COLUMN: How to not get ripped off
I turned onto 400 North, and my car sputtered a bit. “It must be the cold,” I thought. I gave it some gas heading up the hill, and it coughed and choked. I was doing all of 15 mph up the street and getting very worried about my sputtering car.
Finally, my little car chugged its way to the top of the hill, and I made it to class. During class, I was trying to figure out what could be wrong with my car. With very little knowledge of the inner workings of an engine, all I could do was keep worrying.
As soon as I got out of class I called up my buddy, Jimmy — who knows much more about cars than I do — to help me out. We were referred by another friend to General Repair on Main Street. The car barely made it there. We just about died at every intersection we drove through because the car stopped responding to the gas pedal.
This was just what I needed to start off my Thanksgiving weekend. Instead of giving my friend a ride home, I had to hitch a ride myself. Oh well, these things happen, right? My car is only six years old and I thought they’d have it fixed by Thanksgiving. Nope.
I talked to the guy every day or two, and the news was always the same: “We’ve done all the tests we know seven times and we can’t figure out what’s wrong with your car.”
After two weeks of that, the mechanic finally gave up. He gave me my car, which now didn’t run at all, and a bill for $184.04 for replacing the spark plugs. So I had it towed to the dealership. Now I was really going to pay.
This time I was more realistic. I should be able to expect my car to be fixed by the time I got back from Christmas Break. Wrong again. I followed the same procedure of calling every day or two and got the same response: “We can’t figure out what’s wrong.”
Spring semester was well underway when I finally got word that my car was fixed. I was really excited until I saw a bill for more than $1,200 staring back at me for a new distributor. It couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Now to the point of all this ranting. I got ripped off, so I want to give you some tips so you can learn from my mistakes and not get ripped off. So, I give you How to Not Get Ripped Off (and other handy hints).
* When buying a used car, get it checked thoroughly by a competent mechanic to make sure you’re not inheriting someone else’s problems.
* Follow the maintenance schedule for your car, and get the oil changed every 3,000 miles.
* Take someone who knows a lot about cars to the shop with you if your car breaks down. If you don’t know anyone like that, now is a good time to make new friends.
* Make sure your spare is in good shape and inflated and the jack is in your trunk. If you don’t know how to change a tire, have someone show you, or make sure you always have your cell phone with you.
* Six spark plugs do not cost $184.04.
* Learn how to compression start your car (if you drive an automatic, disregard that.)
* Make sure your battery and radiator have enough water in them.
* Don’t leave your lights on.
* It’s a good idea to clean off your battery connections once in awhile.
* Keep at least a quarter tank of gas in your car (yeah, usually they say half a tank, but we’re starving college students).
* If you don’t know how to drive in the snow, take your car to a nice, empty parking lot and practice after it snows. You’ll be glad you did.
Good luck and happy motoring.
Cory Hill is a sophomore majoring in something between photography and journalism. Comments and questions can be sent to coryhill@cc.usu.edu.