Car batteries usually only last a year or two here (regardless of how
good of a battery you buy). The heat here is just so intense that
batteries wear out quickly. So Cindy and I were pretty excited when we returned to Sharjah from summer in the US - and found that our car battery still worked.
Well, after two years of flawless service (and three weeks since we came home from our summer vacation), our car battery died an untimely death this past Friday morning. We were headed to church, supposed to pick someone up, and were in a little bit of a hurry. Oh well. We called a cab, and while we missed our bible study class, we were on time for the service.
So, on Saturday, I needed to get a new battery put in. A friend at church told me about a guy who makes house calls for such things. You just ring him up, tell him what kind of car you have and where you're located, and he brings the battery to you. He replaces it and takes the old one away. PERFECT! So I called the 'battery guy' up, and he arrived at my apartment about an hour later.
You can see that he brought his tools and a buddy. He's from Bangladesh and has been in the Emirates for about 10 years. They had this taken care of in about 15 minutes. Total cost - including battery, delivery, installation, and disposal of the old battery - 680 AED (about $185). The list price for the battery from the dealership is $187 - and that's if I drive there to have it installed. There are no "Pep Boys" or "Auto Zone"-type stores here - just the dealerships and then a few small repair places. So I thought that 680 AED was a pretty good price - especially for a house call.
Well, after two years of flawless service (and three weeks since we came home from our summer vacation), our car battery died an untimely death this past Friday morning. We were headed to church, supposed to pick someone up, and were in a little bit of a hurry. Oh well. We called a cab, and while we missed our bible study class, we were on time for the service.
So, on Saturday, I needed to get a new battery put in. A friend at church told me about a guy who makes house calls for such things. You just ring him up, tell him what kind of car you have and where you're located, and he brings the battery to you. He replaces it and takes the old one away. PERFECT! So I called the 'battery guy' up, and he arrived at my apartment about an hour later.
You can see that he brought his tools and a buddy. He's from Bangladesh and has been in the Emirates for about 10 years. They had this taken care of in about 15 minutes. Total cost - including battery, delivery, installation, and disposal of the old battery - 680 AED (about $185). The list price for the battery from the dealership is $187 - and that's if I drive there to have it installed. There are no "Pep Boys" or "Auto Zone"-type stores here - just the dealerships and then a few small repair places. So I thought that 680 AED was a pretty good price - especially for a house call.
No comments:
Post a Comment