Last Sunday I went to Cheras for band practice, after that had lunch with my friends and we hung out at my place. At 3pm I drove my friends to her orchestra practise. I saw the car workshop just downstairs so decided to ask about my car’s aircon problem.
My car air con is not cold on hot days, but is quite cold on mornings and during night. During hot days, staying outside is cooler than staying in my car.
After some checking, the workshop boss said no problem with my compressors and hose, gas a bit less, so he said he will need to open the dashboard to do the aircon service. I asked him how much? He said RM440. I was shocked!
After thinking for few mins, I was thinking I hadn’t serviced the aircon since I bought the car, which is more than 3 years ago…. So OK la I told the boss.
The boss told me to come back tomorrow,since it was a Sunday and getting late. He would drive me to my office while my car is at the workshop, and when the car is done they will drive the car to my office. Sounds reasonable I thought to myself. I also asked him about the car battery, he is selling wet battery at RM148. GP brand. For Century, is RM158. My original car battery is Yokohama and I never replaced it since 3 years + 2 months ago, and it’s getting weak.
Later at night, I called my bf to ask him. He said it’s expensive and that I should ask more shops to compare prices. I agreed with him. So the next day I just went to office as usual.
During working, I was thinking where can I service my car aircon… I googled for it, and they were recommending going back to the Perodua’s air con supplier, Denso. I was thinking maybe going to Denso is not going to be cheap, but at least they know what they are doing and they are not going to over-charge me because their prices are fixed for all to see.
The nearest Denso is at Shah Alam. During lunch hour I went for it. Went to Federal Highway, exit at Subang Airport, turn left at Persiaran Kerjaya, made a u-turn after driving for few KMs, Denso was on my left. It was 1pm when I reach and they are closed for lunch. I waited in their office while having my sandwich for lunch. At around 1:30pm, there was a technician working at my car aircon. Later he told me everything OK, just need to do service including refilling the gas. I asked him no need to open dashboard? He said no need la, just open the drawer can already… So I just needed a normal air con service and the total bill was RM 221.50, which is so much cheaper than the earlier unknown car workshop who is most likely not sure on what they are doing.
While servicing, I asked the technician do they sell car battery? He said no, but he can get from his friends working nearby. I asked whether he can get for me and install it? He said OK… So I asked him about the price and he called his friends to check on the price. Later on he said outside brand car battery, is RM135. I was thinking that’s reasonable… So I asked how about Perodua’s Battery which is Yokohama? He said he couldn’t reach his friend. He will try later. Some time later, he came to me and said he can get Yokohama for RM115. I was happy to hear the news and instantly I told him I wanted to buy the Yokohama, since it cost around RM180 if I were to buy from Perodua Service Center.
I was happy about the deal because he installed the battery for free. The down side is I have to wait for him to pick up the battery from Perodua and he had to charge the battery there for 30 mins. So I left Denso at around 4 pm to get back to office! And finally my car aircon is cold under hot sun now.
Summary:
Denso Service Center, Persiaran Kerjaya, Shah Alam
Myvi aircon service: RM221.50 (Include gas refill)
Car Battery: RM115 (Wet type)
I am happy about this, just imagined if I went for the unknown car workshop, I would have spent RM440 + RM148 = 588, additional RM251.50. Shame on the dishonest car workshop owner!
