Black sheep mechanics
The van would not start two weeks ago. T didn’t close the door tight and left the light on overnight. thus exhausted the battery. The neighbor’s boyfriend helped me to jump start the car, but it went dead again as it did not recharge enough before I turned off the engine.
T brought it to the workshop to recharge the battery, but was told he has to replace the whole battery. Despite me telling him there was nothing wrong with the battery, T and his dad decided to get it replaced and also “fixed” the alternator. The repair bill came up to be $330++.
The mechanics must have thought they got some dumb big fish, they also “discovered” problems with the shocks and recommended flushing the break fluids. They gave an estimate of repairs, came up to be a few dollars less than $1000!
Though equally ignorant about cars, I knew better not to trust mechanics! I told T no where we are going to spend so much money repairing a car that only cost $3500! So, T talked to his coffee mate, the retired policeman recommended him a mechanic whom he said is honest. T sent the car for him to check the shocks. Guess what? The second mechanic found nothing wrong with the shocks and whatsoever.
Now they have me thinking: we might not even have to replace the battery or alternator! For all you know, all we need is recharging the battery for 5-6 hours!!
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