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.”

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.