Conversation with a mechanic

[vilakins]

My car has been fixed!

A mechanic at Honda rang me yesterday about the part it needed (computer control for ventilation) which would take 3-4 weeks to come from Japan.

Mech: Did I tell you how much it will cost?
Me [apprehensively] No. How much?
Mech: $2000
Me [shocked and appalled]: WHAT? I could buy an old car for that! I'm not paying that when the thing could break down again.
Mech: It's a different part from the one that broke down last time.
Me: Yes, and you've already said that you don't stock either because they so rarely fail. There's no way I'm paying that much and having an undriveable car for that long, and you already told me you won't give me a loan car.
Mech: We-e-e-e-ell. We could put a second-hand part in.
Me [cautiously hopeful] How much would that cost?
Mech: It depends on the supplier. $300 to $500?
Me: That's a hell of a lot better than $2000. When can you get one?
Mech: We could fit it tomorrow. But there's no guarantee like there would be for a new part.
Me: DO IT!
Mech: We can't guarantee it won't break down.
Me: Look, even if it does and I have to get another second-hand part, I'd still be way ahead of the game. Go for it!

So I have my car back. It annoys me that I could have got a second-hand resistor back in summer and had the aircon fixed immediately, but then that part was only about $160.

This car is only five years old, which is fairly new for this country--and me. I hope this is the last thing for a while.

Comments

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

$2000? I'd have gone through the roof. For a SINGLE part, what do they do, hand carve it using diamond dust??

I'm glad that you got the car back & hope you won't have any more trouble with it (but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to trade it in for a type where parts don't cost so much? If there is such a thing.)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's two parts that aren't meant to fail and have already. The car's fine in other ways though. I dunno, maybe I could buy a Skoda or something, but cars cost soooo much here and depreciate so fast. Besides, my car is the long-distance one because of its speed, power, and storage, and any replacement would be probably be smaller and slower.

It's a second-hand car so it can have second-hand parts.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Yep, if you have any more problems, I think you tell the mechanic up front - 'I'd prefer it if you can get used parts at a reasonable price.'

It's not right that he said 'oh, did I tell you the price' as if it totally didn't matter!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

To be fair, up till then I'd been hung up on how long it would take to get here and whether I could have a loan car. He's from the proper Honda dealer here so he's no cowboy, but they probably have some corporate thing about new parts supplied by themselves.

I have to say though, that the more complicated and computer-controlled cars get, the harder they are to fix when things go wrong.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Yep. My mother once told me about her first car. They bought it from a farmer for about $25, and had to chase chickens out of it. It was a cruddy car, but dad fixed it up a bit (probably with bits and bobs bashed to fit) and it ran! Mostly. Except for when it died in the middle of the Verranzano Bridge... :^)

[vandonovan.livejournal.com]

$2,000!? And then he just happens to have another part that's less than 1/4th the cost?! That sounds fishy as hell to me. :/ I'm glad you didn't bite the bullet and shell out the $2k, and I hope to hell that the second hand part doesn't fail. :/ Keeping my fingers crossed for you. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

He didn't have it--he had to contact a second-hand parts dealer--but I bet he wouldn't have suggested it if I hadn't said I wasn't playing, or paying.

Greg got a second-hand part put into his car a while back and it's been fine.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Our car is full of second hand parts and still runs. It wheezes a bit going up steep hills, but otherwise it's fine.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I shall henceforth demand second-hand! Besides, one should patch up old wine-skins with old leather.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

It's a nothin' part till you ain't got one.

I spent $800 today on having the roof fixed. The roof guy says that there's water damage to the joists and I can either take off the back part of the house, put in a new joist, and replace the back part of the house (he estimated $15,000), cut out the ceiling in the tenant's apartment and double the joist ($10,000), or hook up a Rube Goldberg contraption to pump the water out of the sunken part ($1,500) so I'm rather inclined toward the last-named.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd go for that too.

[trixieleitz]

Hooray!

I am amazed that dealers/mechanics of such a common make of car have to import parts, even for a less common repair. But then, corporate decisions never do seem to make sense.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Perhaps an ordinary mechanic would have gone second-hand at once, but Honda ones can't. I now know to ask for it.

What a very appropriate icon! executrix quoted that too. :-)

[trixieleitz]

I probably wouldn't have thought to use it if I hadn't seen her comment :)

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

When it comes to repairing your car, you are always a victim...
Glad to hear you managed to get more reasonable result.
Where would we be without second-hand spare parts?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd be without a car! It's just not driveable in the rain without a fan or aircon to defrost the windscreen, as I found when it failed.

And man, this weather is scary. Some people have lost roofs.

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

I wish they would offer these things, glad you have it back though x

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too. I need my car and it was dangerous to drive in the rain without even a fan.