The summer after I graduated college, I made my first car purchase. I had a car before that, but it was owned by my parents and it was the kind of car that if something major happened to it, it wouldn't have been a big loss. I did love that college car, though. There's something endearing about having a less than perfect car. It's maladies somehow give it personality.
Anyway, I bought a car in the summer of 2001. A week after I bought it, I ran over a nine-inch-nail (well, maybe 7 or 8 inches, but it was large, nontheless). I was upset because I had just spent all this money on a car, and I was already having to spend more money on it. I remember my dad saying, "welcome to the joys of car ownership." Hmm. The nail completely ruined my tire, so the spare had to be put on. So I had the spare on and drove around with that for a few days until I could get the other one replaced. Well, as it turned out, the spare took different lugnuts than the regular tires: a fact I was suddenly alerted to when my tire FELL OFF while I was driving. Thankfully, that didn't turn out as badly as it could have, but it was still quite a traumatic experience.
I haven't had any tires fall off again (and I carry the right lugnuts in the trunk, just in case) but whenever I have to take the car in for anything, whether it's getting the oil changed or getting the tires replaced, instead of being irritated, try I think about "the joys of car ownership" and try to be thankful: I have something to drive whenever I need it. It really is a joy. It's not like paying rent, where I write the check and think, "there's a bunch of money I'll never see again." When I pay for my car, I'm paying for something that's really mine.
Last week, I took my car to have the tires rotated and rather than the 15-20 minutes it should have taken, it took an hour and forty five minutes! Time is money, of course, but an hour and forty five minutes is cheaper than ruined tires, right? So now, I'm having my brakes repaired, because, well, I like brakes. Brakes are my favorite. It's inconvenient to have them fixed. I don't like paying for car maintenance, but hey, it's my car.
In my business, vehicles seem to be the biggest waste of money - oil changes, new tires, brakes, and then employees who could care less that they're driving a new F-250 and then use it like its a toy. In fact it was becoming such a waste of time and money that we now have a mechanical division for our fleet maintenance! Just come by and we'll fix your car next time! :-)
Posted by: Alex at December 16, 2003 05:32 PMThanks, Alex. Next time I'm driving through western Canada, I'll stop by.
Posted by: C hristin at December 16, 2003 09:03 PMChristin, next time you puncture an expensive tire..take it to a used tire place..sometimes they can plug it for you for a around 10 bucks, if not you buy a used tire and it will wear down with the rest of the 3. I have a truck and popped a lot of tires and would save money that way. You might have to break out a yellow pages for that one though because firestone would rather sell you a new $120 tire.
Geno