A few weeks ago, my car broke down.
To be fair, this was a long time coming. I have been saying since Christmas that I was going to buy a new car. Each month, each oil change, each tank of gas – I swore would be my last.
But still, I wanted it to be on my time. Not when it broke down and would need to be fixed or towed to a dealership.
When all was said and done, it needed a new battery, alternator and transmission. Which was... a lot. More than the car was worth. But not more than a year of car payments on a new car would have been. So I made the decision to get it all fixed.
And have faced a lot of ridicule for it.
And a lot of reverse buyer's remorse on my own part.
As much as I didn't want a new car, once I started seriously looking and thinking it was inevitable, I kind of got excited. I know I was making a practical choice in keeping my payment-free car, but still.
Now, I should rephrase that to, "I thought I was making a practical choice...."
About a week later, my check engine light came on again. Thinking it was just a glitch – maybe something wasn't turned on correctly? – I took it in one morning for an oil change and to have the light checked. Turned out, it needed a valve replaced and it would take, so they told me at the time, about an hour and a half (and another couple hundred bucks). I opted to bring it in the next morning, as I had the day off to drive down to the lake for a family vacation.
Nine hours later, it was done. Yes, you read that right. Nine hours.
So, that was annoying. But what was more annoying was that the check engine light came back on again four days later.
I was not amused.
And then – to make matters worse, because of course – the night before I was going to take it in to be checked out again, I left my lights on at the Muny and the battery died. Well played, Danielle.
On the upside, after I jumped it the check engine light didn't come back on. So, there's that. Oh, and the license expires in August so it needs an emissions test soon.
Let's see how this goes. Keep on keepin' on, little yellow Neon.
