The garage in Assiniboia that did the out of province inspection on my truck in late ’13 claimed that everything was good. I specifically asked about the state of my brakes as the garage in New Orleans had said I should start thinking about them and I’d done quite a bit of mileage since then. The guy in Assiniboia said, “Oh, your pads are newish, you’ve got over 30,000KM to go before you need to think about them.” Well, I haven’t done nearly that much driving since then, but I thought that I might as well get them checked here before going into the mountains for peace of mind, right?
I’m not a mechanic and even I could see that everything was NOT GOOD with the truck with the tires off today. Like, really not good. The mechanic said he was shocked and that the brakes needed FULL service ages and ages ago. I need completely new brakes. I went through this with Miranda and know from what I saw that they’re not exaggerating.
Let’s just say I’m glad this was discovered before I had an accident. And that I just busted my truck maintenance/repair budget. 🙁
The brake service will be 4,500 pesos (363CAD), which, frankly, sounds like a bargain to me, plus 1,200 for the oil change and tailgate handle and an undetermined amount for the windshield wiper pump. So I’m at 5,700 and it’ll probably be closer to 6,200 when I’m all done, putting me 1,200 pesos over budget, or about 100CAD. This isn’t dramatic, but that means that if anything else goes wrong with the truck on the trip home, I am going to have to dip into other buckets to cover the deficiency.
I’m so glad this happened before I got underway as it’s a really good reminder that I will need to firmly tighten the purse strings for this very long trip home. I planned to do a lot of motel stays along the way so I could work, but I’m trying to come up with creative solutions to avoid doing that, like taking a campsite with electricity and working from my front passenger seat (which is more comfortable than working at a hotel table anyway!).
I also need to make a run to town before picking up the truck on Friday because I don’t have enough cash to pay the bill. So that throws off my work schedule somewhat, but I’ll figure it out.
Needless to say, I’m not having my air conditioner looked at!
(By the way, a lot of the mechanical terms in Spanish are close to those in French, so that’s why I had no trouble understanding the mechanic.)
I think you got a heck of a deal on the brakes. The alternative would have been having the brakes fail on the way home and having no choice other than taking it into the most convenient place and paying whatever they decided to charge. I have had brakes done twice in Mexico (Guadalajara and Saltillo) and was very happy both times. Danny has a good reputation (around the RV park at least).
Less than 400CAD does sound like a decent deal. Better to Danny here than a random Ford shop in the US.
Have you ever stayed in hostels? They are cheaper.
The only reason for taking a motel room rather than camping in my truck is so that I can work, so the hostel option wouldn’t work even if I was open to it.
I hosteled a lot in my teens and my twenties. The last time I did it was in 2009 and I doubt I’ll ever do it again. I’d rather pay a few extra bucks and not have to sleep with strangers.
There are some good weekly rates for hotels and that’s what I’m going to focus on.