Monday, January 11, 2010

Car repairs



Last Saturday I did end up getting my oil change. I was up, out of the house, and at the Saturn dealership by 8:00. I had the oil changed and ask the repair man to take a look under the car and see if he could figure out why my car was making a clunking sound when I made a left hand turn.

I've been asking Rich to take a look at it for a while now, but gosh, he just hasn't found the time to do it. I suppose if my car were connected somehow to his truck he could figure it out easily!

It ended up being that the emergency brake cable had come loose. It cost me $9.50 for 1/10 of an hours work to reattach it. There is just something about that that bothers me. The math tells me it was 6 minutes or under to plug the cable in. Do you remember when people used to do things like this as a common courtesy? I know it is a business and all, but where do you draw the line?

While I'm on my car rant here is another. Two years ago I got to close to a cement pole at the gas station and scratched/broke the side door of my car. My insurance paid all but the deductible to fix it. Then I found out that I am getting a surcharge for the next three years for being a "bad driver". Now the thing that gets me is that I have been paying car insurance for about 25 years or so and I've never been at fault for any kind of an accident. I have never even gotten a ticket for that matter. Isn't the purpose of paying for insurance to use it if you need to. Why do you get charged to use something you buy? It baffles me. I guess scratching the door of my car makes me a menace on the road!

UGH!!!

take care,
Dawn

7 comments:

Lorrie said...

I hear you Dawn! I have never understood why after paying premiums for years that once you make a claim your rates can go up or you get a surcharge like yours. It's done to discourage people from actually making claims on the insurance that we pay high prices to have--very discouraging. It's all about big business making a profit.

Beverly said...

I'm right there with you on anything insurance related. I just don't get the whole business.

I am glad you got your car appointment resolved. I'm just sorry you had to get our of the house so early Saturday morning.

Have a good Monday.

The Muse said...

Sorry about your distress...
It takes so much to run a business these days...and of course, it filters down to us....

SIGH...
It sure doesn't ease the pain.

Darlene said...

Oh Dawn I hear ya!!! I can't even believe they charged that much to take a peek and plug that in...CRAZY!!

Cottage Rose said...

Hey Dawn; I am with all the other ladies,,, insurance companies charge you so much and then you get less,, and not just car ins. either health is really bad,, ours is like not having any at all... I am glad that it was not a huge problem with your car.... hope your week is a good one...

Hugs
Alaura

SmilingSally said...

I'd be willing to bet that you have Allstate Insurance, Dawn. That sounds like them.

We have a Toyota and State Farm Insurance; they both still treat us right.

Debi said...

That is so totally ridiculous, Dawn! But on the bright side, I'm glad the clunking was something so minor.