Tuesday, May 19, 2009

We Were Going To Go To Vegas

but decided to give all of our money to our mechanic instead.

A few weeks ago my Check Engine light came on. I wasn't too worried, it had happened before with another car. They said it was a computer thing and it didn't cost much to fix. So I waited a while before taking my car into the shop.

But then I realized the other car was new and had been under warranty. This car is older and not under warranty. Hmm, would that make a difference?

The answer was yes. Apparently, some parts of my engine (you know the thing that makes the car go) had broken (or melted or something). That didn't sound too good. And the parts were kind of expensive. Yikes.

And my car needed new tires. I was going to wait but I figured as long as it was there I might as well get them replaced. And apparently that costs money too. Double yikes.

(Now I should point out that our mechanic is honest. My family has been going to this shop for years. In fact some of the guys from the shop were at my wedding. So they take very good care of us.)

While my car was in the shop overnight, my husband was backing out of the driveway and broke the right side mirror on his car. I'm going to get this out there, my husband sucks at backing out of the driveway. We have tire marks well beyond the edges of the driveway. In fact he has driven over the neighbor's downspout on more than one occasion. Its just not good. I know this, he knows this. Although I'm pretty sure the neighbor thinks its me.

So he was pulling out of the driveway, checking his mirrors to make sure he wasn't on the neighbor's lawn, when he hit one of those mirrors on the gate. The gate that has been next to our driveway for all of the 11 years we've lived at the house. The gate that is not directly adjacent to the driveway but a few feet off of it. That gate.

So now we got to pick up my car from the shop, pay the ridiculous bill and drop his car off. Lucky for him, he didn't damage the mirror or the car that much so we weren't looking at body work. But still, it wasn't cheap.

So instead of taking a vacation, we fixed our cars. That just stinks.

4 comments:

Christy said...

Oh man that totally stinks. UGH! Maybe you can still take a vacation, at home? Time off work, a pool in the backyard, lunch at restaurants together -- that kind of thing?

I obviously have no idea if you're in a position to do so, but we just refinanced our house and are saving hundreds every month on our mortgage payment -- you should check into it. We used a national lender, so if you want, I can forward you our guy's name.

Anonymous said...

That bites!

Kate Coveny Hood said...

I have to admit - your husband's "backing out" style sounds a lot like mine... It's not my forte. Sorry about the vacation!

Anonymous said...

That absolutely blows. Blah! But, maybe better spending the money on repairs than losing it in Vegas? Maybe? Can you try to console yourself with that? lol

PS I know I am totally late to respond to this. I'm behind. What can I say? I fail.