Mechanics

Mechanics are some shady mother eff-ers.   Well, isn’t that unpolitically correct for me to say especially given my rant the other day against others who made broad generalizations about all Iowans when the media only shows glimpses of the idiot Iowans.  Ok, ok, let me clarify.  Mechanics at Sun Devil Auto are some shady mother eff-ers.  Better?  Good.

Oh, and I must mention I have been banned from actually saying the f-bomb on my blog.  BUT I can still say other swear words, in limited amounts and I can use “eff” as a substitute.  Which kinda pissed me off when a certain someone I live with asked me not to use it anymore.  But, the more I think about that more I must admit that he is probably right.  After all, I do post this to my facebook page and I do have some friends including relatives who are at an impressionable age.  So, here I am only 20 posts in and I’ve already been censured.  Humphhh…I still love you honey, don’t worry.

Anyhow, back to my original thought.  David’s car, which we purchased in June 2011, started leaking copious amounts of liquid last week.  It wasn’t oil.  It wasn’t transmission fluid.  Well, he discovered what it was when he flipped on the a/c yesterday in downtown Phoenix.  His a/c did not work and his car temperature rose to about the temperature of the sun which is just my non-professional estimation.   So today we took it in the shop for an oil change and a little peek.

Against my gut, we took it to Sun Devil auto.  See a couple of years ago when I had the giant gas guzzling SUV, I took it there for an oil change.  The guy at checkout informed me that my battery was very low and would likely die in the next few days.  He even tried to use my rugrats as leverage to get me to pony up for a new $150 battery.  I said, no, not today and went on my merry way.

Fast forward 8 months, yes I said EIGHT flipping months and my battery was still hauling our butts all over Phoenix.  I decided to bite the bullet and get a new one, because to be honest, we were due especially since the Arizona sun sucks the life out of batteries rather quickly.  But I did not go to Sun Devil Auto.  Nope, I went to the Walmart.

Today, as I was deciding where to take the car, I thought about Sun Devil.  So we decided to give them another chance.  Deciding factor:  it is within walking distance of our house.  I know, I know, excellent reason to take your car to a mechanic. 

So I get the call this afternoon.  The mechanic man/manager/boogeyman informed me that the car is in “excellent condition.”  It is leaking engine coolant, but besides that little $851 problem, it’s great.  Funny, huh?  I would not consider a vehicle that has an $851 problem to be in great condition.  Weird, I know.

So I did some calling around and then picked up a copy of the estimate to take to a couple of other places. 

The next place I went gave me an estimate of $705.  Getting better…  So I called Sun Devil and told them we would be picking up the vehicle in 20 minutes to take it elsewhere to get it repaired.  The guy proceeded to tell me that he would knock $200 off the price making the cost $651!  I about fell over.  I said, “Hold on, let me ask my husband.”  David looks at me incredulously and asks, “Why?”  So I asked the guy why.

He told me that he wanted our business and wanted to secure us for any future business and that if anyone beat his estimate then he always goes lower.  David and I didn’t have an answer to that one.  So I said sure, what the hell…

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still think car mechanics can be some shady dudes at times and I probably still won’t go back to Sun Devil auto because he obviously didn’t give me his best price from the beginning and tried to sugarcoat the shit out of our $851 problem.  Excellent condition, my ass.   But I sure will let him charge him $200 less than the original estimate and walk out of there with my head held high. 

Peace and love

~Andrea