CoffeeTattoos

Okay y’all, I know I’ve been absent for like two and a half months. I wish I had an explanation, but there is just no reason for it. At least for August and the first half of September…

I’m going to try to give you the short~ish version of a car saga that lasted for a month…

I went out of state to visit a friend the weekend of 9/11. I left to come home and they called me half an hour into my drive because I’d forgotten my pillow, so I turned around and went back. I left again, and three miles away my car engine died at a red light. Like, it just stopped. Absolutely zero warning at all.

I called my friend, they came with their significant other and my car got pushed to the side of the road. Their mechanic looked at my car the next day, and said that my timing belt had gone and lead to substantial engine damage. I needed a new engine, and that wasn’t worth it for my car.

So I wound up staying there looking online at different vehicles and purchasing one to be able to drive home. I bought a car from my friend’s mechanic, which I was told was fine. I got it home, and finally got it to my mechanic a week later. At that point I found out that it was far from fine…

That car needed more work that it was worth: Axle boots flinging grease. Rack and pinion leaking power steering fluid, 21 different codes – transmission, engine, and more…

My mechanic didn’t even finish a post-purchase inspection – tires and brakes didn’t get checked out – because they found too much work that it didn’t make sense to continue.

Four days after my mechanic told me the disaster of a car I’d gotten myself into, I drove it all the way back to the mechanic in Pennsylvania and got a full refund. When I pulled in and the mechanic saw me he said, “You made it. I’m so proud of you.” I wanted to punch the guy in his face. He had, and probably still has, no idea what it actually took for me to drive that car all the way back there.

He tried to start explaining engine modules and computer modules to me. I told him I didn’t come for explanations. He tried again. I didn’t get mean or raise my voice, but I put my foot down that time, “I didn’t come here for explanations. I came to return the car and get my refund. That’s done, so we’re through.” I gave him the key, he confirmed that the title had been brought back, and I walked away. I was more than ready to get out of there and be done with that whole ugly ordeal.

So after I came home I started looking at vehicles online at dealerships because every individual selling a car I liked would refuse to allow it to be taken to my mechanic. It was always “Sure, you can bring your mechanic with you.” I wanted to argue that they’re idiotic if they think life works that way, that the car would have to go to my mechanic’s shop. But that just wasn’t worth it… So even though it could’ve been a good car, I walked away because I knew I would have better luck with being able to take a vehicle from a dealership to my mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection.

Which is what happened.

I went to a dealership about 20 miles from my house, looked at three vehicles, test drove two of them, and decided which one would go to my mechanic.

The car needed new tires, an engine air filter, and a cabin air filter. Nothing to be afraid of or not buy the car because of. So I bought the car.

The engine air filter has already been replaced – it was an inexpensive quick couple of minutes. So with my next paycheck I’ll probably do the cabin air filter; then do the tires in December – suggested to be done before the first of the year.

Anyway, that car saga lasted from my car dying on September 13 until I bought a “new” car from a dealership on October 13. It was a miserable month, but it’s over now. And I have a car that I don’t need to be worried about.

But in all of this, it’s possible that I may have lost a friend… Because it’s their mechanic that the piece of junk car came from.

It’s their mechanic who rushed to have a car in my budget before I had to leave, despite the fact that they didn’t think they could do it.

It’s their mechanic who didn’t believe me when I said the car may need a new transmission – which was confirmed when my mechanic’s shop took their time to inspect it and told me the truth about it.

It’s their mechanic who couldn’t seem to actually respect a woman who has knowledge about cars and won’t allow herself to be talked down to.

It’s their mechanic who completely lost my trust – not that they ever really had it to begin with – because this experience showed me that I have zero reason to believe anything they say.