Doohickie
04-02-2007, 01:30 AM
The car gods giveth, and the car gods taketh away.
My son, Andrew, was quoted $700+ to do some front end work on the 99 Cutlass he bought last November. He took it back to Pep Boys to have it done and they said they misquoted the first time, it might be $900 or more. They did the job and ended up not doing everything they quoted, so he got out of there for about $550. That was last week.
Yesterday I went with my wife to a track meet for the school she teaches for. This was about a 40 mile drive. We were just taking our seats when Andrew called.... "Dad, the car won't STEER!"
"Where are you?"
"Just off the freeway, near my viola teacher's house."
"Whereinthehellis that?"
He gives me directions, and I leave my wife at the meet, drive across town, and get to his car (his teacher had picked him up and taken him to the lesson). I don't have a key for the car, so I climb under and notice some strings hanging.... bad belt perhaps? I get the latch popped and open it up... yep, the 3.1 V6 has a serpentine belt and it is in shreds. So not only did Andrew lose power steering, he lost alternator, air conditioner and.... the water pump... uh-oh.
So I drive around a bit (in my wife's Taurus) and find a shop a few blocks away that says they close at 4. At this point, it's 4:05. I explain what the situation is and the guy says to bring it over; he'll wait.
I drive over to where Andrew is having his lesson (still), get the keys, and drive a car with no water pump, no power steering and no alternator the quarter mile over to the shop. The engine still feels strong, but the battery light is on (not surprisingly).
I drop it off and the mechanic drives it right in... they said they could change out the belt right away before they close. Nice!! So I go back, pick up Andrew, and about 10 minutes after we get back, the car is ready to go.... $122 for the new belt, installed. That was great that the shop was able to do that so quick (changed out the belt in about a half hour).
That money Andrew saved on the front end job paid for the serpent belt, so he basically broke even. And I got back to the track meet before it was over.
In other news.... the Escort that Andrew totalled, then crashed again for good measure when he first started driving, is now being used by my youngest son to learn how to drive. We drove on roads with real traffic for the first time this weekend. :eek:
My son, Andrew, was quoted $700+ to do some front end work on the 99 Cutlass he bought last November. He took it back to Pep Boys to have it done and they said they misquoted the first time, it might be $900 or more. They did the job and ended up not doing everything they quoted, so he got out of there for about $550. That was last week.
Yesterday I went with my wife to a track meet for the school she teaches for. This was about a 40 mile drive. We were just taking our seats when Andrew called.... "Dad, the car won't STEER!"
"Where are you?"
"Just off the freeway, near my viola teacher's house."
"Whereinthehellis that?"
He gives me directions, and I leave my wife at the meet, drive across town, and get to his car (his teacher had picked him up and taken him to the lesson). I don't have a key for the car, so I climb under and notice some strings hanging.... bad belt perhaps? I get the latch popped and open it up... yep, the 3.1 V6 has a serpentine belt and it is in shreds. So not only did Andrew lose power steering, he lost alternator, air conditioner and.... the water pump... uh-oh.
So I drive around a bit (in my wife's Taurus) and find a shop a few blocks away that says they close at 4. At this point, it's 4:05. I explain what the situation is and the guy says to bring it over; he'll wait.
I drive over to where Andrew is having his lesson (still), get the keys, and drive a car with no water pump, no power steering and no alternator the quarter mile over to the shop. The engine still feels strong, but the battery light is on (not surprisingly).
I drop it off and the mechanic drives it right in... they said they could change out the belt right away before they close. Nice!! So I go back, pick up Andrew, and about 10 minutes after we get back, the car is ready to go.... $122 for the new belt, installed. That was great that the shop was able to do that so quick (changed out the belt in about a half hour).
That money Andrew saved on the front end job paid for the serpent belt, so he basically broke even. And I got back to the track meet before it was over.
In other news.... the Escort that Andrew totalled, then crashed again for good measure when he first started driving, is now being used by my youngest son to learn how to drive. We drove on roads with real traffic for the first time this weekend. :eek: