Renault Clio Repair Manual
Tany’s back at the garage with the car. I wish I was a practical kind of guy who knew what was what under the bonnet and could fix things myself, but that’s not me so we have to use garages.
Yesterday the car went in for new front tyres (we had a bit of a slow puncture) and to have the handbrake tightened. The new tyres were a quick fix, but the car was leaking a bit of brake fluid, so Tany had to take the car back in this morning to have that sorted out and some new discs put on.
Only, today, when they start removing bits to fix the breaks the wheel bearings fall out. So that’s another bit that needs replacing.
The cost has gone up accordingly, from £100 to £250 to somewhere over £300. Oh well, better that the car is safe and working well than in pieces at the side of the motorway. Besides, it’s why Tany’s job comes with mileage payments. As she drives around to visit patients she gets more than the fuel costs to help to keep the car on the road.
That said, when do payments for car repairs outweigh the cost of replacing the car? I don’t think we are there yet. Tyres and brakes are to be expected when you’re doing the kind of mileage we are. But when the other bits start packing up, where’s the line?
The episode has given us one funny story. The guy working on the car told Tany about a girl who was bringing in a car with a puncture. The phone conversation had included the classic line… “it’s not too bad, the tyre’s only flat at the bottom!”
The gift of prophecy would help in these situations. A couple of years ago I put £800 into a car I sold a couple of months later for £200.
My worst experience was spending AUD$2,000 on a car and selling it for scrap six weeks later for AUD$200.
Our car’s back on the road, although, the repair bill came to over £500 this time.