In today's world, automobiles are a mandatory tool needed to get through the everyday tasks of life for most people. We all have people to see, places to go, errands to run.
Thus, it is somewhat ironic that in today's world, hardly anybody knows a lick about their cars. Most people therefore have to take their cars in to a shop in order to have any repairs made, no matter how minor the car's problems may be.
I, unfortunately, fall in the category of "clueless" when it comes to auto work. I can change a tire and check the fluid levels, but beyond that, I'm lost.
When my car recently needed some minor work, I had to take it in. I knew my back brakes needed new shoes. I suspected my car may have needed new shocks. And I had a hunch my car needed some work on the exhaust system, seeing as my muffler appeared to be ready to fall off at any moment.
Some of you have read about my car before in this very space. It hates me, and its latest incident -- in which smoke started coming out of the steering column during an out-of-state trip, but a mechanic could find NOTHING WRONG -- had me looking for a cliff to push it over. Now, I am fervently praying that the day comes soon when I can replace it with something nicer, but in the meantime, the 1990 Chevy Corsica is all I have.
I weighed my options on where to take my car. Many friends started throwing business cards at me, recommending their favorite mechanics. While I was grateful, I was also in a hurry and strapped for cash. Thus, I ended up foregoing these smaller shops to take it to a national chain which had a special and said they could do the work on that same day.
To be kind, I will not say the name of this national chain. I, however, will say that they are a bunch of LYING GOOBERS when they say "you're not gonna pay a lot for that muffler," and that George Foreman has clearly taken one too many punches to the head for him to decide to endorse this company, whose name rhymes with "schmeineke."
So, I took my car to the national chain, where the Happy Manager told me he'd get me a free estimate right away. Within an hour or two, Happy Manager was calling me to tell me that my car basically had more problems than the former child cast of "Diff'rent Strokes." The shocks were shot. The back brakes were bad, and needed not only new shoes, but new drums and a complete systemic brake-fluid flush. And my exhaust system was in complete disrepair, from the engine down to the corroded tailpipe.
Great. "How much is this gonna cost me?" I queried.
"About $1,400," said the Happy Manager.
After the seizures stopped, I regained enough composure to ask him what in the world I could do to bring that cost down. Happy Manager said the shocks could wait a little, and that if they just did the brakes and the exhaust system, it would ONLY cost about $985.
I had a co-worker drive me to Schmeineke in haste to get my car out of their clutches. I would agree to become George W. Bush's speech therapist before I poured four digits into that car.
As I got the keys from the No-Longer Smiling Manager, I told him there was no way I'd put $1,400 into the car; that's at least six months of a new car payment. He sneered, "Well, it's better than putting that money toward hospital bills."
Sobered by this experience, I ended up taking my car to a mechanic who a friend had nothing but kind words about. The only problems with this shop, Jim's Automotive Service, was that it was located in Sun Valley, and that because it's a fairly small shop, same-day service wasn't possible.
The next day, I took my car out for an estimate. The owner, Jim, was kind enough to drive me back into town, and his shop kept the car most of the day. I called that afternoon, and Jim told me the shocks were fine. The back brakes needed new shoes, but that the drums, while a tad worn, were OK. The muffler was indeed about to fall off, and I needed to get that fixed.
"How much?" I asked, still having seizure aftershocks from the Schmeineke experience.
"About $420," he said.
The next day, the work was done. My car was fixed, and in exchange, Jim's Automotive gained a customer.
The experience taught me several valuable lessons. The first lesson, and the most sobering lesson, is that there are those out there in the world who will screw you if they can -- and be rude to you in the process.
The second lesson? There are good, honest folks using this system we call capitalism who remain out there. It may take a drive and some effort to find them -- but they're out there.
Jimmy Boegle is a fifth-generation Nevadan who involuntarily salivates every time he drives past a new car dealership (excluding the Kia dealer). His (Jimmy's, not the Kia dealer's) column appears here Tuesdays, and a column archive can be viewed at http://geocities.datacellar.net/jiboegle.