3 posts tagged “car troubles”

My meet-up last night went unbelievably well. We hit it off and talked for hours about everything under the sun, we really share a laundry list of hobbies and interests, so we chittered and chattered away. I got there at 7:00 and by what felt like 9:00 I was getting tired, she yawns and checks her cell phone for the time, only to find that it was actually 12:00 and she had missed six calls from her husband. Midnight! We had sat in the coffee shop and talked for five hours straight! Stunned we grabbed our coats and headed to the parking lot in the dark of downtown. As she asks where my car is, I look over to see an empty parking lot. Heart pounding I say "It's gone!" I went through the possible situations, I locked it, even double checked as I walked away, I then realized it had been towed. I parked in a private parking lot with a sign barely visible and hidden within a hedge. I wrote down the towing companies info and she graciously drove me the five minutes down the road to my house.

I came home to Jon asleep, cellphone next to the bed, and a worried tone in his voice. I can only imagine being in his place, his wife goes off to meet someone online and does not come home, does not answer her phone. I'd have been a bundle of nerves. I tried my best to tell him I'd lost track of time and that the car had been towed but everything was a little foggy to him, still half asleep. This morning I gave him a quick review of the night and we've made plans for him to take me to pick up my car at lunch.

I've called the towing company and the fee will be $114 cash. I cant help but be upset with myself for not reading the sign, its a costly mistake. But having had my car towed before I can honestly say I'm relived at the price, its half of what I had to pay the last time while living in Orlando.

All in all even after the car and lack of sleep, I believe the night was a real success and I had a great time getting to know someone, in real life.

Ugh! I've been quiet about my car troubles but its time to speak up so be warned... this is a rant.

About a month ago we had new brakes put on all four tires at a cost of $400, while we had gotten our breaks done the mechanics pointed out that our tires were bald and should be replaced. A few weeks ago we went in and bought four new tires from the same place (a reputable local company).

A couple days of driving on swanky new high performance, low profile, tires at a cost of $500, we noticed that it was a very ruff ride, worse than our old bald tires and that the abs, emergency break, and traction control lights would turn on and off out of nowhere. This, had never happened before and our car is only 3 years old. On top of the weird dashboard lights going on and off we also noticed on occasion that when braking at a slow speed there would be a crunching noise which sounded just like breaking on ice or snow. This noise was hard to duplicate but in the past couple weeks we can count hearing it at least twelve times.

We brought the car back in and told them all of the problems we had been experiencing. They looked at the car and found that one of our brand new tires was warped and egg shaped so they replaced it free of charge and said they could not duplicate the dashboard lights or crunching noise and that possibly the warped tire was the problem. We left thinking it was solved.

Four days ago we went back because the tires still seemed off balance and were making a loud whomping noise, they found that one of the tires had a bald spot and they pressurized it or some mumbo jumbo. This took away the sound but you could still feel a slight vibration. They said there was nothing else they could do, we could upgrade to better tires for $300 which could possibly fix the problem or just live with the vibration. We decided to live with it because we couldn't afford to spend $300 on top of the $800 we had already spent.

Yesterday while driving home I noticed the dashboard lights came on, and earlier that day the brakes had made the crunching noise again. I was livid. I turned around and drove to the other side of town, straight to the tire place. I explained to them my situation and left the car running so that they could see the dashboard lights. I left feeling happy that they were able to see for themselves and that I wasn't a crazy, they had me leave the car with them overnight.

This afternoon I called to check on the car. They said they "think" that they figured out what the problem could be but that they could "not guarantee" that this would fix the problems I had been experiencing. They "think" it is a hub bearing assembly that is going bad which is rubbing the anti lock break sensor, which would also need to be replaced.  And the cost to do this work, parts and labor would be $460. I literally laughed, I couldn't help it. It is just that ridiculous, I explained that we had no issues before having our breaks replaced and asked if that could possibly have anything to do with this problem, he assured me that the breaks and hub are different components and that they did not touch the hub while replacing the breaks a month ago.

I can't in my right mind imagine that they are not responsible for this, but I have no proof. They have not offered a discount on service, even with my complaints so I've decided on taking my car to a new mechanic. I cannot trust them or their service and I can't help but feel I'm being screwed.

So now here I am, savings depleted because of holiday spending, a new bed, new breaks and tires. I can either cancel my upcoming trip to Florida and use that money on the car or put it all on a credit card which is close to being maxed out.

I don't know what to do. I think I may actually cry.

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** Update **

I went to pick up the car tonight, the owner of the place was all excited because they had taken a second look at the car after we had spoken this afternoon (I don't believe he liked me laughing at his recommendation). Upon closer look they noticed a lose wire, this one little wire caused the sensor go on and the abs to react. They fixed it at no charge. I truly hope this fixes the problem but I can't let myself believe them just yet because every time I've left in the past I had felt that things would be ok, but I always ended up back at their shop with another issue. Only time will tell.

Do det det do do det... thats mom's ring. She's called to tell me, after three dropped connections, that her car has broken down somewhere off Cambells Ridge Road in the middle of nowheres-ville, Kentucky. She couldn't get cell phone reception so a man who lives up on a house on the hill let her use his phone... she is calling to tell me that she has called a tow truck but that it will take an hour to get there and that she wants me to know where she is in case a serial killer picks her up and to be sure that if I don't hear back from her by five o'clock than to call the police and come looking for her.

Well geeze, thanks for calling, I'll be worried sick all day!

Update: for my concerned VOXy Friends... she is now safe at home and far away from any sort of serial killer, we can all sleep safely now ~