Why You Sometimes Need A Man

I discovered recently that my brakes need to be fixed because they’re squealing quite loudly. I noticed it about a week ago and since I didn’t want to wait until it got really bad, I decided to take it in.

I figured I could just go down to the local brake shop and have it repaired. Since I only have about 41,000 miles on the car, I figured it shouldn’t need anything but brake pads. Right?

Uh huh. So I took it in. Man followed me in his truck and we dropped it off. About an hour later, I get a call from the shop telling me my front brakes are fine, but my back brakes are trashed. And, oh yeah, I need to have the calipers rebuilt because the ones on there are “prematurely” worn-out. It would cost $325 all total. I sighed heavily. And he says, all jovial, “I hear your sigh of relief!” More like a sigh of frustration. I told him I’d call him back.

I went to Man and told him what the guy said. He called him and talked to him and, apparently, the guy at the shop didn’t like that I had my “husband” call (snicker). Man told the guy to stop talking to him in that condescending tone 😯 and that he understand what he was saying to him. He told the guy he’d let me know what “his wife” decided. 😆 So Man hung up and told me to go call the dealership.

So I did. And guess what? The dealer can replace the entire brake system for… $180. He said, of course, they’d have to look at it and there was NO WAY the calipers needed to be rebuilt at 41,000 miles. He said that’s how those brake shops make their money and it’s all a big rip off. He also said if it did indeed turn into being the calipers, it was still covered under the warranty. AHA!

Man and I went and picked up my car promptly before the brake shop did any more damage. He’s following me to the dealership this morning so I can drop it off and hopefully get it back tonight before they close. Not a great day to schedule repairs but it IS the brakes and all. Hopefully this experience will be painless.

I admit, I’m not very car savvy. I don’t want to be. That’s Man’s Work, if you ask me. Anything dealing with the car and outside is (oh, and killing spiders). 😀 Man told me I should have just called the dealership first and he was right. Next time, I’ll listen to him. It was nice to have the back-up, though, should I have needed an intervention with the brake shop. Luckily, they didn’t try to charge me for bringing it in and tearing it apart.

Tonight, once the car stuff is finished, we’re going to hang out and drink some champagne and watch the ball drop. I’m really looking forward to having a nice quiet evening at home. And that’s it for me for 2008, folks.

Hope everyone has a fantastic and safe New Years!