Cars are expensive down here (a $2,000 beater in the States runs around $7,000 or $8,000 down here) and there is always something wrong with the cars, due to the rough terrain, etc.
We've been having issues with a 1998 Pathfinder down this way, and we thought we had a good mechanic, as he speaks English and is a genuinely nice fellow.
That was until he got ahold of the Pathfinder and in addition to fixing what needed to be fixed, he messed up several other things.
It went from being no cost for the fixes to six or seven times the amount quoted for the "quick fix" and now it's just a big mess.
Hence, I did what any red-blooded goober would do: Turned over the phone to my lovely, fluent-in-Spanish wife, who promptly bawled him out for dragging things out and running up the costs. It wasn't too long after that call, that the owner of the shop called and tried to explain things, but he didn't get far as the lovely and talented Lucy told him to shut up with the technical stuff and have the car to us in two days--or else.
We're still figuring out the or else part, but there's a good chance the car will be back with us sooner than later.
There are various theories about mechanics here in Costa Rica, and none of them are good: shiftless, drunken thieves seems to be the kindest terms. All of which means, I need to buy the "Idiot's Guide to All Things Mechanical" on our next trip to the States, in order to hopefully avoid situations like this again.
3 comments:
Goodness ... shiftless, drunken thieves always have had nice things to say about you, but enough about the Whitworth student body ...
Hey, you asked...
http://www.sowhateverhappenedto.com/2010/11/ben-jones-cooter-of-dukes-of-hazzard.html
i knew that cooter went to congress, but did not know that he moved on to a more honorable profession of chatzke salesman... he almost could have gone to whitworth!
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