It’s that time of month again, where I am suppose to service my car. My baby has been with me for almost 2 years, and she has been behaving really well so far. No major break downs and well, there ain’t anything to complaint about.
Today, or rather, yesterday was just one of the many routine check-ups I needed to keep her fit and in shape. She has done over 30,000km in Kuching, Damai, Serian and Bau… and she has been moving along nicely, without any problems.
But since she is going for a check up, I decided to just address some issues which seem to have come up with her health lately, like the ‘shrieking sound’ she makes when she starts moving, the ‘dub’ sound coming from her absorbers, and also the issue with lowering and moving up the power windows. These issues aren’t really major, and I could just ignore them… but since I am bringing her for a check-up, why not investigate what’s going on?
So, off I went to a trusted Proton Service Center I’ve been frequenting since my horrible experience with one of the major Platinum Proton Centers in town. I drove into the center, and explained to the boss about what’s happening with my car and how she has some hick-ups like the ‘dub’ sound, and the shrieking break..and the faulty power windows.
The boss took note, and I waited in the waiting room.
On a normal day, my car would be done within an hour, but I mean, that’s with standard checking and change of motor oil only. But this time, it took over 3 hours. Yes, three long hours… I was restless, and I walked around inspecting what they were doing to my baby, while taking shots of stuff I found around the workshop.
To my ‘buta kereta’ @ ‘car-blind’ eye, they seemed to be busy doing something to the rear breaking system of the car, and I figured that that must have something to do with the shrieking’ sound I get when moving. In addition to that, it took two to three of their mechanics to actually do my car, while I waited patiently. To be frank, I was kind of nervous of the final cost of the whole repair, because with so much manpower placed into my car, and also the amount of work they are doing, and not mentioning the total of hours it seems to be taking these 3 mechanics. Yeah, I was expecting the cost to be high.
At about 4pm, my car was ready. I was mentally ready to pay over RM400 for the repairs which seemed so complicated… but the total was only RM210! RM210?? I thought they mistyped the receipt, and so I asked “Is this all?” and guess what.. IT WAS!!
That was dirt cheap. The motor oil itself cost RM180, and their labor was only RM20. I personally felt it was kind of unfair to the mechanics, but then again, I ain’t complaining for getting their services cheap! About 5pm, I drove out of the service center with my baby moving as she was when I first got her, and now I know, I have more reason to come back to that service center because they are wayyyyy better than the platinum center which I said above, which takes up to 3 hours or more just to change motor oil, and do general servicing of the car.
