If you're me, you still call your daddy any time you have a car problem. I can explain the trouble to him in moron-ese over the phone (what does it mean when the car sounds like a Model T / smells like formaldehyde / idles like a vibrating chair / makes that grrraaarrrr noise...) and then he can troubleshoot for me so that when I finally call the mechanic, I can all nonchalantly say, "Uh, yeah, I think it's the timing belt" and act like I know what I'm talking about. It's also a good idea to get daddy to give me a price range, so that I know about what to expect.
So what's worse than feeling like a moron with the mechanic? Feeling like a moron mit dem Mechaniker. No matter how much/little I know about cars, I can't do any of it in German. I'm completely at their mercy here.
That may be why I just got a $157 oil change. Ouch.
1
My brother does all my car work now. But he taught me a trick that works in the US, i think. Wear a "Pep Boys" t-shirt when you go to the mechanic! It makes em think you know the lingo.
Posted by: annika at March 08, 2004 07:51 PM (FFy2M)
2
Yeah, annika, but what happens when you DON'T know the lingo?
I actually used to know something about car engineering once upon a time. Constantly read and reread a book on the subject for laypeople (with tons of helpful pictures). But I never learned to drive. I use my two legs instead, and if I ever got injured or sick in a foreign country, I'd be "completely at their mercy."
Posted by: Amritas at March 08, 2004 08:45 PM (L0cGq)
3
I can relate....something about a blond, female college student with liscense plates from 10 states away makes mechanics see dollar signs. Fortunately I have good friends with exceptional mechanical skills....but I still call my Papa.
Posted by: Beth at March 09, 2004 12:25 AM (S4qEY)
4
Doesn't matter even if you do know what your talking about. I'm a female Automotive Engineer and they still treat me like an idiot every time I walked into a repair shop.
They think: breasts=car idiot
Posted by: Machelle at March 09, 2004 10:52 AM (W/eGG)
5
Europeans can be mean in that way: I've never seen so many swindlers. Maybe I'm naive, but I can't even imagine an American doing that. Indeed and ironically, I remember a oil change place in Victoria, Texas actually giving a German family a *discount* because they were so distressed over problems with their rental car. I would have thought all this would have stopped with the introduction of the Euro. Back when I was in Italy for the first time, I paid some Roman cabbie the equivalent of 50 dollars for a 6 block cab ride because I didn't understand lire at the time.
Posted by: Jeremiah (Esotericus) at March 09, 2004 11:39 AM (MKfKi)
6
Heh, I must also add this: even though I love Europe deeply (I study the Italian Renaissance for a living), I always have to fight an urge to fall to my knees and kiss the ground when I get off the plane after arriving home.
Posted by: Jeremiah (Esotericus) at March 09, 2004 11:46 AM (MKfKi)
7
I just got a great deal on
used cars that I wanted. It was tough making a choice which of the
used cars to buy, but I did it.
Posted by: Marcy Frye at April 26, 2005 07:16 PM (eSYGp)
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