The Rest of the Car Story...

Revisiting the car fiasco from Friday ... Anne came over to jump my car so I could go to work. My nice neighbor Howard came out and tried to help us, and after a few minutes of letting it charge, and Howard thinking that it may be an alternator problem since the jumping didn't seem to be doing much, it finally started up. After thanking them profusely, I drove it to the shop where I get my oil changed (I'd already had an oil change scheduled for Friday - go figure).

I parked my car and turned it off, then decided to see if it really was dead - so I tried to start it up again - key word being TRIED. Yup, it wouldn't start. The radio and lights still worked, but it wouldn't turn over. I told them inside exactly what was going on, and they said they'd take a look at it. Of course, if it was a dead battery, they'd have to put in a new battery before they could really do any other work on it. I bought a battery at Honda not too much over a year ago, so I knew that it was still under warranty - but I was out of luck because I was not AT the Honda dealership - nor did I have any way to get there since my car wouldn't start. After talking to my dad though, I decided to go back and make it work so I could take it to Honda so at least they could test it and do a better electrical test on it than the tire shop could do. Or so we thought.

My boss came and picked me up to go to work just as my dad and I decided that I should take it to Honda. So we went to Home Depot to buy some jumper cables (since I still have not bought any after all these years). Home Depot of course had the super heavy duty ones for $30 - well I knew that I could buy the entire car emergency kit at Costco for the same price, so we decided to hang out until Costco opened in 20 minutes (across the parking lot). Of course though, our Costco was sold out of the kits. Just my luck. Back to the car shop to get my car ... it started ... and I took it to Honda. Of course they were very happy to help me and make me feel comfortable leaving my car there.

And the dreaded phone call came ... "Yeah, you're going to need some work done on your car, dear." Oh really? Like what? Well ... the battery was fine. That's the good news - although at this point I'd much rather pay for a new battery than the rest of the stuff! You need a new starter. Your front brake pads need to be replaced, and the rotors turned. Oh and by the way, your catalytic converter is bad, as is the O2 censor, so when you take the car in to have the emissions tested, you would receive a big fat FAIL sticker on my car. Nice. Not to mention the fact that power steering fluid is leaking onto your alternator, so you need to fix that and have your fluids flushed. And while you're at it, you should probably get a new timing belt, since your car has 110,000 miles on it. Wow, when it rains it pours!! The nice man on the phone then gave me the prices for all of this "work" that had to be done ... of course he didn't add it all up for me, but I promptly did that and came up with a whopping $3,500!!!! I don't think so...

I told him I needed some time on this one. I called my dad, who was floored (and also angry). I am so sick of car people (men) trying to take advantage of an unsuspecting female who apparently knows nothing about cars. I am sorry but I know enough to know that I am not going to spend $3,500 repairing my car!! That is completely absurd. My boss and I called the guys that work on his cars ... and I told him what Honda had told me. His response: "Is he trying to scare you into a new car??" Sounds like it to me! Now did I really plan on having the dealer work on my car? No thank you. Especially when they threw that bill in front of me. Of course when I called to tell him I was coming to pick it up, he gave me the "well if you go to an after-market shop, they will give you a better deal but you will not have a Honda certified technician working on your car, and you won't have genuine parts." Ok, fine. "And I'll have to charge you for the diagnostics too, which I wouldn't if you left the car with us..." Oh that's sweet - you'll throw in the $94 diagnostic fee if I give you $3,500 ... great bargain! ha ha

Tom drove out to Manassas with me to drop my car off ... and there it stays for a few days. I talked to them today and yes, I do need a new starter (hence the starting problem - that is not rocket science), the front brakes do need to be replaced, and I should have a new timing belt put on - the last thing I need is to be driving and have my timing belt bust! However - he did tell me that the leak from my power steering was very slight and shouldn't be a problem. AND - if I don't have to have my emissions tested when I register my car next month, then I don't need the catalytic converter right now - its not going to inhibit my car, so that's good. I just checked, and luckily, I don't need it right now ... so that's good news :) Its still not going to be a pretty ticket charge when all is said and done, but at least I know that I am not going to get royally ripped off like the Honda dealership had in mind. Even still though - so much for the tax return that I worked so hard to get this year!

So right now I'm car-less. It is a weird feeling to not be able to get up and go whenever or wherever I want. I am used to my independence and I never really thought about how much of that you lose when you have to rely on other people for transportation! Tom came and picked me up for work this morning. I was meeting a couple friends for dinner after work, so I decided to walk there. It was 3.2 miles, a gorgeous day outside, so that shouldn't be a big deal. It was a little warmer than I thought when I started walking, but not bad. There were sidewalks most of the way. People do it all the time right? Well yes, but maybe not in Fairfax, Virginia! I wasn't exactly wearing walking clothes - much less socks and shoes. I am pretty sure I have blisters on both feet now, but that's ok. Since I didn't have a car to get to the gym this morning, I had to make up for it somehow!! Oh well - live and learn right? I just keep hoping that soon my luck is going to turn around ... bad things come in 3's right? First my passing out, then my back, now my car ... hmmmmm. I guess only time will tell!!