Just another quick blog about keeping your wits about you and not panicking with the results after taking advantage of a “free” quote that you see advertised everywhere.
This includes “free quotes” for your roof, sidewalks, gutters, windows, renovations, etc. When I got my brand new roof done a couple years ago, I had someone come to my door literally a month after the new roof was finished. They asked me if I wanted a free quote for my roof and laughing I said sure. Don’t you know it, he said I needed new shingles! The receipt for the roof work was still sitting on my dining table so I showed it to him and he umm’d and err’d until I shooed him off my porch.
The one we took advantage of the other day was a Free Hour of Diagnostic Inspection for your car.
Now, to prelude this, we were looking to get the car diagnosed anyways. There were a couple engine lights on, that have been on for a long time, and it’s a 2001 vehicle. Car drives fine, but we wanted to finally decisively identify what the lights were on for so we could make them go away. I sat down to start researching the best price for a diagnostic at a few places and came across a “Special Coupon” the actual dealership had for a free hour of diagnostic… that ended that day.
Scheduled with the hubby and we could make it work. Called the shop and the guy on the phone was great and said that they are the experts for that brand of car, and he was certain they could figure out the problems in that hour. We drove it in and made sure they knew to only do the free hour and stop before doing anything else. I was happy we were saving $105!
We discussed what the expected charges would be. We said around $300-$400 was what we expected, including their $105 an hour labour charge. They called us a little after an hour later…
$2029.70!
Hubby and I basically panicked… Is there something really wrong with the car? Is it worth paying that to keep the car going for a couple more years or is it better to sink it into a 0% financing deal on a new car? It’s been such a good car…
Then reeling that back in, we called my parents. My mom made sure we knew that these “free quotes” are all to drum up business. You could take a brand new car into the shop and they will be sure to find SOMETHING wrong with it, just like what happened with that roof guy. Then dad talked us through what each of the suggested 4 charges were.. That basically #4 for $600 had already been done months ago, that #1 of a seatbelt piece for $300+labour could be found at a junkyard cheaper, that #2 might just need a piece of tape on a hose instead of 3 replacement parts, and that #3 was a money-grab for an unnecessary service that might actually cause more issues.
It was totally worth getting the free diagnostic from the experts for our car, as we now know what the issue(s) are (and part #s) and we can research how to get the items fixed/replaced somewhere else for cheaper. Just take any free quote you get with a grain of salt and don't immediately agree to go along with whatever they've said without some research.
No comments:
Post a Comment