At present, by the grace of duct tape and bailing wire redneck style fixing ingenuity (not really duct tape or bailing wire, but an expression I like to use) my car runs at the appropriate temperature and without leaking. But redneck fixing really gets on my nerves even if it is my own redneckery at work.
I have about a dozen little things I would like to replace on my car and I want the bypass hose to be fixed right. So I went online and found a German auto parts place and ordered $700 worth of parts for my car. I bought everything I know I need to bring the car up to my idea of snuff, new sensors, new little rubber bumpie things, a new cool air intake hose, new brakes and rotors because I think it is about time, new belts, new water pump, new aux fans etc and I called around to the dealers and local shops to get quotes on having the work done for me. Working on my car is a nightmare and involves more cussing and bitching than my neighbors or roommates care to hear. I called Phoenix Motor Company, a Mercedes dealership and they quoted me $1000 for the labor to do what I want done. Which is fair enough, I am replacing a lot of stuff which is not broken just because the parts are cheaper than the labor and the water pump, serpent belt etc have to come off to replace the $8 bypass hose anyway so I may as well have them replaced as long as I'm paying for 4 hours of labor. The parts are less than $200, the labor is around $400 to replace that little hose. I then called Schumacher Mercedes and asked them for a quote on the same work and they wanted almost $2000 and that was after I called him on his rip off. When the guy broke it down for me he charged me for hours replacing the belt, hours replacing the water pump, hours replacing the bypass hose etc. Even though all are done at the same time and replacing those parts with new parts should in theory be easier than fucking with a dirty old part and old gasket etc, he wanted to charge me as though he was doing each thing from scratch. I protested a bit and he reduced those times by half, which is still a rip off, one has to take off the belt and take off the water pump to replace the bypass hose, replacing the bypass hose takes 4 shop hours and the car still has to be put back together, putting it together with old parts or new parts does not change the fact that it must be put back together and it does not take any longer to put new parts vs old parts on. I was offended but not in a mood to bitch the guy out more. I will however be sure to tell all of my neighbors not to take their cars to Schumacher Mercedes and rather go to Phoenix Motor Company since they don't seem to engage in the same shady extra hours billing. Apparently Schumacher really thinks their customers are stupid. I think I'm going to take the car to an independent guy who has a $30 an hour cheaper shop rate than the dealer which will save me like $400 on the labor. He says he will need to keep it a couple days longer than the dealer would and I don't get the "free" loaner car, but I think I'll live, for $400 I can rent a really decent car for a fairly long time and still have a few bucks left over for something fun.
S0 itll probably run me about $1400 to have all of this stuff done, but compared to what one looses driving off the lot in a new car or pays in sales tax it seems like a good enough deal. I have no car payments and have not spent a much on the car save oil changes, gas and insurance for 2 years so I guess it is about due for some $$$ to be thrown at it. My roommate said to just buy a new car, I say how fucking wasteful, I much prefer to repair than keep up the cycle of waste and consumerism by buying new shit whenever some little thing breaks. It is my own way of being an environmentalist. Yes my car will be worth exactly the same bluebook before and after I put the $1400 into it, but since when was a car an investment? A car is transportation and I still say $1400 is a bargain for that car.
I have about a dozen little things I would like to replace on my car and I want the bypass hose to be fixed right. So I went online and found a German auto parts place and ordered $700 worth of parts for my car. I bought everything I know I need to bring the car up to my idea of snuff, new sensors, new little rubber bumpie things, a new cool air intake hose, new brakes and rotors because I think it is about time, new belts, new water pump, new aux fans etc and I called around to the dealers and local shops to get quotes on having the work done for me. Working on my car is a nightmare and involves more cussing and bitching than my neighbors or roommates care to hear. I called Phoenix Motor Company, a Mercedes dealership and they quoted me $1000 for the labor to do what I want done. Which is fair enough, I am replacing a lot of stuff which is not broken just because the parts are cheaper than the labor and the water pump, serpent belt etc have to come off to replace the $8 bypass hose anyway so I may as well have them replaced as long as I'm paying for 4 hours of labor. The parts are less than $200, the labor is around $400 to replace that little hose. I then called Schumacher Mercedes and asked them for a quote on the same work and they wanted almost $2000 and that was after I called him on his rip off. When the guy broke it down for me he charged me for hours replacing the belt, hours replacing the water pump, hours replacing the bypass hose etc. Even though all are done at the same time and replacing those parts with new parts should in theory be easier than fucking with a dirty old part and old gasket etc, he wanted to charge me as though he was doing each thing from scratch. I protested a bit and he reduced those times by half, which is still a rip off, one has to take off the belt and take off the water pump to replace the bypass hose, replacing the bypass hose takes 4 shop hours and the car still has to be put back together, putting it together with old parts or new parts does not change the fact that it must be put back together and it does not take any longer to put new parts vs old parts on. I was offended but not in a mood to bitch the guy out more. I will however be sure to tell all of my neighbors not to take their cars to Schumacher Mercedes and rather go to Phoenix Motor Company since they don't seem to engage in the same shady extra hours billing. Apparently Schumacher really thinks their customers are stupid. I think I'm going to take the car to an independent guy who has a $30 an hour cheaper shop rate than the dealer which will save me like $400 on the labor. He says he will need to keep it a couple days longer than the dealer would and I don't get the "free" loaner car, but I think I'll live, for $400 I can rent a really decent car for a fairly long time and still have a few bucks left over for something fun.
S0 itll probably run me about $1400 to have all of this stuff done, but compared to what one looses driving off the lot in a new car or pays in sales tax it seems like a good enough deal. I have no car payments and have not spent a much on the car save oil changes, gas and insurance for 2 years so I guess it is about due for some $$$ to be thrown at it. My roommate said to just buy a new car, I say how fucking wasteful, I much prefer to repair than keep up the cycle of waste and consumerism by buying new shit whenever some little thing breaks. It is my own way of being an environmentalist. Yes my car will be worth exactly the same bluebook before and after I put the $1400 into it, but since when was a car an investment? A car is transportation and I still say $1400 is a bargain for that car.
paulnikon:
Good luck with the car, yo.