The check engine light came back.

I made an early appointment so they could get right to it. The guy had an idea what else it would be if that battery cable he’d tightened wasn’t the whole problem. They’re not open Fridays so I didn’t want it to become longer than a one-day job.

I got a call a little later: the code coming up was to part of the drive chain and that should be covered under warranty–I’d want to take that to the dealer. No point in having him charge me if they would do it for free.

So in the one small bit of time that the others could spare I got driven back over there to pick up my car to take it to Toyota.

Where they ran the code and got the diagnosis but also looked up the date we’d bought the Prius from them. Fifteen years or 150,000 miles’ warranty on the hybrid drivetrain by law in California, and we were at 100,000 miles.

And 186 months, not 180. No warranty. But they could give me the estimate on the spot: $4261.

I…wow. Thanked them, took it home (having previously been assured it was okay to drive for now), and called my mechanic again and told their admin woman that number.

She was as staggered as I was.

When the guy had said that to me, I was standing there holding her company’s estimate in my hands and he knew that. $660 for the same job. Which suddenly didn’t sound so bad, not bad at all.

And this. It’s not the only reason, but, this is why I try to keep the little guys in business.