When it
comes to cars, I’m blind. Oh don’t panic, I CAN see to drive the car, but beyond that, I’m basically blind as a bat and
have to rely on others to lead me around and show me what to do. Other than
knowing where to check the oil level, I know NOTHING about the vehicle I own.
Check the tire pressure? Nope. Put air in my tires? Yeah, right. And the truth
is, I don’t really want to know either. That is, until my car breaks down and I
immediately panic: “What’s wrong? Why isn’t my car working? What do I do?
SOMEONE HELP ME!!” (Hence the Seeing Eye dog.) And here we are at the present
moment. As I prepare to have my brakes replaced on my car, I must ask myself:
“Does the person fixing my car know what the hell he’s doing?” (Answer to be
determined.)
I admit it.
I’m not mechanically inclined. (Read here for further proof: https://jewoppy.blogspot.com/2017/01/its-science-youre-not-supposed-to.html) I am not the slightest bit
interested in how things work, as long as they DO work. When things break down,
some people try to figure out what the problem is. And to my credit, I am
willing to do a little bit of digging
if my iPhone or computer is not working properly. There are enough message
boards out there to lead a blind person like me to the light of day. Sometimes.
But I usually get bored after a few minutes and would rather just call
555-FIX-THIS. I don’t have the time or the desire to know why it’s broken. Just
make it work again PLEASE, pretty please with sugar on top, okay?
And thus we
come to my brakes. While bringing my car into my Honda dealership to change the
oil (now I don’t even have to check the oil… a lamp lights up on my dashboard
to tell me it’s time to change it), the lovely folks at Honda ran what they
called a “100 point inspection”. (It was free, so I really shouldn’t complain.)
Lo and behold, they determined I needed to have my front brakes replaced to the
tune of $550. WHAT??? The brakes in my brain slammed to a halt as I processed
this information. Then, I drove my car right out of there and hoped the brakes
on my tires still had enough life in them to do some research on mechanics.
And that’s
where the fun begins. I don’t have a mechanic. I went to my local Citgo station
in New Jersey where my dad used to go and discovered it’s under new ownership
and they ONLY habla Español. I don’t even know how to say “brakes” in Spanish!
(FYI, it’s frenos.) Somehow I was able to use my high school Spanish well
enough to communicate with the mechanic, and he quoted me a price of $300.
Phew. That sounds a lot better than $550. But as time went on, I kept
wondering, “How do I know if this guy is a good mechanic? Who am I to judge? I
only understood every other word he said, AND I can’t even change a flat tire!”
Everyone I knew advised me that $550 was way too expensive for a front brake
job, but could anyone advise me on where the hell to find a good mechanic? One
friend said, “Don’t worry, you’ll know if the mechanic didn’t do a good job on
your brakes.” And I’m thinking to myself, “Yeah, when I go careening of a cliff
because I can’t stop?” But he goes on to say, “Bad brakes will always make the
tires go black.” WHAT???? My tires are ALREADY black! What does that even
mean?? I’ve heard of shades of grey, but are there shades of black?
What I’ve
come to realize is that it doesn’t matter how cheap you can get something fixed.
The expression “You get what you pay for” applies here. Who cares how
inexpensive a repair is, if it DOESN’T WORK? And thus, I’ve gotten some
recommendations from friends who have worked with mechanics in the past and
know way more about their automobiles than I do. And worst case, I just bite
the bullet and pay the $550 at Honda. At least there, I have recourse should
something go wrong. So I’m off now, to go see someone named “Jimmy.” According
to my friend, he’s genuine. As long as he can GENUINELY fix my car, then
hopefully my problem will soon be solved. And away I go!
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