Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Broken Antenna II

When the dealer explained to me the antenna repair would cost $450, I noticed that they were not surprised at my shock and outrage. They gave the same sympathetic look I give when my customers are shocked at $80 chess clocks. Yes, they're expensive, maybe ridiculously so, but that's what I've got for you. When I told the parts clerk that $450 was a high price to restore FM radio and that a satellite receiver was a fraction of the price, I got another knowing, chess clock look. I understand the cost; they need to remove my headliner and get at the mast mount from inside the car, an ugly, time consuming affair. I used to be a purist, and I would have paid any amount to get the car back to square one, but now I'm more practical.

A trip to Circuit City tonight confirmed what I already knew. A small FM antenna, mounted on the inside windshield, would not only provide me better reception, but would cost no more than $100 installed. If I wanted to treat myself, I could have satellite radio installed for about $200 (Sirius or XM). I'll definitely be getting the $100 "repair," regardless, but now I'm thinking I'll be spending some of my stimulus money on the satellite radio receiver. Of course there's the tyranny of monthly fees, my nemesis.

7 comments:

  1. I sympathize. Joe's tree ate my antenna a couple of months before we moved here. Apparently my 4Runner is better designed for antenna replacement, because it only cost me about a $150 to $200 IIRC, but it still gave me a case of sticker shock.

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  2. I'm thinking Sirius because of the 3 NPR stations (David will approve). On the other hand, we have XM in the store and a second receiver is only $6/month.

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  3. Since the Sirius/XM merger is going forward you may want to find out if they have the dual receivers yet. You can get Sirius (and I assume XM) lifetime plans for a receiver and never have to pay another fee. Not sure what they are running.

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  4. Right, blame MY tree.

    Are you sure it wasn't your driving?

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  5. It jumped right out and ate it! If Alex hadn't scared it off by peeing on it, it probably would have got us all!

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  6. It was just trying to protect itself from Alex - not only did he keep threatening to pee on it, but he'd sometimes get "bighty".

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