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Yesterday, after work, I decided to check the air pressure in my tires. I drug the compressor out of the garage and got it all warmed up. I checked the passenger side front, it was a little low so I added a few pounds. I got to the passenger side rear and the wierd metal cap wouldn't come off. It's been nasty here so I figured the mud and snow just had it stuck. A little persuasion with a pair of Channel Locks should do the trick...
Well, guess what? Gave it a little twist and it snapped off, launching the valve stem across the driveway. I watch the air rush out and the tire go flat.
I break out the floor jack and four way and put on my tiny ghetto spare. I don't care much for driving with those damn things. Don't trust them and I don't know why.
This morning, after a nervous drive to work, I go right down the street to NTB. I show the guy my problem, he says they can fix it, no problem, but that the new air pressure sensor valve stem would be like $168 bucks. WTF? He gives me a quote to fix the tire and balance the two front tires of a little better than $260 bucks. I started getting that "I'm getting screwed" feeling right about then.
I went back to work and called the Chevy dealer that I have done business with for 19 years. I didn't call them first because NTB was closer and like I said, I don't like those tiny spares.
The Service Writer at McCarthy Chevrolet told me he could do the work for about $115 bucks. So away I go.
As it turns out, they did it for $98 bucks and they did it while I waited.
The moral of this story, well, there are two, first, fuck NTB. I will NEVER do business with them in the future. I don't care if I have to drive another 100 miles to do business with their competitor that's what I will do. I could understand if there were $20 or $30 dollars difference in the price, but $162 is blatantly a rip off. And second, stick with what you know. In all the time I have been doing business with McCarthy Chevrolet, I have never felt I was being screwed over. I have purchased two new cars from them and had service done on 5 or 6 different vehicles.
On cars made before about 1975, I do my own work. I'm not an expert, but I can get most things done on the first or second try. But the newer ones, with computers and weird electronic stuff, I leave that to the experts. It's a whole lot cheaper to have them fix it than to have them fix it and all the other stuff I jacked up trying to fix it...