Quick - Car Repair Question - What Would You Do?

I'd go to Walmart or jiffy lube or somewhere cheap for the wipers, bulbs, oil change and air filter. Fix the brakes at Tires plus or the dealer, whichever was cheaper. I'd fix the glass in the window, but who cares if it goes up or down? I WISH my back window didn't go down-- then my kid wouldn't try to throw stuff out of it!

I'm a single mom and have changed my windshield wipers myself ($20 for the wipers at Walmart), and looked online to help a girlfriend change her taillight bulb. She paid few dollars for the light bulb, we went online and there were step by step instructions on how to unscrew the cover to access the bulb. It was easy.

For repairs I can't do, like the brakes, I asked around for recommendations and found a mechanic who has a shop at his home. He charges about 1/3 less than the dealer. Not only does he do an excellent job, he keeps good records, explains everything to me, is honest and only fixes what is necessary and lets me know what's going to need replacing next so I can start saving for it ahead of time.

Is your husband mechanically inclined at all? The reason I ask is, the wipers, bulbs, air filter and possibly the oil change could be done at home if he's up to it.
The brakes, Yes, the window, yes. I've replaced a couple of window motors in different cars, it's a pain in the a$$.
Good luck.

Have them fix the brakes and lock in the window in the rear.

Wipers cost about $20 at the store and they snap in place.

Bulbs cost from $5 to $15 or so and generally screw in from behind the mount.

Oil change - you're getting screwed. Should run about $30 to $40 max (for the full synthetic, less if otherwise). Take it to Jiffy Lube/Walmart/Freds...

Air filter might cost $10 depending on the car, and most car parts places will even put it in for you.

One of you two can save a ton of money by googling "how to..." and doing it yourself.

If you go to Advanced Auto and buy the wiper blades there (very cheap), they will walk out to your car and put them on for you for free. Honestly, I've always bought them at Walmart and put them on myself. Takes just a minute or two. You could do the same with the bulbs. Just look at your owner's manual.

There are lots of 10 min oil/lube places that will take care of the oil filter. That would probably cost you $30 or 40 total.

My husband has repaired the window motors in our cars before. Pain in the a$$ is right!!! It is very complicated, so you might not be able to do much better.

I really would pay them to do the brakes and the window (motor and all). Sorry, I lucked out marrying someone who could do this for me and save us the money. But it really does cost us in time. When he's working on the cars, it can take an entire afternoon, but often times these jobs can take a day or more.

Car repair is pricey either way. Good luck!

I would say find a new mechanic. Go to Costco and get your wiper blades. You will pay $15 for a set. Someone there can hwlp you if you need help with sizes. Its an easy thing to do. Most people can chane their own. Your oil change should only be $30. Look for a coupon that comes in the mail. Go to Auto Zone and pick up your brakes. You should save at least $120. Autozone also sells bulbs, they will help you determine the right ones for your car. They are not too hard to put in, if they are not too busy, one of them is sure to help you. Buy your air filter from auto Zone as well. You can install this easily, less than $10. You see where I'm going with this? If you can do some of this work, it is totally worth it. You can ask about the motor for the back window, they may or not have it. Find a friend who is a mechanic that will only charge you $30 an hour to help you, instead of paying $75 an hour. There are so many out of work mechanics tht would love the chance to earn some money. Good luck!

To make the $375 a bit easier to stomach, I would have an oil and filter change done at an oil change place. I pay $28 when I have both done, much better than $60. I replaced my wipers myself. Very easy to do, took 10 minutes the first time. I bought my last set at Walmart for $18. Bulbs are also easy to replace, just unscrew the cover inside the vehicle and screw in a new bulb and put the cover back. Of course, if there is a fuse issue, a bit harder since some fuses are hidden. We had a Nissan Sentra that the driver's side window kept falling down due to a snapped cable. My husband was able to fix that himself-when he got around to it. It was a royal pain since the inside panel is not that easy to remove and work around. That is where the cost really is. As for brakes, my hubby cannot do it since he cannot get under the car with back issues. But his brother knows how to fix them. I paid $50 when he did the one set for me on my van. The others had to be done at a shop and cost about $160. Have the window immobilzed for now.

My hubby is a VW/Audi mechanic...

Bulbs, wipers...do them yourself...if you don't want to do them yourself then yes...55 and 50 dollars is what a mechanic deserves to do the work for you. Really you can do the air filter yourself also. Do all of those yourself and you can save a good amount of cash.

Brakes well that is general maintanance do them. Oil change well that is also general do it.

The window...that is a whole heap of work for a mechanic to do...entails a lot that is why it costs so much. it is time consuming. if you want the window to work...get it fixed and pay otherwise let them make it so the glass will not move.

A car involves repairs and maintanance if you don't do them things go wrong.

you have yourself a great vehicle take care of it!!

Might I just add...that dealers cost more because they truly have qualified mechanics. You are paying for someone who will put good quality parts and labor into a car.

You might be surprised how many people take a high quality car like, VW, Audi, etc to a small shop that makes things worse because they don't have the proper tools to work on them. They are not a ford or chevy they are a computer on wheels

Your prices are way too high.

I went to autozone and they replaced my wipers because I bought them there. It cost $21 for new wipers. Walmart does an oil change for $36. I usually watch the Wednesday ads and some company offeres an oil change for $20, sometimes less. I haven't shopped an airfilter in a while, but Auto zone will put it on for free and Walmart only charges a small fee for installing it. For the back window, I wouldn't replace the motor. I have a chevy prizm and both front windows will roll down and will not roll up except by jiggling the switch. I won't spend the $250 to fix them. I just put up with it.

When I had my brakes reaired, it cost me $135 and if I had them install a rear brake light they charged me $5.

I have the repairs done and travel on. (Don't have the dealer do it. They charge way too much.

Good luck to you and yours.

Take it for an oil change at a $20 quick change place. Buy the wipers yourself and put them on. Buy yourself an air filter at Walmart and change it yourself. Super easy and they have a little computer thingy to tell you which kind to get. Same with bulbs . . .auto parts store? Check online. You could do everything but the brakes and the window yourself and save money. Don't be intimidated by this stuff, I've done it on my cars and I'm not all that mechanically inclined. Good luck!

Morning! I happen to be from Colo also and would completely agree with the other Mommas - seal the window in place, get the brakes fixed (a must do) and run from this shop on everything else! In our area, Pep Boys will do exactly as described on the wipers. Since they do it all the time, takes them about 30 seconds - start to finish! And you have to buy the blades wherever you have it done. Why not get free istallation! Watch your mail for coupons. Brakes Plus just had a promo on oil change for something like $17.99. Also agree on the air filter. In general they are very easy to get to, have a snap on/off cover, pop out old, drop in new. WalMart would likely do both oil and air filter for around $40. Don't feel bad - my husband is not mechaically inclined in the least! We pay for all of this type of work. In my case, it's a bargain compared to "fixing" what he worked on! LOL!

If you have an auto parts store they will change the bulbs and wipers at no cost to you if you purchase them there. Save your money. Air filter you can easily change too, but I usually opt not to and get that with my oil change. I just got new brakes and it cost me $65. We buy the breaks that have the life time warrenty and so all we have is labor when we need new ones.

I would skip having the window go up and down. As long as it doesn't leak that is the main thing.

I would do all of those by myself! If you bought brakes and changed them they would cost you maybe $50. Wipers will cost you $12 Bulbs will cost $3 an oil change will cost around $20 Air filter would cost a few dollars and getting the motor from a junk yard would cost maybe $20.

All of those changes are things that you can do yourself, easy to get to, easy to get done.

so what is the alternative to the broken window ? A sheild of some kind ?

If there is NO GLASS and your sheild it........I would fix it. If you can replace the glass cheap with out having it go up and down.......I would be okay with that and put the money in the brakes as that is much more of an issue to fix and will cause an accident if you don't eventually do it. wipers..... that seems high. Replacing a blade I thought was about $12- $15 . Oil Change, I would do last. So hmmmmm.... depends on what the glass quality is. If it is damaging the view of the driver you could get a ticket.

Unless your car is still under warranty do NOT go to a dealer.

Despite what Hannah J says, there are "real" mechanics at non-dealer garages.

I know a handful of them that recently left a certain twin cities dealer because they were tired of getting paycuts while the cost of labor was going up, and the management was (still is) ripping off customers by selling services they didn't need.

My husband (the first one to quit and go to an independent shop) is fully ASE certified and can work on anything with wheels.

Yes, Hannah J, even Fords and Chevrolets are "computers on wheels", the newer they are.

That being said, if you take your car in to be serviced, dealer or not, make sure you do your homework first.
You don't want to be paying for any services you don't need, or may just not need at this time. Good thing car manuals have service schedules in them.

Unfortunately for you, all those things you listed are needed. You can definitely get an oil change somewhere cheaper, but VW bulbs can be a royal pain to remove and replace. The price of the wipers depends on the kind of wiper you have, and wipers are pretty easy to install on your own; mechanically inclined or not.

When it comes to the window motor, if you don't need the window to open, don't get the motor replaced.

Just be glad you don't drive an all-wheel-drive car and have a flat. If your tires weren't new enough you'd need to buy 4 new tires instead of 1!

Good Luck!

Don't compromise on health and safety. This is your car you are talking about that transports your family.

We've not had trouble with our cars but the dealer is the only person to ever do anything to our cars. WHY? Because they have all the reports of everything that has been done and it puts more responsibility on them to make sure it is correct. The only thing our dealer has not taken care of for us would be tires and when we get new tires, we go straight to the dealer to make sure everything is ok.

Sometimes a mechanic who works at a dealer will also work on his own, you might check that out.

We never compromise health and safety.. yes, it sucks to have an unexpected bill but that is better than the alternative if something happens and you are driving with your family.

Ouch that’s a lot, but you do own a foreign car so it doesn't surprise me. I would just get the glass fixed for now. Ask the repair guy if he can find the motor/part in the junk yard. Most of the time they can find used parts and it is a lot cheaper. It may be cheaper to just replace the entire back door of the car, except the paint color would not match.

I would get another estimate. $60 for an oil change seems like a lot to me as does $30 for an air filter and $55 for wipers. Unless you need brake pads, rotors and calipers (brake job) that is a lot also. In most cars changing the air filter is as simple as taking off a wing nut, removing the old one and putting in the new one. I went to Auto Zone a while back and bought new wiper blades for around $30 and a store employee put them on for me.
It sounds like you are paying a lot for labor. Did you take you take your car to a dealership or a repair garage? I have found that most dealerships charge a lot more for labor than a repair garage. If the mechanic says the brakes are too worn to drive the car, get a print out of the needed repairs and take the printout to a few other places for an estimate.

I would repair the window, but not the motor. ( think that was an option listed above)
If at a later date finances allow it, replace it.
Also, my husband is a drive way mechanic - lol- and he does a lot of junkyarding for parts and replaced a window motor in our suburan (years ago) and it was very reasonable. He downloaded the "how to" from the internet.
Just a thought.

You can get wipers and bulbs for about $25 each at a Jiffy Lube or Oil Masters-type place. And the oil change is about $30 bucks. An oil filter is about $15.

The brakes sound like a pretty good deal, and you really need to keep up with that. And the window... on that old of a car? I think I'd just let it be. You have other windows that open and close.

I have a 2004 Honda Pilot that is bought and paid for. I regularly keep up with the maintenance, and sometimes the brakes/tires/belts etc., can add up. But I look at it this way. I'm not making a monthly payment, so I can save up and do these things to keep it in good running order. I don't skimp on things like brakes and tires because those are definite safety issues.

Ask around for a good mechanic and get a second estimate. I think you are being overcharged for most of these things.

60 for an oil change.. yikes! I go to a dealer and pay $32 and they do an inspection in that price. I always choose to have good wiper blades (mopar) but to cut on that cost you could wait or go to walmart, car place etc. Can't you also go and buy your own bulbs at walmart? I know it's a pain in the butt but the owners maual should show you how to do it.. If I can anone can! New Brakes? Is that just the front pads or also rotors? If it's just the pads for the front that is INSANE!!! As far as window motor We bought one from a salvage yard for $15 and my husband is a mechanic so he put it in. I think you need to get a second opinion, so If it were me I would call other shops and have them give you a price based off the list. Dealerships have tons of axcess to differnt shops, salvage yeard, companys that refurbish (and usually have a lifetime warrenty or at least a year) How much is this place charging you for labor an hr. Usually dealerships have a fixed rate system where the mechanic is allowed X amount of hours to preform all duties. If they complete it before hand they still get paid the X amount of hours, but if it takes them longer they only get paid X amount of hours. Maybe you need to find a place that charges a flat fee and doesnt go off of hours?

It depends on how many miles the car has. Our 2001 car has less than 100,000 miles and is in great shape, so I would spend the money.