monday was a busy day. busy not in work but in repairing my old faithful car. i have a 1983 madza 323. bought it when it was 5 years old from my cousin for rm 16k in those days but used it for the next 20 years. it is now 25 years old. a classic. but as it gets old, spare parts are harder to get. this morning i sent my car to a new mechanic. the old one couldn't solve my brake pump problem. 6 months ago, he suggested changing a recond model but from a different make of car. that was not cheap . rm 148 for the recond model. after a few months the brakes didn't work well. imagine driving a car with a faulty brake pump. sometimes you can brake, other times you can't! the times when you can't brake, you have to pull the handbrake in order to come to a stop! 2 weeks ago, i sent the car back to him and he suggested changing the pistons inside. paid another sum of money but the problem still persisted.
the new mechanic, appu, is great. he knows his stuff. has a band of workers under him. all indians and a few foreigners. they all looked up to him like a king! he sugested changing to the original madza pump. got a recond madza model but the booster pump was faulty. got the shop to change another but the only one nearest to it was a different make. but it worked. since i was there, took the opportunity to change rear brake pads and mini pumps and a left rear rocker arm. everything came to a hefty sum of rm 315.00!
this is quite a sum considering the fact that if i sell my 25 year old car, i probably get only rm 1k to 1.5k. so, the repair cost came to about a third or a fifth of the cost of the car! would it be cheaper to sell off the car and buy another second hand model? or continue to keep the car since it is almost 'worthless' (but still good for town driving)? after all, if i sell it off, what can i get for rm 1k to 1.5k?
there must be an OT lesson somewhere here! keep and don't forget the old, for old vintage wine is better! or don't waste time with the old. go for the new. new wine is cheaper and best.
the new mechanic, appu, is great. he knows his stuff. has a band of workers under him. all indians and a few foreigners. they all looked up to him like a king! he sugested changing to the original madza pump. got a recond madza model but the booster pump was faulty. got the shop to change another but the only one nearest to it was a different make. but it worked. since i was there, took the opportunity to change rear brake pads and mini pumps and a left rear rocker arm. everything came to a hefty sum of rm 315.00!
this is quite a sum considering the fact that if i sell my 25 year old car, i probably get only rm 1k to 1.5k. so, the repair cost came to about a third or a fifth of the cost of the car! would it be cheaper to sell off the car and buy another second hand model? or continue to keep the car since it is almost 'worthless' (but still good for town driving)? after all, if i sell it off, what can i get for rm 1k to 1.5k?
there must be an OT lesson somewhere here! keep and don't forget the old, for old vintage wine is better! or don't waste time with the old. go for the new. new wine is cheaper and best.
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