Instead of Spending $200, Spend $10

Seems like nearly every week there’s something that comes up that I can turn into a Monday Money story.

Would I rather spend $200 or $10?

That was the choice I made last week.

The ScLoHomobile which I bought last year came with a turn signal problem.

Last summer when I went to a repair shop, they told me it was part of a recall and I should contact a dealer.

Now this car is a 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix and Pontiac’s are no longer being made.

However Pontiac’s are a General Motors product, so if you have one, or an Oldsmobile which was also discontinued recently, just head over to a Chevy dealer. Which is what I did last summer.

But first read the rest of this story before you give anyone any money.

The recall had expired but the dealer could get the part and fix the problem.

$200 and a few hours later I had working turn signals again.

Then a couple months ago, I noticed that they were not working all the time.  Again.

Sigh.

I waited to see if it was weather related.

It wasn’t.

Last Thursday while driving to work, I discovered I had no turn signals.

I started searching online again and found this video:

 

Even though this was a Grand Am and my car is a Grand Prix, I was ready to tackle the job.

I’m not by any means a mechanic. I don’t even change my own oil.  But this looked simple enough.

Saturday I drove down to a junk yard where I knew the owner and told him (Tony) what I was looking for.

He actually had one already removed from a car, told me to check to see if it solved my problem before I paid him.

I took removed part of the dash, as described in the video, plugged in the used part and everything worked.

After giving Tony $10, I drove home and completed the repair in 20 minutes.

Which would you rather spend. $200 and a couple hours or $10 and 30 minutes or less plus learn a little something too?