Oh, What Surprises Await Me

I took my wife's car in this morning for an oil change and tire rotation. Also, a few days ago, the key stopped working in the driver's side door. The door unlocks if you use the key in the passenger side, so it's not an electronics issue, just something mechanical with the key receptacle, I guess.

I mentioned it to the service guy as I dropped the car off this morning, with the caveat that "I don't want to spend much money fixing it." I have this theory, that I can back up with receipts, that when you ask an auto repair shop to "take a look at something" beyond your normal, scheduled maintenance, you're going to get socked for at least another $200.

See, this car is a 1996 Camry with 130,000+ miles on it. It will probably run forever, but it's at that stage where you don't worry about cosmetic stuff anymore. Walking around the car to unlock it could become tiresome, but LBB doesn't seem to mind and neither do I.

What I'm afraid of, though, is the message from the repair shop about an hour ago saying the car is ready. No mention of the door lock issue. So either they ignored it, or I'm in for a $200 bill. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.