These past few weeks have pissed me off. A lot. About a month ago my car started stopping spontaneously while driving. I'd be driving along with no problems and the next moment... boom! Car dead. I resorted to making sure that I always drove in the right lane and stuck to neighborhoods where I wouldn't block someone if the car stopped in the middle of the road.
Fun, huh?
To make matters worse, my car registration was about to expire and I needed to get a new windshield before getting my safety and emissions done. The problem was that when I took my car in to 2 different shops neither could find out was wrong. One even told me to just keep driving it around until it got worse.
'Cause having a car stop on me every time I drive it isn't bad enough? Sure, Mr. Mechanic Guy. I'm happy to drive this scary car around a little longer.
Long story short, my check engine light turned on as we were driving home from the shop (just my luck) and after paying the dealership for 2 days worth of diagnostic work after the check engine light turned on they wanted an additional $650 to repair the car.
Equeeze me? $800 repair AFTER paying $150 for a new windshield and still having to pay for safety and emission AND re-registering my car.
Even though Bob and I just graduated from out graduate programs, we are STILL starving college students. We do not have extra cash just lying around to fix all these problems.
I freaked out and decided to take my car to a coworker's house (where his dad would do the repair without charging $100/hr for labor).
We managed to get the repair done successfully for $350. Thanks, coworker.
Yesterday the fun continued. I took my car to get the safety and emissions testing done. Luckily, I had a coupon for a $22 test. Luck was on my side...
...NOT! When the guy called me up to the counter he kindly told me that my car would not pass safety and emissions without getting new rear break pads. He also threw in that the front ones were almost gone, too, but they were barely passing inspection. The price tag for this repair? Around $150.
Also, the emissions didn't pass because they couldn't get a good reading from a few things. The solution? Drive the car around for a few days since it's been sitting for repairs for the past 2 weeks.
Super. Drive around a car with an expired registration. That's fun. "Hey, coppers! I'm driving with an expired registration. Come and catch me if you can!"
So, I still have to get the brake pads fixed, drive the car around for the next few days, take the car back to get safety and emissions within 15 days and still get the car registered.
Yay for me.
To make things even more hilariously pathetic, my glasses cracked and are getting repaired right now (another $100 repair! Yippee!). I'm currently wearing my old glasses that are definitely a few prescriptions old. Old glasses mixed with 5 hours of staring at a computer screen sounds just fantastic. I think this headache is coming along quite nicely.
Sometimes life is lived on the little victories. Right now my victory is not throwing a chair out a window. Go me.
