Don't mess with the Wife, she will f@ck your s#it up!

The wife was taking the car in to get the exhaust pipe repaired this afternoon. After annoying her with a detailed description of what exactly needed to be fixed before she left for work she sends me this response. And its one of the many reasons I love her.

Okay you always lecture me as you did this morning, whenever I take the car in for anything, like I'm going to get suckered by the auto mechanic guy and have them do $1800 worth of repairs. Believe it or not, I do know what I'm doing.

So I took the car into the Meineke in Lake Oswego and told the guy that I thought I had a hole in the exhaust pipe. After he checked it out, he came back out with a quote for $907.58.

Look at pic of exhaust system, I was right about the name of the part by the way. http://www.meineke.com/services/exhaust.asp

First thing he pointed out to me was that I needed new shocks. After I said that was impossible, because the shocks had been replaced a year 1/2 ago, he then admitted that he didn't actually look at the shocks, but was making his assessment based on the mileage of the car. Okay??

Second he said that my battery is looking corroded and could use a cleaning and would then probably need a new battery. Wanted to charge $59.00 just for the cleaning. I said, "no, I can clean it myself, plus it is a les Schwab battery and is therefore guaranteed and not that old to begin with. (Plus les Schwab would probably replace the cables for less than what they wanted to charge for cleaning.)

Third - he said that the cooling system needs to be flushed, because all it has in it is water. This could be true, we need to check on this, but based on his assessment of the shocks etc. I think we should get a second opinion, plus, that is something you could do.

Finally - the exhaust, as we thought he said there is a hole in the exhaust pipe. His quote: $108.79.

Hmmm, "That is interesting," I said, "because my husband got a quote from the Meineke on Powell for $65."

He said, "Well I might be able to work with you a little, how about $95?"
"I still don't seem to understand why the Meineke on Powell is able to charge so much less."

" Well different areas charge different prices."

"But it is still the same parts, same labor, same job, same company, you have to be increasing the price on something that the other Meineke is not."

"Well it is like McDonald's……You can go to one McDonald's in the city and their cheese burger is $.99, then the same day go to a different McDonalds in another part of town and their cheese burger would cost you $1.09, it all depends on delivery, cost of the meat…………………"

At this point I interrupted him and this is not an exaggeration, this is verbatim what I said, "Please don't tell me a bull$hit analogy, when all you are really saying is that because you are located in Lake Oswego whose per capita income is much higher than those in SE Portland, that you are then able to raise your prices without the luxury car owner's of Lake O even raising an eyebrow. I however do not live in Lake Oswego, I only work here, I think the fact that I drove a 1988 Honda Accord in here should attest to that."

"It's not a bull$hit story, but basically yes………………..I can do it for $75?"

"Fine."

So I figure I paid a $10 convenience tax. Still much better than $108.79 and after calling his McDonalds analogy bull$hit, I felt I would be really pushing it to get him to go much lower.