Car Warranties....bleh!

Last night a light came on in my car. I looked it up and found out it is the Malfunction Indicator Light, which most likely means something is wrong with my catalytic converter. It just so happens that I received a letter last month from VW saying the warranty for the catalytic converter has been extended. So I decide to take my car into the dealership and have it fixed, since it is under warranty (or at least that is the impression the letter gave me). So I take it in and the guy tells me that it will cost $100 for them to hook up my car to the electronic machine that reads my car. But if the problem is still under warranty then I won't have to pay. He assures me that my car will most likely be under warranty. Of course it is not that problem he thought it was! What kind of luck did he think I have! So the problem is with the thermostat and they want to charge $250 to fix it. No way! I found out a thermostat costs $17.95 and can be fixed fairly easily. I call the guy the tell him not to fix my car and that I would be picking it up. I threw a fit about the $100 and got it reduced to $50, but I still want to protest it. I would not have taken my car in if I had not got that misleading letter. Skyler has a friend with a VW electronic machine that could have done the same thing for me for free, but I thought it was going to be covered under warranty. Anyways, I think it is time for my car to go and to get a new car. I am thinking Subaru...