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Repair Bills - Green Cash In A Black Hole
Consider these numbers: $1500 for an insignificant scratch on the bodywork; $3500 for a new exhaust valve; at least $150 for a new trunk-release switch cover. These aren't figures from the realm of fantasy, but actual repair expenses that drivers have provided to AOL Autos after having coughed up these amounts for repair jobs that only seemed small. The alternative is to do the job yourself, or buy a new car. That seems extreme, right? So just pay up like a good citizen and suffer in silence, seems to be the mantra.
Beyond the Bumper
Deana May of AC Auto Finishing, Los Angeles, knows the nasty shocks that customers can face even with a minor matter like a bodywork scratch or scrape. Its a scary thing " looks can be deceptive. You can calculate an estimate on a front bumper, take it off, and behind it there's all kind of damage. Particularly with low-profile cars with low-profile tires, they often need a whole new front end if they go over a bump or up a driveway, or don't take an angle. May says she sees a lot of this in her shop and recalls how a Lotus driver was quoted a staggering $5,400 to repair his car, though from the outside she couldn't see much that was wrong. May also warns of the dangers " and expense " of drivers getting incorrect quotes for repairs that involve high-performance parts, such as an AMG or Brabus for a Mercedes, and receiving stock components in their place.
Cracked Grille and Fender Bender
Willy Stroppe, president of automotive engineering firm Bill Stroppe and Sons in Paramount, Calif declares that once he observed trivial damage on the frontage of a Ford pickup truck that in due course turned into a giant repair bill. "It looks like the front plastic grille got broken with a light hit, but when we got into it the housing behind the grille was cracked and broken all the way up. Replacing everything from the fenders forward, the headlight vessels, a new front end, it all adds up. In a lot of cases you gotta pull out the radiator. That's not something you can do in a couple hours." He discovered similar troubles on a Ford Explorer. Stroppe, primarily works with Fords and result in surprise repair bill costing nearly $1200. "It's not like the old days when everything was steel," he adds. He too states that car owners must know bit about techniques. He has witnessed ample of car businesses through half century. He repeatedly says that a fraudulent shop will turn the vehicle worth driving with a careless patch up job, and then put up for sale to an innocent buyer, lending a big future repair bill as the repair work falls apart.
$150 Cover Up
Mark Essig, a writer in a small town in North Carolina, says he was shocked when a local technician charged him $150 to replace a missing cover for the trunk-release switch in his ten-year-old Mercedes 320 CLK. And while Essig was expecting a reasonably expensive repair bill given that he owned an upscale European make, he was certainly not expecting a $150-add on to a $2,000 repair bill, particularly since it came as an additional cost that was not included in the original estimate. He says: It was part of a $2000 repair bill that included valve cleaning and brake work, and I was so sick to my stomach that I couldn't quibble over $150. Best part was, I didn't ask him to do it. Meanwhile, Michael Russell, an AOL Autos friend who owns a Porsche 944, found out to his dismay that an old-school German car could cost more than he had budgeted for. A $15 exhaust valve replacement eventually cost him $3,500 once labor had been factored in. Essentially, he says, they had to take out the engine to reach the valve, which had burned out, a common failing in older performance vehicles. But without the repair, he says, he had no way of traveling to work.
Air Wear
It is advised to search out a second opinion, and always review general system reliability as you decide to replace individual parts on older-model cars. Look into this story to know the brutal truth of car repair: I found this to my cost when I took my wife's 1995 Nissan 240SX S-ER to my local mechanic's last week to fix the air conditioning. I'd already taken it into the shop the week before, where they'd diagnosed a leaking gasket that had depressurized the system. So they duly fixed the gasket, re-filled the system with Freon coolant and pressurized it. Bill: $300. Not bad for an AC fix, I thought, until two days later the system again began blowing hot. So it was back into the shop, where they took a second look at it before telling me another seal had broken, this time in a hard-to-reach spot, meaning extra labor. Estimated cost: $800. When I pointed out that the original fix was under warranty, my mechanic agreed but argued that a different component had malfunctioned and therefore the additional repair was not under warranty. Many more attempts at bargaining failed. Result: I'm $300 out of pocket, and my wife has a long, hot summer to look forward to (unless she nabs my car, which is likely).
Coolant Chills
Ken Lavacot, working in online mechanics 2carpros.com, says that as a small vapor that appears out of a car might look trivial, but sometimes it indicates serious future repair bills. He says: "Coolant is used to cool the engine during normal operation. If coolant is allowed to enter the combustion chamber, the engine will burn the coolant creating white smoke and steam." He says various pricey solutions contain gasket replacement. "If the gasket that seals the intake manifold to the cylinder head fails it can allow coolant to enter the intake port and then the combustion chamber. To check for this condition the intake manifold will need to be removed." Most of the money in such a case is spent to reach the gasket and bring together the parts after replacement. If coolant is present in the combustion chamber and the gasket is working, Lavacot says the engine should be split. He adds: "This can be tricky because it is difficult to tell which is causing the problem. For example: A repair shop has told you the cylinder head is cracked, and as they start disassembly they can discover it was the intake manifold gasket that has failed. It's up to the honesty of the repair shop to alert the customer the repair will be less. Or the opposite can happen. A repair shop has told you your engine has a blown head gasket, once the disassembly is complete they inform you the head gasket is OK, and the cylinder has been pressure checked and is OK. This only leaves the engine block as the failure and must be replaced to repair the problem, and that can be costly."
Silver Scratch, Green Fix
My brother-in-law had lent his Jaguar convertible to a family member who took it to a wedding. He returned it with a scratch in the back panel on the driver's side. Generally, a good repair or bodywork shop can erase scuffs at minimal cost, but the Jaguar XK8's aluminum shell demanded a costly adhesive to repair the scratch to prevent further corrosion or damage of the car's monocoque shell. The whole repair work was as costly as $1500. The technician told him that he was blessed the scratch was light otherwise repairs might turn out double or triple in cost, an increasingly general incident as more luxury carmakers counting Audi, Mercedes and BMW harness the aluminum-shell technology (taking advantage of its increased strength and lighter weight). So, it is better to get several estimates for the paintwork. It is also better to think twice before you lend your precious car.
About the Author Rand Stuck is a BMW master mechanic with over 12 years of experience. Rand is the manager of the online parts department of a BMW parts retailer. You can find additional information on car repair and BMW parts and accessories at AutoWerks.
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