How My Scrapbooking Supplies Saved Us $262 in Car Repairs
October 2, 2007 – 11:16 am
My husband called me this past Friday and said he had bad news. He was out mountain biking and I feared the worst: broken bones, torn ligaments etc… We’ve been through those more times than I count.
Then he said there was a problem with the truck. Great. Just great. Not again.
We’ve had our fair share of car problems this year; luckily they haven’t been too costly and we’ve been able to take care of them without dipping into the emergency fund.
He said he put the window on the front passenger side down and it wouldn’t come back up. Not even 2 months ago we had the same problem with the rear passenger window on the right side so we knew it would cost $262 for a new regulator and installation. I was not looking to shell out money to get it fixed. And it’s not really wise to drive around with the window down all the time.
We had same decisions to make. It was Friday and the mechanic we use is closed on the weekend. They could fix it Monday. My husband is pretty car savvy and wanted to try fixing it himself.
He found a complete step by step instruction guide with pictures on the web (I guess it’s a common problem for our model truck, stinkin Ford…). He was able to take apart the door panel and find the problem. The problem was a small plastic part that had broken; a bad design flaw on Ford’s part.
After messing with the parts a bit my husband came to me and asked if I had any small pieces of metal in my scrabooking stash. (I have a long history with scrapbooking. I used to write articles and do a bit of scrapbook design for an online magazine and received a TON of supplies free to use. My scrapbooking stash is huge and comes in handy for all kinds of things like my kids school projects and now for fixing cars).
Anyway, I gave him a small container of metal embellishments. He found a metal bookplate and went to work on it, bending and breaking off small pieces to use as reinforcements on the small plastic part that had broken. (you can see the remains of the bookplate in the picture)
The window works perfectly now and the part that broke is probably stronger than it originally was.
How much did we save by using a little creativity?
Repair the window regulator at the mechanic = $262.
Buy regulator and motor and install ourselves = $130
Use scrapbooking supplies, epoxy and my husband’s labor = FREE
9 Responses to “How My Scrapbooking Supplies Saved Us $262 in Car Repairs”
Great Savings! Nothing thrills me more than when I can do something like that! My brother-in-law calls me “McGyver”.
By Sheila on Oct 7, 2007
Ha ha! Wear that title with pride
(and I totally remember McGyver, I loved that show!)
By Momof3 on Oct 7, 2007
Just stumbled it.
By DayJobNuker on Oct 15, 2007
Great story!
Heh, my hubby’s like that. Drives me crazy that he keeps so much junk, but he’s always pulling some stunt like this, so I put up with the future-projects-that-will-save-hundreds!
By Karen on Oct 16, 2007
Karen,
Thanks for visiting!
Glad I’m not the only one. I know I’m blessed that he likes to fix things himself, and he does a good job. But it still makes me nervous when he tells he wants to fix “whatever is broken” himself. (I have images of us having to shell out even more cash because the idea didn’t work). But really, it hasn’t happened so far and his ideas save us money.
This scrapbooking idea really threw me for a loop, I would have never thought of that!
By Momof3 on Oct 17, 2007
Kudos for having enough faith in your husband to let him take apart your car door. I am always expecting to make things worse when I attempt fix-it projects.
By juicefairy on Oct 21, 2007
Oh I’ve been there too. I’ve been having this problem with my shifter, the base is plastic and it kept breaking - 3 times in 5 years. The first 2 times it was covered by the warranty, but not anymore and the dealer estimated $300 to fix it. I went down to the hardware store, bought a piece of angled metal, spent a few hours sawing (the PAIN!) and made my own super-sturdy bracket. Total cost: $12 and a few hours of my time (at which point I was unemployed - so FREE!).
I now have a similar problem with my door handles being loose, and I plan on fixing them without giving a penny to the dealership. They would only put in another cheap piece of plastic which will break again, while I anticipate a single bolt and locking nuts should solve the problem for good.
I consider myself lucky that I can understand many of these simpler engineering problems with ease. I’m no mechanic, not by a long shot, but I’ve repaired many things over the years, just by cracking them open and taking a good look. Today’s products are built cheaply, their problems tend to be simple (and insultingly stupid). A bit of glue, some scrap pieces of metal or plastic and a steady hand can fix most things.
By Bill on Dec 2, 2007