I took my car in on Friday for scheduled maintenance. I asked for the 15K service since I'm about to hit 75,000 miles, check of the brake pads since I thought they'd need replacing, and a check of my tires to confirm the tread since I'm completely paranoid after my blowout in Tom's car. I left the car, caught the shuttle home, and waited for a phone call with the price (which I had already ballparked in my head).
Friday afternoon, I get a call from the service manager--I do need new brake pads and a flush of the brake fluid, and my tires are only in need of alignment. Sounds fine until the manager says, "But we found a few other things upon closer inspection." I brace myself and ask what the problems are.
Leaking rach and pinion steering. Leaking power steering hose. Collapsed front engine mount and collapsed transmission mount.
Yikes!
I pick my jaw up off the floor, and remember to ask if my warranty will cover the work. I bought the car used 3 years ago, certified pre-owned, and bought the 4year/48K mile warranty after a disastrous repair relationship with my previous car.
I'm only 5000 miles from warranty expiration. I drive a lot--my daily commute is 80 miles.
The service manager called me later Friday afternoon--because of the overall cost of the repairs, they want to send an insurance adjustor out to inspect the car before giving the approval, and the adjustor won't be out until Monday.
Luckily, I got a call this afternoon--the warranty company will pay for all repair (as they should! I have the maintenance records!) but I won't get my car back till tomorrow. Maybe.
So today I worked from home, and tomorrow, I'm carpooling with a coworker to our volunteer activity--distributing school supplies to children at an impovrished elementary school. Tomorrow afternoon, I hope to have the car back.
I told my boss today that between the toll on my car from the commute and the prospect of oil at $100 a barrel, he may want to buy a webcam if he wants to see me. If oil gets that high, I won't be able to afford to drive to work.
The Pay Is Good
11 hours ago
6 comments:
Yeah, the commute gets expensive. I only drove 40 miles a day, but I know I was filling the tank at least once a week, and sometimes three times in two weeks (especially when we went out of town). You really ought to look into working from home--not only would it save the commute, but also the childcare, the wardrobe, some of the more expensive quick meal options, etc, etc, etc. I hope your car comes home rearing to go. Love you.
Tooz, if I had my way, I would work from home every day. The downside of doing that is I would lose my office space by going virtual and have to have a full office, including second line, at home. The company would pay for it, but I'd have to get signoff. And if I did go to the office, I'd have to camp out--no guaranteed desk.
Still, I would love it. I would much prefer being home, running errands at lunch, taking breaks to run laundry--even starting a roast for dinner during lunch break to be ready when the boys get home. It would be absolute heaven.
I forgot to add that some things I do, like chairing our employee events committee, is sometimes best done face-to-face.
"the boys" ha ha
How's monsoon season going? Didn't I hear on the news this morning that it started with a bang overnight? Flooding in Phoenix, etc?
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