Practicing My T's: New Thing-Car Repairs Being Less Than Expected

September 27th: Having a car repair be less than expected.

How many times have you come in with your car to have one thing fixed, and it turns out several things are wrong with it?  Even worst, in order to fix the one thing you have to fix the other things, too?

With the cars I've had in the past, even this one, I've come to expect the worst, due to my experiences.

Trip down memory lane.  I promise I will get to the newness.

My very first car I had was my favorite.  It was a Kia but it was a hatchback, so you would probably think "Station Wagon".  I loved how many miles to the gallon it got (about 38mph or so) and I also liked the bumper stickers I had placed on it (My favorite: If you think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance).

I named the car "Miracle" because I thought it was a Miracle I was actually able to get it.

When it had stuff wrong with it, it tended to have a lot of stuff wrong with it (like $500-900 a pop type stuff), but once it got fixed, it was smooth as sailing.

During the time I had Her, I fell on some tough times.  I was trying to support who I was with at the time.  That person had just quit the job, so everything was on me, regarding this person's medical expenses.  I fell slightly behind on the car payment.  Unfortunately, they were unwilling to work with me, and I had to be honest with myself what I could handle and what I couldn't

So Miracle vanished.

After that, I dealt with two other cars.  I didn't expect perfection or for them to run like new, but I didn't anticipate all of the hiccups.

On the bright side, I didn't have to make monthly payments on them.  On the downside, it might have been better for me to take a taxi (considering where I worked at the time wasn't exactly transit accessible) than for all the problems I had with them.

The second vehicle (nicknamed B**ch and PITA (Pain in the Arse) ) I got in a really bad accident.  Trying to do my job during a snow storm, although it was advised not to travel.  I almost got killed.

The vehicle had damages which well exceeded what I had paid for it (although it was still somewhat drive able), and I did experience a few anxiety attacks even after the ordeal.  After I secured the 3rd vehicle, my anxiety attacks began to dissipate

The third vehicle (nicknamed Tiny), although I had no accidents in it, did need quite a bit of work.

The mechanic I normally went to at that particular time (aka "a guy who knows cars") got into a serious falling out with his friend ("the guy who he could get parts from at the fraction of the cost" aka "the hook up").

In my arrangement with the mechanic, I would pay for the labor, and he would take care of securing the parts.

But since his partnership with his friend fell apart, he had to look for a new person who could give him the same type of deal as his friend.

He found out rather quickly how massive a deal his friend had been giving him.

Plus, he found out how small the auto mechanic community was.  His friend had spread the word concerning their fall out, so many people refused to work with him; the one who decided to wanted full payment, up front.

However, he didn't fully explain what had happened to me.

Instead, his prices started going up.

At one point, I discovered he was trying to charge me more than what the major chains were charging for the same type of work.  I felt like he was trying to take advantage of me, so I stopped going to him and tried to take care of as much as I could.

The second vehicle suffered the same mishap in the sense that the maintenance and problems were more expensive than what I paid for the vehicle, so I had to leave it alone.

My current automobile, top picture, (which is deemed Hazlenut) is a later model than my past three.

The day before, I noticed that once again, air seemed to be leaking out of a particular tire.  Each time I got it filled, I did ask if there was something in the tire which could be causing the leak.  Each person I talked to said "no", although to each's credit, it was dark during the time he was trying to look and feel.

I got air put in it again last night, and the guy was trying to tell me I needed a brand new tire, even was trying to sell me a new one for $140.  I told him I would wait until the next day (today) to go see about it.

I got up early to go the repair shop down the street.  I had myself mentally prepared to pay up to $150 for a replacement tire.

The repair shop found a screw embedded in my tire, but claimed they would be able to fix the tire without me having to dish out money for a new one.

So this was one of those days when I ended up paying less than expected, and I was quite happy!