In my last post, I mentioned that my 'check engine' light has been on. I refused to take it to the dealer-my car is 10 yrs old, with 158,000 miles on it. I had them fix a problem with my door last month, and it cost $696!!! My car is probably worth 1500! They also gave a list of things that 'needed to be done'----all $4000 worth. I don't think so!

I happened to mention the problem to my sister, and she used to work with a guy 3 years ago who was very handy with cars. She emailed him out of the blue, and he offered to stop by my place of work, run a diagnostic to see what was wrong. He did, (I was grateful for even that!) and found that the problem was probably spark plugs/wires. Apparently they usually last 50-100K, and mine were still original! Got my money's worth out of those, huh? He offered to do the repairs as well. He estimated the wires about $50, plugs a couple bucks a piece, some kind of additive, plus $30/hour labor.

So today, my DH brought my car to him--it's almost an hour away, but totally worth it! Our total came to $80. Even with the 'I'm friends with your sister' discount, I expected it to be $100-150. I think I'm going to send him a little Dunkin Donuts gift card, or something just to show our appreciation. If he's available in the future for other repairs, it's definitely worth the drive!

And once again, nothing on the credit cards! Yay!