[kyngfish]

My in-laws bought a place near us so they could make extended visits. They live in Miami and we live in Oregon. My father in law is a car nut, and god bless him, he drives a 991 Carrera 4 GTS - but only because he can’t get a GT3 allocation - some people just don’t have any luck.

Anyway, they had to get a car here as well as a place, so over my bewildered objections, they bought a 2018 Beetle with 50k miles. I loved my wife’s MKVII GTI - but it was the least reliable car we owned, also the newest, with the least miles. That thing drove wonderfully, but it was trash.

So yeah of course all of the lights on the Beetle dashboard light up, and it goes into limp home mode randomly one day, and I’ve already had to do a battery replacement and an oil change on this thing (which inexplicably means removing an entire underbody panel - even my Land Cruiser has oil change access under all the underbody shielding). I tell my FIL that the MKVII had an issue with the Clockspring in the steering wheel, and this caused a bunch of lights to light up on the dash, but also I had had an old Mercedes where a faulty wheel sensor did something similar.

They decide they don’t want to trouble me, so they make an appt with a local mechanic. I offer to drop it off - thinking - honestly the mechanic will probably find the issue faster than me, so, cool. I tell the guy they should check the Clockspring or wheel sensor, which I fully expect him to ignore and he does.

They charge my in laws 300 bucks for “diagnosis” and they tell my in laws that the computer codes were apparently all wrong and they recoded the computer, and it’s fixed. Naturally they drive it home and it’s fine, but as soon as they turn it on that night to meet us for dinner - Christmas tree.

So for kicks, during dinner, I thumb through the 20 odd codes I was seeing from the OBD2 - and find one for the left wheel sensor. Most of the other codes aren’t linked to a specific sensor, and I figured if there was a more generalized error like a faulty ECU - I would be getting codes for all sensors, front left felt really specific.

The next day is Saturday, and the mechanic is closed, so I pick up a sensor at the flaps for 60 bucks, take ten minutes to replace it, and drive off, and lights start disappearing.

I wish I could say this is the first time I’ve had an experience like this at a mechanic, but it’s happened to me a bunch. This car is under manufacturer warranty, and the dealer was saying they wouldnt be able to book an appt for 3 months.

Honestly my in laws are doing fine. If their car breaks they can rent one, or take Uber everywhere and it’s no big deal. But I grew up in a home where we didn’t have a lot, and a lazy mechanic - one car and no options would have broken us. I’m an experienced amateur at best, and I had this diagnosed and fixed in under a half hour. A reasonably competent mechanic with a hint of care should have been able to spot the issue.

Stuff makes me see red. Cherry on top is that they texted my Father in Law that Monday to ask how the car was, he explained what had happened, and then they asked for a five star review on google. Good grief. I feel bad for the working family in this country.