Not long ago, the starter on my daily driver, the vehicle that takes me back and forth to work, fishing, picking up and dropping off kids, family, and friends, just died.
It had to be fixed. But by whom, the dealer, a regular friend’s garage, or fix it myself?
Let's get into it
Let’s quickly weigh the costs and benefits of each. removing most of the details and just showing the final cost.
option 1.
fixing it by the dealer:
Then, diagnosing and fixing, because of the type of car and brand, the cost was between $2,400.00 – $5,000.00. Fixing the vehicle at the dealership does have its benefits, when it comes to warranty, someone to blame in case something goes wrong; however, the dealership price wasn’t beneficial, the cost to remove and install a starter was too expensive.
The other option: Taking it to my friend's garage
Wonderful idea, much cheaper, so much cheaper, only paying for the part and a much smaller labor fee, total cost under $1,000.00. Excellent when it comes to savings, but is it wonderful?
My friend may be the best mechanic, with no guarantee. My friend’s intentions may be good, but, may break something, resulting in expenses that could have been avoided. In addition, what if this car is a new brand for my friend, then my vehicle becomes an experiment that will help him/her become better or worse.
The third option: Fixing it myself.
And this is the option I chose.
Choosing this option became the only viable option because of the price. The dealer was too expensive, the immediate upfront cost didn’t seem fair.
My friend’s garage, immediate cost was excellent, but the potential cost was too expensive.
Fixing it myself allowed learning something new, make mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and build on them.
Just to delve a little deeper. Committing to fixing it myself required work. Google search, YouTube videos, advice from mechanics on forums, social media, and more.
When you are committed to a task, the information you need to get it done seems to just appear. It seems like your mind opens up and connects effortlessly.
And effortlessly, things seem to just fall into place. But first, you must commit.
And yes, removing and replacing my broken starter with a new one was so much easier than I thought.
So I commit to the task and then take action.
Step 1: commitment.
Step 2: taking action.