Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Flat

Son comes home, walks through the garage and notices that my car has a flat tire. Like the good son that he is he says for me not to worry about it and that he'll take care of it. Whew! What a relief to have a capable son.

Son removes tire and loads it into his car and takes it to get repaired. He returns with the fixed tire and puts it back onto my car.


Son shows me what caused the flat. A little metal thingy between 1/16" and 1/32" in width by 1/2" long. I took a picture of it with a penny for comparison.


The damage.


Now, I know that it costs an arm and a leg and perhaps a little more than that to live in Hawaii. Yes, the cost of living is outrageous. But! Forty dollars to fix a flat tire? This got me thinking. How much does it cost to fix a flat in your area? More? Less? I thought that it would be interesting to know what it costs where you live, whether you're on the U.S. mainland or somewhere else in the world. Maybe I don't have anything to complain about. My inquisitive mind would like to know.

Aloha,

27 comments:

Emily said...

RM5.00 to fix the flat and the mechanic will check the other four ie including the spare for air sufficiency too!

RM5.00 is roughly US$1.55.....

Di said...

Last month I paid AU$30 to have a punctured tire fixed - that's approx US$25.64. I thought that was reasonable.

barb's creations said...

I paid $25 for my flat tyre a few months ago but I have to say they took it off fixed it and put it back on all in under 1/2 an hour,I live in Australia :) Barb.

Kath said...

If my son had done that for me, I would have been flat on my back through shock LOL

Webster said...

Some places will provide free flat repair if the tires are theirs (were bought from them). More often, $10-20 sounds about right. One time we had a place to it for free, then told us to come to him to get our tires next time. Unfortunately, his business has moved before we could return the favor. [Tacoma, WA]

Sue from Ky. said...

We feel we have found an honest mechanic, which is hard to do nowadays,that we use when needed. Pop has always done his own mechanic work, but with his age now, he must depend on others to do the work.Pop says our mechanic would charge roughly $10.We are in rural Kentucky,USA.

Tina T. said...

Hi
In Sweden it costs about the same, 300 kr = 38 dollars. So in that case it´s expensive to live here as well.
But be glad that it was only a flat tire. I got my first speeding ticket, fot that I paid 200 dollars:(

Sewing Junkie said...

I paid a warranty fee when I purchase the tires an it is free, but the warranty includes rotating and replacement if it is a flaw in the tire. Chris

Jess @ Scrappy n Happy said...

I am the same as Barb - Paid $30au in Australia! Except they fixed a different hole to the one I saw, evidently we had 1/2 dozen nails in one tyre!

NadineC said...

Wow! Where I live, we can get flats fixed for free. Supposedly you should have purchased the tire there, but usually they just do it for free, regardless. And I'm doubly lucky because my son is a mechanic, and the few times I've needed to be towed, even THAT was way cheap because he's "got connections." There IS a down side, though...my car is always the LAST one to get worked on (shoemaker's children syndrome) :-)

the 8th child said...

i don't think i have ever paid more than $15 for a flat tire in STL, MO.

Annemiek said...

Don't complain! A flat tire: €35, gas to put IN the car €1,50 a liter. Quilting fabric: approx. €15 to € 20 a metre (little more than a yard) One U.S. dollar is 0.71 euro cents. I live in the Netherlands and when we see on tv e.g U.S citizens complain about gasprizes, we laugh. Hard!

Needled Mom said...

They do them free here if you purchased the tire at the shop.

That is a terrible price, but I remember how expensive things were when we lived in Hawaii.

Loris said...

DH just did this for me last week. Here in a small town on the central coast where the gas is higher, the same gas station charged us $15.
$40 seems like alot but I guess that is how it goes with the local cost of living. I'm sure you are as grateful as I was that the men in our lives noticed it while it was in the garage. Boy, did I feel blessed!

DianeY said...

I live in Hawaii, too & though I haven't had a tire fixed recently, that seems a little high to me even. I can't help but be curious as to where he took it.

Deb said...

I've never paid for a flat tire. The shop where I buy my tires covers things like that. I think that $40 is a lot though.

free indeed said...

My daughter recently woke to a flat tire. Her brother took the tire off and when she got out of work, they went to get it fixed. She picked up a nail (apt people are doing work around the grounds of her apt). cost her $12 to put a plug in. Guy said it may have a slow leak....they were brand new tires...so far that plug is holding!

floribunda said...

$40 seems high, considering that your son did most of the heavy lifting (so to speak!) -- but like you said -- everything is more expensive in Hawaii.

Mary Ann said...

In Denmark, it varies anywhere between 300-400 danish crowns.
That's about 49-60 US dollars. Ouch! That's driving in and having them do it, as well. We try really hard to avoid nails, etc!!! :o)

Unknown said...

40 is high even for Hawaii, for the US anyway. I usually get it free and am always surprised by that. But inevitably the flat is caused by something hitting the sidewall which means the whole tire is replaced.
Yes our Petrol/gas is cheap in comparison to Europe, but in comparison to places in South America like Venezuela it is outrageously high. It all depends on where you live and your local economy.

sweetiepie said...

It costs around $10 here depending where you take it. I live in Iowa.

For $40, I could almost by a new tire.....lol.

Maylee said...

Wow! we buy our tires from Costco and they will repair and rotate for FREE!!

Sorry to hear of this outrages bill, that could have been good money towards craft supplies. : )

vldecker said...

Most places here will fix flats free (say that 3 times fast) if you buy your tires from them. Otherwise, just to plug one is about $5-10. For $40, I would have gotten a new tired. I'm in Eastern Ky.

Colleen MacKinnon; Penny Rugs and More said...

Hi Lettie, it's great to have men in our lives! My capable husband would have done the same. I'm not sure about the price of a flat, but I can tell you that 12% tax would be added here! Yup, today Canada Day, we also celebrate a tax that adds another 7% to most goods and all services....yuck. But come to British Columbia, it's beautiful and ....apparently we need the tax money!

Colleen MacKinnon; Penny Rugs and More said...

Oh and come to think of it, the last time I got a flat was when I hit a curb. Blew the side wall open (big bang) and had to buy TWO new tires....that cost some bucks. that was after waiting for an hour for BCAA to rescue me and put on my spare.

Ima Baglady said...

hmm - a couple options. If you go back to the place where you bought the tires, they will usually plug it for free. A patch would cost more, but is not as tpically needed. I've even gone to my car dealer and they plugged a hole for free too!

The Domestic Fox said...

I am a little late to this party - but wanted to chime in here. Raised with a grease monkey - my dad made sure I knew how to take care of my car. You can purchase a tire repair kit for less than $20, in Tennessee, and fix more flats than you'll ever see in your lifetime. It's relatively easy to do and you'll never have to pay someone to fix your tires again. If you do this - be sure to get the good kit with the nice handles, not the cheap plastic ones that pull off when you are pulling the plug through the tire.