Car Repairs
Did I tell you I have had a slew of car repairs in the last few weeks? Well, I mean, the car hasn't been in the shop every other day; for me, the $600-something repair bill is enough to be "a slew."
{No auto-save sucks when PageSpinner quits unexpectedly. I swear I wrote another entire page after this point but there it went.}
While I look for the sizable bill and details, let me tell you how the problem precipitated.
On a Thursday morning, I was on my way to my radio reading for the blind volunteer gig. I was making that big swing from Route 37 to the side road with on-ramps and off-ramps to Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick and so on. I hesitated badly when shifting into the third gear -- which had been a kind of dodgy process lately; taking the clutch out in general had to be a definite move, instead of a hesitantly-done thing -- when the car just died. I was very lucky I still had gravity to give me momentum to get over to the side and onto the shoulder next to 95 proper.
I tried turning the car on again. I could turn the ignition key, and the engine would grind, but the motor wouldn't "catch," the engine wouldn't turn over. I called the volunteer gig and said it was highly unlikely that I would be in this morning.
It was like 10:00. What to do? I ended up calling AAA and a tow truck arrived in very short order. I ended up going, not to the Fall River VW dealership where I'd gone in the past because I'd been recommended there (by a Somerset resident) and not to Scott VW of East Providence, but to Fiore in West Warwick. It ended up being closest. For regular members, AAA pays to tow you either three or five miles, I forget which, and you pay $3 a mile after that.
Fiore said they'd check it out and give me a call once they had a diagnosis.
The next question: what to do to get around for the next couple days? I tried calling a friend who might be working at home, but he ended up being on his way to a meeting with a client. I'm very easy to bite the bullet and get a rental car aren't I? I didn't even ask Fiore if they'd be willing to pick up the cost of one. I just ASSUMED that since I was not a prior customer of theirs -- and hadn't bought the car there -- that they wouldn't be willing to do that. Then, of course, rather than call Hertz or somebody whom I might actually have a discount with -- thanks to AAA or a credit card, take your pick -- I went with the brand I'd used before, Enterprise, "they pick you up."
I mooched around in the showroom for at least 20 minutes waiting for the car to show up. This quite decent-looking guy drives in in a little blob of a car, and drives round the side. He looked very corporate, he must have been here to drop his car off or something. About this time, my scruffy clothes that I'd thrown on as soon as I'd rolled out of bed started to get to the salespeople and a little knot of them near the front door I was standing looking out of asked me "Is there something we can do for you?"
I reported I was waiting for Enterprise to pick me up, and right then Hot Rental Car Guy walked up. He'd been waiting in the back. Angular face, taller than me but not too tall, collegiate maturity from within, rectangular glasses frames, shirt and tie in good repair, and PINSTRIPE TROUSERS.
Yes, I'd be remembering him for a while. His name is Derek.
Derek the Hot Rental Car Guy drove me back to the office where I plonked down a credit card -- my "alternate" which doesn't earn miles or anything. I was handed the key to the Honda Echo, the little silver blob of a car.
The Honda Echo ended up being a decent drive. Nice and noisy compared to the 1997 VW Jetta of course, but the radio reception was incredible when compared to what I have normally. I could pick up stations like WCBS and WINS in New York great!
Once I got home, I started looking through the car for something, and discovered: there was no registration in the car. If I was pulled over, what would I show? (Don't know why this came to the forefront of my mind but I was indeed pulled over a while back.)
I figured, welllllllllllllllllll, maybe I should have that. I decided to go back anyway to put the car on a different credit card (the miles one).
Once arriving back at the office in West Warwick I approached the Well-Fed Rental Office Manager who's not nearly as cute as his underling, and asked him about the registration.
All you do is show the rental agreement. That serves as your registration,
he said.
Right. Dummy!
So I put in the new credit card. As if that had mattered. I could have just switched cards when I returned the car and PAID.
It would be a lot more fun if Derek the Hot Rental Car Guy popped back up in my life unrelated to his prior context and much more salaciously (?), the way someone might on other blogs, but then I'd be making things up. Tch.
{Another PageSpinner sudden-quit.}
I can't find the bill, but trust me it was about $130 for the rental car for about 5 days, and --- now that I think about it it was less than $600 for the car parts and labor itself somehow.
The car got new spark plugs, and various other exciting nickel-and-dime items, and something pretty large in its own right. Something like a new alternator. It's slipped my mind; it's in the book down in the car.
But it also got quite a bit of work done on it for free. The 1997 Volkswagen Jetta has a recall on it: the "fuel filler neck" on the gas tank can get damaged if you get a flat tire on the right (passenger) rear tire. Trust me, I've done it; all the tires on the car have gone flat since I've owned it. What's more, when I tried to fill up the tank for the last, oh, at least a year, it would not fill up fully; I could fill it up until the gas gauge read about 3/4 of a tank, and the auto-shutoff would shut off. So the gas tank had to be replaced.
The recall technically only covered a "guard" that supposedly prevents the gas tank getting damaged in future if I have a flat on that tire. But I asked my Fiore representative if he could pick up the parts and labor of a new gas tank. He couldn't, but VW did. (Thank God!)
So, now my car is back, and I can fill up a full tank. It holds maybe just 10 gallons, by the way. And now I'm spending upwards of $20 per fill-up. Yecch!
Labels: Originally published
... Scribbled by Bill T ... 10/05/2005 10:00:00 PM ... 
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