Vince’s Car Repairs

The guy we bought the house from had given Vince the name of the mechanic he recommends. That was a great tip! Vince liked the guy a lot. Vince had called him a couple of weeks ago and had asked if he would go over everything .. explained that the car is 20 years old and hasn’t had much attention.

We took the car in Tuesday evening and left it. Vince told him that we had already had the timing chain changed once and the mechanic felt it wouldn’t need to be changed again but once he looked at it, he said it did need to be replaced. It was showing signs of wear and it wasn’t exactly lined up right from when it was changed the first time. They changed the the belts that needed changing. The water pump needed changing. The fuel filter needed changing and the front brakes needed changing. He looked under the car where the tire had come apart and didn’t see any damages other than the body damage we already knew about.

I had the timing chain changed on my car in Texas and it was over $1,000 so I was expecting the bill for everything done to Vince’s car to be close to $2,000. It was just a bit over $800. Vince got home and asked me how much I thought it was and I told him $2,200 and when he said $820 or something like that, I couldn’t believe it.

He told Vince everything looked good and that car should have lots of years left.

Today he goes to get all new tires and get estimates for the bumper to be fixed. I think he’s going to buy a battery too since he’s leaving that car here and I’ll have to drive it some to keep the battery charged. He doesn’t want me to have to deal with a dead battery but since my car is here too . . a dead battery on the Honda wouldn’t be a huge problem or me but . . he wants to do it so he’ll do it.