You Gotta Ask
$5300. That’s what Santa Monica Subaru wanted to fix my Saab.
Yes, it’s a Saab, but it’s really a Subaru, and that’s important, as you’ll find out.
You see I started the car in gear. I had it on a hill. In reverse. And I forgot it was in gear, and after letting out the clutch, the car jumped. Violently.
How many times has this happened to me? I’ve driven a stick and a stick only for over 35 years. But this time…
When I went forward, the gearbox was mush.
But then it got better.
But when I went in reverse… I heard the kind of clanging that would not require a stethoscope to decode. You know how you bring your car in for service and the problem doesn’t manifest itself? That was not the case in this instance.
A freak accident. That’s ultimately what Daryl at Sherman Oaks Subaru said.
He’s an expert. He said if I drove it over he could get behind the wheel and know what the problem was in minutes. It didn’t take that long. He knew I’d blown the reverse gear. And if it’s that only, it’s gonna be fifteen hundred bucks.  Which is excessive, but not fifty three hundred bucks. In Santa Monica they said it would cost more to fix than repair it, but they wouldn’t fix it, because it was a Saab and the part numbers would be different, and a replacement might not even fit, but Darryl said this was wrong, he services Saabarus all the time, after all, Saab is their sister dealership.
And I’m pissed at Santa Monica Subaru. And I’m wondering if I even needed that head gasket back in February. And now they were going to charge me too?
And we’re deciding what to get…
And whatever Jason decides to order, it does not include onion rings. But the rings look so GOOD!
So what does Jason do? HE ASKS! "Can you put a couple of those onion rings on top?"
And of course, the help does it. Because of Jason’s delivery, because we were dropping almost forty bucks on lunch, because he’s a stoner ski bum?
I’m not sure.
But I give credit to Jason for asking. That’s how you get ahead. The rules are made to be broken.
So I’m so pissed at Santa Monica Subaru that with a mild delivery, I say "That’s gonna be free, right? Since no work was done?"
And the service writer is caught off guard. He protests that they put it up on the lift. Then asks me, "What if I take half off?"
SOLD!
My father was so busy chatting up the help, trying to get a deal, that I’ve stopped, not wanting to be perceived as a schnorrer.
But sometimes you’ve got to schnorr. Sometimes you’ve got to evaluate what’s equitable. Sometimes people know they’re ripping you off.
And sometimes when you ask, you get.
