So you thought you could pull a fast one on me, huh?
It has been brought to my attention that the timing belt on a car needs to be replaced every 90,000 miles. Did anyone else know this? Lucky for me I was enlightened with this information because my car mileage is currently at 94,738 miles. Time for a new timing belt!
I decided to deal with this today before the belt actually breaks and then I have more to fix and am out a lot more money. Since I know nothing about this sort of thing I thought it would be wise to get a few quotes and see what the damage to my bank account would be. I was expecting it to cost around a few hundred dollars.
I called car shop #1 (who will remain unnamed as they are about to get a bad review from me). I told them make, model and year of my car and asked them for a quote. Ten minutes later they called me back and quoted a cost of $883.45 for a timing belt and water pump. First of all, ouch! I was not expecting that. Second of all, that is not what I asked for. I wanted a quote on a timing belt and alternator. The guy told me that I should be more interested in getting the water pump taken care of than the alternator since I have a foreign car. He went on to explain a few things and made it sound like the alternator wasn’t even near the timing belt anyway. I don’t know anything about this so I chose not to argue and risk sounding stupid and ignorant.
I was hesitant to call for a second quote. Surely it couldn’t be worse than the first one though. I kindly explained what I wanted done, gave the appropriate information and asked for a quote. It did not take this place 10 minutes to get back to me. The gentleman informed me right away that my car doesn’t even have a timing belt. WHAT??? How could this be? Am I missing car parts? Did it fall out somewhere? He explained that my car has a timing chain instead and that it wasn’t necessary to have it replaced right away. I definitely liked this answer better as it doesn’t end up costing me $883.45.
I really wanted to believe the 2nd guy and just stop right there. But, with my luck, I would believe the wrong person and then my car would end up breaking down and costing me a whole heck of a lot more money. So I called the dealership. I felt incredibly stupid talking to the service center employee and explaining to him that I was just investigating as to whether my car has a timing belt or chain. He chuckled and agreed that it was a chain. I felt the need to explain further and ended up telling him my whole story. He just laughed at me and assured me there is no belt and no need to spend $883.45.
Maybe I should write a letter to the corporate offices of the car shop #1 and let them know how uneducated their employees are. That thought has crossed my mind once or twice today. Perhaps I should brush up on my car knowledge too. Hmmm...where could I enroll in car shop 101?
I decided to deal with this today before the belt actually breaks and then I have more to fix and am out a lot more money. Since I know nothing about this sort of thing I thought it would be wise to get a few quotes and see what the damage to my bank account would be. I was expecting it to cost around a few hundred dollars.
I called car shop #1 (who will remain unnamed as they are about to get a bad review from me). I told them make, model and year of my car and asked them for a quote. Ten minutes later they called me back and quoted a cost of $883.45 for a timing belt and water pump. First of all, ouch! I was not expecting that. Second of all, that is not what I asked for. I wanted a quote on a timing belt and alternator. The guy told me that I should be more interested in getting the water pump taken care of than the alternator since I have a foreign car. He went on to explain a few things and made it sound like the alternator wasn’t even near the timing belt anyway. I don’t know anything about this so I chose not to argue and risk sounding stupid and ignorant.
I was hesitant to call for a second quote. Surely it couldn’t be worse than the first one though. I kindly explained what I wanted done, gave the appropriate information and asked for a quote. It did not take this place 10 minutes to get back to me. The gentleman informed me right away that my car doesn’t even have a timing belt. WHAT??? How could this be? Am I missing car parts? Did it fall out somewhere? He explained that my car has a timing chain instead and that it wasn’t necessary to have it replaced right away. I definitely liked this answer better as it doesn’t end up costing me $883.45.
I really wanted to believe the 2nd guy and just stop right there. But, with my luck, I would believe the wrong person and then my car would end up breaking down and costing me a whole heck of a lot more money. So I called the dealership. I felt incredibly stupid talking to the service center employee and explaining to him that I was just investigating as to whether my car has a timing belt or chain. He chuckled and agreed that it was a chain. I felt the need to explain further and ended up telling him my whole story. He just laughed at me and assured me there is no belt and no need to spend $883.45.
Maybe I should write a letter to the corporate offices of the car shop #1 and let them know how uneducated their employees are. That thought has crossed my mind once or twice today. Perhaps I should brush up on my car knowledge too. Hmmm...where could I enroll in car shop 101?
Good thing you called around. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to let the corporate office know about the problem.
Knowing a little about your car wouldn't be a bad idea either. Not that I can talk because I don't know anything about ours (but I have a husband to take care of that.)
Posted by
Amanda |
7/25/2007 4:44 PM
I agree. Good for you for calling more than one place!
I do remember that having a timing belt replaced is expensive.
Posted by
Bone |
7/28/2007 11:52 PM
I had to replace two timing belts. The first one was covered b/c of a factory recall, BUT the shop that fixed it didn't do it correctly. That amount was a little much because I didn't pay that much total and I also had to pay for towing. Yes, you definately don't want it to break because it give you no warning...just out of no where, your car stops running. Not good.
BTW - check the blog, you have an assignment!
Posted by
Stacey |
8/10/2007 5:11 PM