It's the Little Things, I Tell You

I just got back from a visit to my local Buick dealer. If you recall, I mentioned yesterday that the door handle on my Buick Lucerne came loose. So the visit to the dealer was to get it repaired. Since the warranty had elapsed some months ago, I would have to bear the cost. And the cost might have been a bear to boot.

The cost of repair should have been about $260, parts and labor. The sevice writer looked into whether the cost could be reduced. And found it. The work was performed as an "out of warranty repair goodwill repair." I don't know what that means but the charge was referred to several times as a "deductible" so I am guessing it is some kind of insurance program.

I am happier than I would have been since the cost went down to $100. I am not happy that the repair had to be done at all, however. You see, I have had cars that were ten years old (and older) and none have had door handles come loose. Fail to work, yes. Need a little graphite injection to make the key/lock function properly, yes. But come loose in your hand and pull away from the door? No. Definitely no.

Obviously, the design and materials used were less than optimum quality. And this, a Lucerne, is supposed to be a quality vehicle.

But the problem is minor, even if the cost of repair is not. Overall, the quality of the car is excellent. It's these little things that get to me. Like the garage door opener feature button that broke a little over a year ago. It's just a button. Actually three buttons in a row on the headliner just above the middle of the windshield. I could have re-programmed it to a different button or gone back to the hand-held remote but the warranty was still good then and I saw no reason not to repair it. Or the pop-up drink holder in the `96 Century we once owned. Didn't even bother to get that fixed.

It's the little things that annoy us.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Might as well be the epitaph for GM.