Lyle's car is a 12 year old Tempo with 125,000 miles on it. My car is a 6 year old Saturn with 98,000 miles on it.
My car has always been the better car; until today. Today the transmission has a crack in a something that is making the oil leak. Damn! Now I am stuck in the Tempo with no air conditioning, crank windows (yes, kids we used to have to roll down our windows by hand), and those annoying automatic seat belts that were brought in and discontinued all in the same year (the exact year we bought the Tempo).
The crack was detected during a routine oil change at the dealer. He explained that it would cost $1850 but they could finish it that day and they would put me in a free rental car. I am usually a sucker for convenience, but since the price was so high I called Lyle and woke him up at 9am to talk about it. He said that we should get a second opinion from a local place that he has used for years so we made an appointment with them the next day. Then the comedy of errors really begins. We dropped off the car Wednesday night and they promised to look at it "in the morning." In the morning is a very vague term. I finally broke down and called at around 11am. When they finally came on the phone he said "well, we haven't had a chance to look at the transmission yet but someone vandalized your car last night by breaking the driver's window." Damn! They had discovered it around 8:30am and made a police report, but did not think to call me. Anyway, he said they would call me when they looked at my car. I again broke down and called at around 1pm (we have to have the car back tomorrow, Friday, so that Lyle can go pick up Jackson in Ohio). When he came on he said "yes, we have looked at it." Then why didn't you call me!?! "And there is a crack in a seal on the transmission. It is a $750 but we can't have it done by tomorrow." "Is it safe to drive?" "Yes. And the window will be fixed by the end of the day." So I told him that we would pick it up tonight and bring it back on Tuesday to have it fixed. Lyle asked how much the window is going to cost and I explained that I think they will be eating that cost. Watching Judge Judy does pay off.
So, I am stuck in the Tempo for the next few days and hopefully the transmission will not fall out of the Saturn between here and Ohio.
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1 comment:
Hey, guess what...I'm back to blogging! I just wanted to let you know, since I'm sure you've felt deprived over the past few months. So, enjoy!
By the way, I have a '97 Saturn, and I love it! They are usually dependable cars, as you have witnessed, but I too have had to replace things recently (fuel filter, radiator, A/C). Oh, and I recently paid it off! I own it and it's ALL MINE! TTYL, and I hope everything's well with you and the old Tempo.
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