My car, which is an old Volkswagen Passat, suddenly started to make a loud noise and it seemed the muffler had gone bad. The car ran fine so I put off dealing with the noisy muffler until it was convenient to have someone fix it; and I didn't look forward to spending a thousand dollars on a car repair since the muffler alone would cost about $600.00, and that is just part of the exhaust system.
There was no opportunity to have it looked at until a holiday weekend. I thought most auto shops would be opened since the holiday wasn't one of the big ones like Christmas; I was wrong, my first choice was a national muffler repair chain but they were closed. I drove all over town trying to find an auto repair shop. At last Merchant's Tire and Auto was open. I was not keen on using them because I thought it would be better to have the muffler replaced by a muffler specialist who had experience and parts on hand, but they were open and the job needed to be done.
After the mechanic had the car up on the lift he called me out to look at it. "It doesn't need a muffler," He said, "See here," and he pointed to a rusty cracked metal thing that was wrapped around the pipe leading to the muffler, "This coupling has gone bad and has come away. I have one that we can use."
"Great that will be cheaper," I said.
He laughed, "Yes a lot!"
I waited a little while and he came for me. "It worked perfectly," he said.
The bill was only two hundred dollars. If he had not been honest he could have just put in a new muffler and exhaust system and charged me over a thousand dollars.
I am grateful God worked out the circumstances for me to find an honest mechanic.
There was no opportunity to have it looked at until a holiday weekend. I thought most auto shops would be opened since the holiday wasn't one of the big ones like Christmas; I was wrong, my first choice was a national muffler repair chain but they were closed. I drove all over town trying to find an auto repair shop. At last Merchant's Tire and Auto was open. I was not keen on using them because I thought it would be better to have the muffler replaced by a muffler specialist who had experience and parts on hand, but they were open and the job needed to be done.
After the mechanic had the car up on the lift he called me out to look at it. "It doesn't need a muffler," He said, "See here," and he pointed to a rusty cracked metal thing that was wrapped around the pipe leading to the muffler, "This coupling has gone bad and has come away. I have one that we can use."
"Great that will be cheaper," I said.
He laughed, "Yes a lot!"
I waited a little while and he came for me. "It worked perfectly," he said.
The bill was only two hundred dollars. If he had not been honest he could have just put in a new muffler and exhaust system and charged me over a thousand dollars.
I am grateful God worked out the circumstances for me to find an honest mechanic.
(c) Adron 9/2/14
