I took my car to one the official Honda dealerships, which also offers the Honda service center, earlier this year. I wanted to have my car checked to see if I needed any changes and have the oil changed also. I waited for about 2 hours in the waiting lounge, where I watched most of “Hotel Rwanda”, a movie that many people should see. After about 2 hours, the guy who was handling my car “case” came into the lounge and told me that my car needed several emergency repairs: a new fan belt, a new timing belt, replace the current air filter, new brake shoe pads, and new line cylinder. The total for these “critical” fixes was going to be around $749, plus tax, and would take less than 2 hours.

I decided to take my car to Walmart Tire & Lube Express Services the same week to see what they had to say about it. I didn’t tell the Walmart associate anything about the recommendations that Honda service center had said to be critical. I had the option of touring Walmart itself while my car was being checked. I decided to sit right in the empty parking area in front of their “auto” center, which is almost always located in the back of majority of the Walmart locations. Emily was on the phone with me, and we talked while my car was being fixed. After checking the car for about 30 minutes, a Walmart associate called my name and told me that my car needed two new things; a new battery and a new air filter, and these were critical. Nothing else needed emergency repairs or replacements other than the air coolant which could be replaced some several hundred miles later if I wanted to wait. The total cost would be around $145, plus tax, and would take less than 45 minutes.

I was confused; both companies were tell me contradicting things within a very short period of time. During that time span I hadn’t driven much either. I decided to just wait a bit and check things at another mechanic later on, since my car was running smooth still. Since then, I drove several thousand miles, and thus it was time for another oil change last Sunday. I went to Jiffy Lube, which was located right next to a big car wash. I waited for about 4 minutes in a small waiting room while the oil was being changed for my car when one of the mechanics came in. She told me “The air filter needs changing also. Would you like to do it now?” I asked about the price, and told her to go ahead. She then came in again after about 10 minutes and told me that if I needed a car wash, I could get a discount next door at the car wash, or she could vacuum the seats and clean the windows instead. I decided to hold off the car wash for now, and went ahead with the vacuum option and put all the things in the trunk, and went back to the lounge.

After about another 6 or 7 minutes, she came back in and told me that the fan belt needed changing also. I asked about the price, and it was about $150. I asked her if it was critical; she and another mechanic behind her told me that it wasn’t. I asked if they can check the car and tell me if anything other than the oil change and the air filter was critical and needed immediate changing. They checked and gave me a list of recommendations totaling about $380, none of them being critical, and consisting of all the belts, gearbox “cleaning” and transmission fluid. I told them I will come back later and do those changes either later this week or next month. They told me I can come until the end of this month to get a $52 discount on those recommendations if I go ahead with all of them. I thanked them, and went on my way. May be ignoring all these recommendations is a good idea, or may be going ahead with any of the set of recommendations at one of these places will fix everything that might be wrong with the car and actually save me from the day when the car might stop working. May be I really need all of these changes, or may be each of these companies is playing a game and simply labeling anything that is “used”, and still working well, as being “critical.” If only the transportation system in OC was as good as Chicago, New York or San Francisco, I would rarely drive my car.