Car Trouble

I know a lot of you think I make up some of the things I write in this blog. Nope, not even exaggeration, just how my life rolls. For example, car trouble.

We've known for quite some time that the van was on its last legs. The transmission would drop into gear just about every time we would drive it. I had no idea how much gas was in the car because the gauge would go up and down whenever it felt like it, sometimes from full to empty all in the span of a drive up window. Anyway, Jake called last Saturday while he was borrowing the van for some teen activity and said the "Service Engine Soon" light had come on. We told him it was time to come home and get his own car. We took the van over to our neighborhood service station (yes, they still have those, a few anyway.) We really like the mechanic there because he seems to tell you the truth even if he ends up losing the "sale." At first he said it was just the fuel sensor (duh, we knew that) and it was an easy fix and he could do it early Monday. Well, Monday comes and he said they looked a little deeper (why, I don't know.) Yes, the transmission was ready to drop, and something about head gaskets, valves and blah, blah, blah.....$4,500. No thanks, we'll just sell that piece of junk.

So, after some deliberation about new, used, who would drive what....we decided to get a smaller used car for me to drive for a year or so, and then we'd have something for Megan should she ever be prepared to drive alone (which I seriously doubt.) We tried the dealership and they said $1000 scrap metal for the van. He suggested CarMax. We went there and by some miracle when they did the test drive the transmission didn't drop into gear? Apparently they are a little less thorough than our neighborhood service station so they gave us $1,700 and we chose a small Nissan hatchback. Why does it take so long to buy a car? CarMax has no haggle pricing, we have excellent credit, they had already told us what they would pay for the van, and six hours later we drove off the lot with the new car.

Next day, I drive it to work. I make plans with some friends to go to lunch. They say, oh, we'll go drop our car off at the car wash and you can pick us up and take us in the new car. They leave, I get in, the car won't start....REALY.....these are true stories. I try and try, I try to call them, they don't answer, I don't have the number for the friend we were meeting for lunch, the service department at CarMax leaves me on hold for 10 minutes! Finally the friend I was going to meet for lunch, drives into the parking lot, "Where have you been?" I explain and she says she'll drive and pick up the car wash twins and we'll do lunch. Only problem, she has a two door Honda Civic, and we are 3 old broads (the term can be used both ways.) After a comedy of errors we get into the back seat and head to lunch. I'm wearing a long skirt and can't stretch my leg far enough to get out of the back. I try putting both feet out, but I can't budge. It literally takes five minutes for the two "broads" in the back to get out of the car. We sit through lunch laughing, but quietly thinking, "someone still has to get back there to get back to work." I being one of the younger old broads, am elected to repeat my performance in the back seat. We stop at the car wash to pick up the other cars and we all decide someone else should drive us back to work, as this would be humiliating in front of co-workers. But, we had to get out of the car at the car wash. The attendant who vacuums before the car goes into the wash watched in amazement as we tried to get out of the car. I was laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants. He started with just a smirk, but ended up in a full belly laugh before the two of us were hoisted from the backseat. Great fun.

So back to the car....I finally get a hold of the service department and they agree to send a tow truck. Once the tow truck driver gets there he asked what the problem seemed to be. "It won't start" I say. He sits down and immediately starts the car. I'm livid. He tries two or three times and it still starts, then, he looks at my key chain. The dealer had given me two keys when we walked out and I hadn't taken the other off the key chain yet. He tried the other key, and it wouldn't start. Finally I feel a little vindicated. Turns out the copy of the key they made doesn't have the special little chip in it that you need to start the car (cars are really smart these days.)

End of story. Car works fine, just need a new key from the dealership. Megan is excited about the possibility of it being "her car." But for now, she keeps practicing.