Auto parts

Yesterday I was catching up with a colleague; the topic of auto repairs came up and I told him about my turbocrash. (I did get the car back late Monday, thanks be to God.) Turns out he had some woes of his own last week.

Thursday afternoon he was driving home when the check engine light started flashing and the motor ran really rough. He limped the two blocks home and did what pretty much anyone would do these days: he consulted Google to diagnose the problem. Evidently it was a bad lead from one of the spark plugs, which could be replaced fairly easily; just follow the YouTube video.

“The part only costs $50,” he said. “So I called around. No one had it in stock.”

I started laughing. “Well, sure. If they had it in stock, it would cost $300.”

He grimaced and went on with his narrative.

He called an Acura dealer, who said they had one, and he asked them to hold it; he’d stop by Saturday morning to pick it up. Fine; they could do that. Saturday morning he showed up for the whatever-the-part-was.

Turns out I was off by $70. The Acura dealer price was $230.

(He got it and installed it. And he ordered another one for extra, over the Internet. For $75.)