I need some help
I need to reach out to all of you for assistance. I have a HUGE problem, and I don't know what steps I should take to resolve it.
My CD Player in my Van died and we are set to take a vacation on Saturday. To Kansas.... with both kids....and no music.....THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!
According to the dealer, the entire stereo system will have to be replaced at a cost of $500 plus labor. GAH! I don't think so!
In retaliation, I went to a local stereo place today where I was quoted $350 for a new Panasonic (including labor) but apparently the most expensive part is some stupid harness set up because the Air Bags, DING noise (your door is ajar, your keys are in the ignition, turn your lights off fool!), and several other items are wired through the radio! WTF? What sort of GM Genius came up with this idea?
Anywho, is this right? Is the guy trying to screw me out of more money than is necessary, or is he being honest? I would search the internet, but I have NO CLUE what I'm looking for.
Please, if you can provide any insight on this, I would really appreciate it! Oh, and BTW, I have an appointment scheduled Wednesday morning, in case I decide to fork the money over....
Labels: Family Life
posted by KTreva at Tuesday, July 24, 2007
8 Comments:
I wish I could help you darlin' but I have no clue....
Tammi
I asked beloved husband - he says he's pretty sure (can't be 100% without the car manuals) that airbags are NOT wired through the radio. The other stuff - possibly - but not the airbags. The extra charge comes into play when they have to take time to change out the GM connectors on the wires to the connectors that will work with the new stereo.
Have you tried Circuit City? I had a car stereo installed by them into my Dodge Minivan - I don't remember the cost since it was a while back, but I don't remember it being excessive and I didn't have any trouble either. The one I went to had installation. You may want to check with Best Buy too.
Trust me! It's worth every penny to let them hassle with the installation. Ask Wil how many fuses he blew trying to save on the installation fee. Needless to say we ended up returning the stuff & going down the road to a audio installations place.
Red
The airbags and other crap aren't run through the radio, but they do all run through the same harness. However, it shouldn't be that expensive... I bought my stereo through Crutchfield, and the harness and antenna adapters were thrown in, free. As were the receiver adapters...
I don't really like going to American, but the stereos that I've bought there have come with free installation... can't remember if they charged for adapters and harnesses, or not.
Send me your van info, and I may be able to look up some receivers that would fit your vehicle...
Do you have a tape player in your car? Do you have a portable DVD or CD player? Then you can buy for about $9 from Walmart a tape thingie that you put into the tape player with a wire hanging out that plugs into the headphone jack of your dvd/cd player. As long as you have enough batteries or charge, it will get you places. I have done this in an emergency on a 8 hour drive with my kids. It plays through the speakers of your car. Works well.
Until you can figure out who to get a new player from....
Ask a junkyard for a radio. Replacing the stock radio with another, similar, stock radio, is a twenty minute job for the clone. Hell, even contagion ought to be able to handle it (duck&run)
The junkyard idea might be a good one. If it comes down to it and you've got a portable player, I've got a little FM transmitter that plugs into the earphone jack that you can borrow if you don't get this figured out in time (runs on AAA batteries) - just tune the radio to the right station and it'll still play through the van speakers.
I'm with VW
If you have MP3's on your computer, you can pick up an iRock and a FM Transmitter for around $100 bucks and listen to your MP3's via your car radio with no wires what so ever.
That'll get ya'll through the vacation anywa.
Say ya'll still going to try to drop in on our neck of the woods?
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