The worst luck befalls folks like me when in need of a professional repair job. Whether I have a leak under my sink or my car needs an oil change, the repairing populous seems to look at me and see “sucker” tattooed on my forehead. Too bad for them my mama didn’t raise a fool.
Like it or not in this modern world, people still have old fashioned ideas and will try to take advantage of a girl who might not know any better. This can cost you a lot of money with unnecessary repairs. Want to save money? Here’s a few ways to keep from being taken to the cleaners.
Pay A Friend To Fix It
Like it or not in this modern world, people still have old fashioned ideas and will try to take advantage of a girl who might not know any better. This can cost you a lot of money with unnecessary repairs. Want to save money? Here’s a few ways to keep from being taken to the cleaners.
Pay A Friend To Fix It
I, thankfully, and mechanically inclined and have a lot of mechanically inclined friends. If I can’t fix something I am almost guaranteed that one of them will know how. That being the case I can buy the part and have them make the repair for me if I am totally in the dark.
Fix It Yourself
There are simple repairs that anyone can do. If your garbage disposal is humming and then cutting off without actually grinding up the contents of your sink all you need to fix it is a wrench. It’s most likely the flywheel and you can easily loosen the nut on top. Or you can do what I do and jam a broom handle down the opening and create some leverage until the wheel loosens. It doesn’t take much to learn how to do a few simple repairs. With the help of the internet and a good parts store, like PartSelect you can do very simple repairs at a fraction of what you normally would. Why? Labor really is the most expensive part of a repair. “What if I break it more?” Unless you are cutting things, its not going to cause a problem and you aren’t going to incur a dramatic upswing in the cost of a repair.
Use Your Warranty
I save all my warranties. If the broken appliance, part, or vehicle is still under warranty, I use it. What do you do when it runs out? Buy another one. Sometimes you can pay a little extra and get an extended warranty. When the warranty on my car ran out I got AAA. This way I can drive safely knowing that if my car breaks down I will still be able to get a free tow to a shop, assuming my cell phone works.
Show Me the Problem
I can’t tell you how many times I have had a problem with an appliance and then had the repairman tell me it was going to cost me an enormous sum to fix. “Show me the problem.” Always make them show you the problem. If they can’t show you the problem and explain it to you in terms anyone can understand, don’t trust them. It’s not going to cost you extra for them to show you what’s wrong and explain the process of the fix. To look at your broken appliance should be free. If it seems simple enough they have just told you how to repair it and you can fix it yourself.
Get A Second Opinion
I have one mechanic I trust. Only one. Why? Because I know he is totally honest with me. He will take me into the shop, show me the problem, in action, and explain the repair to me thoroughly. When my transmission went he didn’t just tell me the transmission wasn’t working, he walked me back, where they had completely taken the engine out of my car and showed me the color of the fluids, parts of the engine and where they were burned, warped, or broken. I can’t tell you how many times this man has saved me hundreds on repairs I didn’t need. He is my final opinion.
What if you don’t have someone you trust that much? Get a second opinion. When you go into the repair shop, don’t tell the new man what the other guy said. Tell them the basic problem and see what he comes up with. He may give you a higher number, or a smaller, but at least you can use the process of elimination to find out what the problem is and make a better decision.
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