Saturday, August 14, 2004

If it's good enough for George Foreman...

My hand still hasn't quit trembling from just writing a check to Meineke for brakes, rotors, and brake sensors for my beloved BMW.  This was the first major expense I've had for the BMW since I got it in January, and believe me when I tell you I could not breathe when they handed me the bill.  I had a figure in mind, but it was no where close to the total.  I started to ask the guy if they had a portable difibralator, like we have at work, because I knew I was going to go into cardiac arrest there in the waiting area. 

There's no need in wasting your time by calling repair shops and asking for a ballpark figure; we all know that an over-the-phone estimate of "$99 for brake pads" means nothing when compared to what the final total will be. "$99 for pads" falls in the same fairy tale category as the Tooth Fairy and Prince Charming.   It was a waste of my morning break the other day when I called a couple of brake shops.  Of course, my foreign car could not use the $99 pads.  And as my luck would have it, the rotors could not be turned so they had to also be replaced.  They felt they hadn't  extracted all of my disposable income from me, so they informed me that I also needed new brake sensors. 

I realize that nobody wants to hear me whine for the next two weeks about about paying out the ass for brakes for my BMW, so I'll do my best to keep my comments to myself, if everyone else promises to keep their comments to themselves and not to tell me "Meineke is the highest place in the city" or "my uncle's neighbor's sister's friend could have done it on the side" or "you should have taken it to ___."  I realize that brakes on a car are a necessity - it's not like I was paying out the ass for leather seat covers or a heated steering wheel or spinners for the rims.

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