Don't blame the car - blame the owner!

My car broke down this week. What a pain!! It was acting like it was going to die so I decided to run out to the parking garage during lunch and take it to Sears and have the battery checked. Only it wouldn't start! I remembered that Mary and Bob gave me the name of their mechanic and that it was close so I called them and told them that I was going to have the tow truck bring my Jeep there. They said "great" and asked that the tow trucker driver please not try to fix anything. Enter bossy tow truck driver . . . The tow truck driver is adamant about trying to start my car with his little handy dandy hand-held something-or-other. I explained that I just wanted it towed and he basically ran me over and hooked the something-or-other up to the car. I explain to him that this happens all the time and it is not an old battery and it never starts with one of those things. And he keeps trying. So what do you know . . . of course it starts right up! So he tells me that I am fine to drive it to the shop. Except that I don't have a ride back to work when I get there and that wasn't my plan! But I drive there anyways, drop the car off, walk to Target (yes, the new awesome SODO one, but my shoes are killing me so I just sit in the cafe) and wait about an hour for Brian to come and get me. Meanwhile, the nice guy from the shop calls and says that it is my battery and in fact the battery is wrong for my Jeep - it is too small and "blah blah blah" (didn't understand anything after that). So they are going to replace it with a super dooper battery and I will be good to go. BUT did I notice that my right front tire is low. Oh you mean the one that Brian and I fill up with air once a week "Nope, didn't notice that!" So they check it out and find a screw and offer to patch it. AND, oh, your front tires are very worn but the back are not so we suggest a tire rotation. "Great. Do it!" Hang up. Next call . . . "we just noticed that the sticker in your window says you are overdue for an oil change." Yep! I am sure I am . . . do that too. Next call . . . "we took a look at your brakes and your front ones look like maybe they are original to the car and they are really bad. I am sure that is true too. Please fix them. How embarrassing! I am driving around in a death trap because of my lack of care for my poor little Jeep that I was ready to trade in!

I got a new battery, new front brakes, tire patched, tires rotated and an oil change for $350. Is it just me or is that a great price!? I also got an estimate on fixing the back windows - the motor broke and they wont go up or down. Oh, they will go down - they just fall down! And that seemed very inexpensive too. Brian and I have decided to move forward with all repairs and get the Jeep in great shape. It only has 52k miles and I only drive 6 miles round trip a day! So we are going to keep it! (especially now that we have a place to take it when something does go wrong!) At least for now. The car shopping talk is over and the thought of not having a car payment for a few more years sure feels good!