Van Repair: Minimal Damage (to my Wallet)
Sep. 22nd, 2006 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeIt's not every day you take your vehicle to a mechanic and he charges you less than you expected. After examining my van's squeaking brakes, he gave me a call and told me that the brake pads still had lots of time left on them, but that some shims on the front pads had come loose. He dealt with the loose bits, cleaned and adjusted everything, and put it all back together. Including the can of cleaning solution and an hour of his time, I think I'm pretty fortunate to be out only $84.
Mind you, that's one reason I keep coming back to that particular mechanic. Yes, since he replaced the engine, I've given him thousands of dollars over the years (although a great deal of that simply passed through to the engine supplier). But he's never been one for trying to sell me services I don't need. He (rightly IMO) assumes that it's better to have long-term goodwill and repeat business for things that really need work than to try and rip you off a single time since you'll never come back. That may explain why he's got so much work piled up that I had to make an appointment over a week in advance.
Mind you, that's one reason I keep coming back to that particular mechanic. Yes, since he replaced the engine, I've given him thousands of dollars over the years (although a great deal of that simply passed through to the engine supplier). But he's never been one for trying to sell me services I don't need. He (rightly IMO) assumes that it's better to have long-term goodwill and repeat business for things that really need work than to try and rip you off a single time since you'll never come back. That may explain why he's got so much work piled up that I had to make an appointment over a week in advance.
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Date: 2006-09-23 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 03:24 am (UTC)Gems who have my custom forever.
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Date: 2006-09-23 04:07 am (UTC)They totally won me over when they replaced my water pump because they found a leak, before I could notice anything wrong. It was a month before my warranty was due to expire, and no doubt it would have been that long before I'd noticed the problem.
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Date: 2006-09-23 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 04:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-23 05:39 pm (UTC)