With the title “Even to Save Cash, Don’t Try This Stuff at Home“, an article in Sunday’s NY Times reports that frugal consumers think they’ll save money doing their own repairs but wind up screwing things up worse. The photo above shows a jerry-rigged part a mechanic pulled from a car he had to correct.
“We open the hood and can tell the guy tried to do it himself with
cheap parts,†Mr. Tommasone said. “We see at least one a day like that.
At least. The No. 1 part replaced: the battery.â€
I’m not sure how you can screw up the installation of a battery. Wrong polarization? Wrong size? Spilled acid? Sorry, but battery installation is one of the easiest things to do for car repair.
The articles comments are a great source of opposition against getting charged an arm and a leg for simple repairs, however:
I tend to have quite the opposite problem. Every time I pay to have
something done I wind up redoing it myself. New brakes squealed at
every stop. After three repeat visits to the shop failed to correct the
problem I did it myself – no more squeaks. The shop skimped on parts.
…This is asinine. Plenty of people replace toilets or hang molding without doing serious damage to their homes.
…The idea that only the professionals should handle simple jobs is what
is wrong with the USA (I am a flaming liberal, so no comments about me
being a right wing nut case). Yes, amateurs make mistakes, especially
the first time they try a job. They will get better at repairs as they
take on more jobs themselves. Even pros make mistakes, and some do
sloppy work.
…Is this article proposing that we make money out of nothing “to do the
job right the first time?” We don’t have the money to spend on hair or
a handy-person anymore.
and
What is so difficult about replacing a car battery?
Indeed.
My family cruised the suburbs of the ’70s in a golden ’68 LeMans. I remember the sun-absorbing black vinyl top and seats getting stiffling hot on our trips to the outer banks of North Carolina. One night in 1976, during the oil crisis, some asshole siphoned the leaded fuel from the tank and left us stranded the next morning. After 12 years of troubled maintenance it rested and rusted in front of our suburban home and my dad didn’t bother getting it fixed. I tried to convince him I could work on it myself, but at 12 years old I didn’t know a manifold from a mango. Amazing how that golden iron ride could rust to the point of evaporation in only 18 short years.
