NEW YORK - When the taillight of Laura Musall’s five-year-old Nissan Altima burned out, she hoped to avoid the repair shop by letting her husband replace it at home. It seemed simple enough: Buy a bulb, pop off the cover, and make the switch.
But her husband struggled to remove the plastic casing, and when he used a screwdriver to pry it off, it shattered. What came next was worse. Her Nissan dealer wanted $250 for a new one.
Musall, a real estate agent from Fishers, Ind., figured “10 bucks, we’d be done.’’ “But apparently,’’ she said, “it’s not a do-it-yourself thing if you don’t know what you’re doing.’’
Car owners looking to trim expenses are sidestepping the mechanic and plunging into their own repairs.
Their efforts can backfire, costing more in the end and creating do-it-yourself horror stories.
Mechanics say they have seen it all recently, including incorrectly applied brake pads and antifreeze poured into engines.
“A lot of people, they’re in dire straits,’’ …
Read the original article at Boston
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Tags: Business, buy, Car, deal, finance, money, Real Estate, rent
