something I am grateful for today

[johncomic]

The [new-ish] car has been making a funny noise lately and I thought the steering had gotten a bit stiff, so I took it in to the garage this mornin to get it checked out.

The funny noise was “coolant that had gotten into the heating core” [whatever that is] and there was “a power steering fluid leak from an open seal” which just needed to be resealed, not replaced.

Total bill: an hour's labour.

I'm always hearing that garages will look for any opportunity to make you buy parts whether you need them or not... that they will always take advantage of your ignorance if you're not an auto mechanic yourself. Which I'm not. So I was leaving myself especially wide open today, the “funny noise” coulda been anything, and they coulda told me anything and I'd be none the wiser.

So I am grateful for one of the smallest car repair bills I ever had, and for a bit of renewed faith in my garage.

Comments

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

About 90% of our customers don't know a cpu from an application and are entirely at our mercy. We try, sometimes too hard, to help. It is nearly impossible to explain what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how it is in their best interest. We attempt to explain it and are sometimes successful. But we always put as much integrity into the job as we can, recommend better hardware when it will make a difference, and generally try to be the kind of service people we want when we need to get our car fixed.
Fortunately we get enough grateful customers to make up for the 'other' ones. And they sometimes express their gratitude on our Facebook or Yelp site. I always forward the compliments to everyone in the shop. They make our day.

[johncomic.livejournal.com]

I'm not too surprised to hear this from you, because: since I gather you are related to susandennis, that made me assume that you are A Good Guy®. :)

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, I am her younger brother. We have become very close in the past few years despite being separated by a couple of thousand miles.
Thanks for the seal of approval.