I never thought I’d say this, but thank heavens for car dealers and screw you Honda. That’s right, I’m in love with my dealer and hating

on Honda Corporate. If you’ll recall I spoke a couple of weeks ago about a problem with my Honda just a few hundred miles out of the warranty period. I feared that even though the problem was clearly poor manufacturing as a seatbelt sensor shouldn’t go bad in 36k miles, that it wouldn’t be fixed for free.

Sure enough, the dealer charged me $100 just to walk in the door and diagnose the problem. I expected that. I assumed that if it was a bad sensor of some kind they’d either fix it for free since Honda quality is kind of a brand thing, or the fix would be cheap. WRONG.

After keeping my car overnight for some reason, I get a call that’s it’s going to cost more than $500 to fix the thing. Even though Honda has an unlimited warranty on seatbelts, it apparently doesn’t cover their nanny system of sensors. I said this was unacceptable and the dealer was apologetic. I started thinking to myself that I’d just pick up the car (since nothing mechanical wasn’t working) and shop around the repair while complaining to Honda Corporate to pick up the tab for being cheapasses.

But then the dealer told me he’d call me back. He went to the mechan

ic and they decided to drop the price to what they’d charge someone who bought the car under extended warranty (that $2000 option they try to sell you on when you buy the car). Total cost, including the diagnostic was around $150.

So like I said, thank you Honda dealership and screw you Honda Corporate.

Now don’t assume my contentedness with the dealer is everlasting. It do

esn’t cost $100 to plug in a computer, it’s closer to $5 in labor and the computer used pays for itself in a couple dozen visits. That’s a gouging. But I remain suspicious about the sensor going bad just a few hundred miles outside of warranty. Since dealers make more and more money on service, is my car sabotaged in the factory or at the dealer to get me to bring it in more often? I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but if something happens again soon, you’re going to see the side of The Weakonomist that raises the kind of hell that gets letters of apology from the highest ranking member of the state highway patrol (a story for another day).

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  By 		The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics. Also keep in mind that nothing I say can be construed as financial advice.

categories: cars, personal