Thursday, November 07, 2019
New starter in the accord
I was not in one accord with the Honda dealership Tuesday. Ugh. The thing is, I wasn't even upset. I was mostly just numb...
Our 2013 Honda Accord wouldn't start Saturday evening. When you turned the key it was silent. Nothing. So we took the other vehicle and I got up Sunday morning and looked it over. I didn't think it was the battery, but that seemed the logical place to start. I took it down to O'Reilly Autoparts and had it tested. It was fine. So I put it back in and did what I normally do when something doesn't work... I got on the internets.
Google quickly informed me this has been an issue on 2013-2017 Accords. Apparently a lot of cars would be dead one minute, but then eventually would start, and would continue for some time, until it would finally happen again - maybe in a week, maybe in a year.
Well, sure enough, I went out, turned the key about 15 times and... it started! I turned it off and on several times and it started every time.
Jane usually drives the Accord but we decided to switch vehicles until we got a little more clarity. Since I leave for work first in the mornings it wouldn't be good to leave her stranded at home without a vehicle. At least if it wouldn't start for me she could give me a ride.
I finally decided to call the Honda dealership where we bought the car. They could get me in the next day, so I scheduled an appointment for after work.
---
I will say this, they do service well. I arrived for my 1:30 pm appointment, informed the guy of my car's issue, and headed for the waiting area.
There were quite a few other people there. I found a chair at a table where another older gentleman was sitting, and opened up my kindle and started to read a book.
After about an hour my service guy came and told me they'd discovered the problem. He said it wouldn't not start at first, so they went ahead and did an oil change (they asked if I wanted it done since I was already there and it was due). Apparently, and conveniently, when they went to pull the car out after the oil change... it wouldn't start! So they were able to determine it needed a new starter. He said it would be around 725. He said some other stuff which I didn't at all catch, and finally I asked, "Did you say seven hundred and twenty five dollars?" Gulp.
Well, what do you do? I was kind of just stunned, plus half asleep from working all day, and reading... So I told him to go ahead and replace it.
I sat there for another hour and played Candy Crush on my phone. I couldn't read anymore... or think... or anything. I just never had any idea it was going to be that much money. I took a break at one point and googled a starter replacement and, sure enough, that was about what it was. Ugh.
Fortunately I'd just had a birthday, and my mom had given us some random money, so we could cover it. I feel fortunate that we are in a position to just do things like this. There have been times in our life when we wouldn't have.
So, like that wasn't bad enough, when they got all done and I went to pay, it was actually $793.42!! In my mind I had rounded the 725 down to 700. This was more like $800! I was still too numb to say anything about it though.
In looking at the bill, the starter was right about $500, and labor was $240. The rest was for the oil change, tax, and whatnot. One nice thing, since we bought the car there, our oil changes are only $12.95, so that's good.
All in all... I guess it's good they found something. I'd have hated not knowing when it was going to happen again (assuming it won't). They also got me in and out of there in right at 2 hours. I thought was pretty quick. Plus, it's good we'd just received some money and could afford this unexpected expense.
But still. Geezaroo. Life is interesting, isn't it? It's always something....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment