Powerless Locks and Langgonisa-looking seats

The Accent came in 2 models - the Accent GL and the Accent GLS.

They have the same body and the same engine. The difference was in the accessories - for P88,000 more, you get bigger tires (15" instead of 14"), 6 speakers instead of 4, power locks, power windows, power side mirrors, leather-wrapped steering wheel, leather-wrapped shift knob and keyless entry with alarm. Plus, you get to choose the color of your car. The GL only came in white.

Since I wanted a white car (while surfing on the net for information on fuel efficiency, I came across a study concluding that the accident-risk is lower for white cars than colored ones,) and the only accessory we were interested in was the power locks, we got the Accent GL. Hubby wanted a silver Accent but when he learned of the additional P88,000, he suddenly discovered the beauty of white on cars and became a supporter of lowering accident-risks.

Since I really wanted power locks, I asked our sales agent if the 5-year warranty would be affected if we had power locks installed. He said that the warranty would not be affected if we had it installed at their service center. When asked about the cost of installation, he said that it would probably be around P800.00.

He was wrong.

On 05 June, I dropped by Banawe to buy a power lock mechanism from hubby's friend. It was less than P1000.00! When I got to the office, I instructed Mang Al to take the car to the Hyundai service center in front of our office building to have the power locks installed. The service center refused to install them - they said that they need to be installed by the service center of the dealer where we purchased the car. They were afraid that we would lose the warranty on our electrical connections if they installed the power locks for us. I didn't mind - we got the Accent from a dealer which was located 5 minutes away from our house.

2 days later, I sent Mang Al to Hyundai Commonwealth. He was told that the warranty on the electrical connections would be voided since we didn't buy the locks from them (their power locks cost P4,500!!!). When we explained what our sales agent told us, they backtracked and said that the warranty on electrical connections would not become void but the warranty wouldn't cover the power locks (duh!) But, we needed to pay them P2,100. They explained that power locks were difficult to install.

My eyebrows went up the roof! Their installation fee was excessive!!! It was almost 3x the cost of the mechanism that they were supposed to install. I also knew that power locks were easy to install. When I complained to our sales agent, he said that he'll try to get us a discount. I just instructed Mang Al to go home. I would probably have them installed when we bring the Accent to the service center for its 1,000km-check.

While I was talking to our sales agent, he mentioned that he'd have our car seats installed so that Mang Al's trip to the service center would not be wasted. And so, when Mang Al arrived, I immediately looked at the seats and saw that the seatcovers were so tight that they made the seats looked like a 180-pound penguin wearing skinny jeans! Oh well, I couldn't complain as I didn't have to pay for the seat covers.

I guess the seats would just have to go on a diet.