I had a Cadillac Deville, and my belt tensioner broke, so the car would over heat if you drove it. I took it to a local shop, the mechanic told me he could fix it for $225 dollars, and he also told me that when a belt tensioner breaks, you might as well get the water pump replaced. In total he asked for $450 dollars. I decided to do it but I would have to wait two weeks because I had rent coming up. I was going to have to walk to work for 2 weeks. That same evening, I looked up the part at AutoZone, and it sold for $55 dollars. I asked a friend to let me borrow the tools she had in the trunk of her car. I changed it in less than one hour that same night. I literally saved myself $400 dollars, I didn't never need to change the water pump, it ran perfectly, the car ran cooler than it did before I fixed it. When should you take your car to the shop just to get ripped off?
It's hard at times not get scammed by mechanics because most will often try to overcharge you for car repairs. While I always suggest that you should try to have only mechanic you trust handle all your car repairs fact is there's no telling when they'll want to scam you. This is why everyone who owns a car ought to be willing to spend a little money to learn basic auto repair and maintenance. It will cost about $1000 or less but you never will spend a penny on auto repairs.
Try being a young woman that goes to an auto mechanic shop! They try to upsell you and rip you off every chance they get. This goes for national chains as well as local places. I have a few general rules of thumb when deciding whether I can tackle a job myself. First, if it has something that is computerized, like a sensor, or something that has to use a computer, I don't do it myself. If it requires the engine to completely come out or the car to go on a lift, I don't do it myself. Everything else, I either buy the repair book for the car or tote the laptop outside with me and watch the instructional video on youtube over and over and again while I'm doing the job. I have saved myself thousands of dollars and prior to me jumping in and beginning to repair things myself, I had very little knowledge at all about how vehicles even worked. Now, I feel like I have a better appreciation for my car and I don't feel anywhere near as helpless as I did before, either.
Me and my husband don't have any knowledge with cars. All we know is how to drive and how to clean. So when something is amiss in the car, we immediately call up the dealer's service department. And often, they would ask us to bring the car for an unscheduled checkup. My husband said that you should not tinker with things that you have little knowledge of. Like my sister's husband who would save money by doing the oil change of their car. But one time something went wrong and they had to spend more than double. So now that's a lesson - leave everything to the pro so you will have quality of work.
I'd like to fix my own car if I could! The problem is, I might do more damage to it rather than actually fixing it. Plus, I don't really have a lot of time on my hands. That's why whenever there's a problem with my car, I automatically go to a mechanic. The key here is that you should have a friend or two with you when you go to a repair shop. This way, you could be able to confidently negotiate the price with the mechanic especially if you're with friends who know a little bit about car repair. With regards to learning how to fix cars, Im down with that too.
I think people should know the basics of car upkeep, just like they should know the same stuff about computers. Nonetheless,it would be ridiculous to think that everyone should be an expert. Auto mechanics are experts, and often people don't have time to fix things themselves. Note, however, my friend was trying to argue that a lot of people were lazy, and auto mechanics simply existed to cater to thier lazy behavior.
