Price Check

Yesterday I left work early because ever since I had a tire rotation done on Friday one of the damn tires was shaking. Bad.

So I went back to the place that had done the oil change and tire rotation. They were telling me how I needed a new tire and a new rim. They then basically continued to list other things that I needed done to my car that had nothing to do with the problem what so fucking ever and somehow.. they had never mentioned before even though I've been going to them for 5 years. They recently came under new management and apparently that means that they are now money hungry assholes.

I came home very upset and I was stressed out, crying. All sorts of fun shit. Master gave me a big hug and held me for a while trying to calm me down. When I stopped sobbing and I was just crying Master lifted my head up so I was looking up at Him and told me it would be okay. That we would figure it out.

So.. I talked to my father, my mom and my aunt. See, my dad was a mechanic. My mother was with my father for so long that she knows some shit, and my aunt is married to a mechanic. My father no longer works on cars due to his bad back and feet. My mother has of course never been able to do it. My aunt and uncle live 6 hours away. Yeah. That's not happening.

They all agreed that it was an unbalanced tire. So I went to a different auto care shop. They did a free tire inspection. They told me that there is nothing wrong with my tire or rim. The tire is just unbalanced. So they fixed that. The one thing they did tell me was that my left outer tie rod end needs to be replaced sooner rather than later. This is the one thing that the previous mechanic (who is never getting my business again) never even mentioned to me in their long list of shit. I asked for a price quote on the parts, labor and tire alignment. You can't get a tie rod end replaced without doing an alignment immediately after. They gave me the price quote of $231.90.

So I left the shop because I couldn't afford that right now. On the way home I pushed the car a bit. I went about 10mph over the speed limit in order to test it. I got her just above 55mph and no shaking. None. Awesome.

I knew that I would have to get the tie rod end replaced asap though. I want to get it done on the next paycheck as I have to take the car out to work two out of the five days the week after. The price quote I got today wasn't bad in my opinion. But I still wanted to get a few quotes from other places to see if I could save a buck or two. The first place I called was about $15 cheaper. Then I called another place and it was damn near $90 cheaper. *gasp* I didn't bother trying to shop around any more than that. I made the appointment right then and there for the afternoon of my next payday. That way it's done and I don't have to worry about it not being in the budget due to over spending of any kind.