. I'd do it for you if I was going to be down there.

This guy sounds like a hack.

Micah

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Car mechanics are no more evil than any other professional. But the bad ones are very bad because of our dependency on cars.

From what our mechanic's told us, oxygen sensors are expensive to replace and they're probably not worth it, because your car is probably just barely past the "good" level of emissions. My recommendation is to get a second opinion, especially because i agree with micahchaplin about the starter.

[skunk237.livejournal.com]

Micah pegged it. that is NOT $400 worth of labour. $150 max.