Quote:
|
Originally Posted by KenWittlief
'How to keep your VW alive'
|
Great book. I have one. Everyone with an old VW should either get that book or get rid of the car. You've got to have both or none.
Anyway, quick service oil change places are notorious for coming up with a whole huge list of things wrong, even when you don't ask them to, and
even when there's nothing wrong! I definitely wouldn't let this place touch my truck and if you do, watch them like a hawk and request all the old parts that they take off of your vehicle (not a bad idea anywhere you go actually) so you can inspect them yourself.
I'm not saying your truck is in tip top shape and these people are trying to rip you off, I'm just saying it seems a bit odd to go in for an oil change and come out with a $2k repair estimate. Now, I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with your vehicle. It may very well need all these things with the kind of mileage it has, BUT, I'm willing to bet that if you had an identical truck (with the same wear on all the parts) and the odometer was rolled back to say, 60k mi, they wouldn't "find" nearly as many things wrong. With your amount of mileage, it is more "believable" to the unsuspecting customer that all these things might actually be wrong. Anyway, you need to look for yourself to see if this stuff needs replacing. Jack up a corner, yank on the tire and see if it wobbles excessively. Look at the shock and see if it leaked. Pull it off and see if it really is shot. Shocks are pretty easy to do btw on a truck.
Doing work on your truck yourself is something to be very proud of. On mine, I have done the exhaust, fixed the broken driver's seat mechanism, replaced a taillight, gotten a stuck leaf out of the AC blower, and maybe something else I can't remember right now. I understand your concern for not wanting to mess up though. For example, brakes are something I'd rather pay someone to do, however easy they may or may not be. Here's why: on the rainy day when I've got to slam on my brakes and they don't work and I hiy the wall and break my neck and the accident investigator says the brakes weren't installed/adjusted correctly, I want some individual or business that is backed with MONEY to go to to get my due compensation. If I did my brakes and they fail, then I'm at fault and I can't make a claim against myself. See, it is all about picking the best people/places for blame to be assigned to if something goes wrong.
Basically, I'll fix stuff that isn't too critical to safety or has very little chance of getting screwed up or going wrong.
Wherever you take your truck (if you do) be sure to look up the place on ripoffreport.com to make sure there is nothing bad about them.
Good Luck!
Doing work on your