In December, 2008, my sweet, beautiful, dark green car (car1) was totalled, when someone ran into me as I was driving to work. While he was being fixed, I needed a car to drive, because the rental ran out when the insurance claim was settled. I looked for, and found, a cheap car (car2), close to the desired color. Ultimately, I did get car1 out of the shop, so I then had two cars to drive.

During 2009, car2's axle broke (not that I knew what was wrong with it until I took it to the shop). I was parking, and turned the steering wheel all the way to one side when I heard a loud crack. As I straightened and parked, I heard an expensive jingle-jingle. I knew something broke. Later that week, I took off early to get the driver window fixed on car1 (someone had broken it with a brick). The window fixer shop fixed it with time to spare, so I got home and jumped into car2. Slowly, I drove to a shop. Once they looked car2 over, they told me I was lucky to have gotten there without having to get a tow. They explained the problem (broken axle), and I had it fixed.

A couple months passed and I used both cars as the feeling took me. A friend ran into a truck, and totalled her car. I let her use car2, until her car was fixed. That took about two weeks.

Later, I decided to get the ignition changed on car2, because it had a bad fault of locking up and not starting, unless I gave the steering wheel hard yank to the side. Currently, I’m toying with the idea of getting the door locks changed, too, because the passenger door does not unlock with the key.

New Year's Day, 2010. I agreed to pick up my friend, "Kim", and take her to do some needed shopping. Since I had driven car2, the day before, and knew the tank was almost full, I decided to take him. I'm not sure what the morning temperature was, low teens, probably, but car2 thought it was way too cold to start. His battery turned over once or twice, then nothing.

I tried car1 and he started right up. When I got to Kim's place, she came out in shorts and flipflops. I asked her why she was wearing shorts. Kim said, "all of my clothes are at the laundrymat." That was definitely one of the four places we stopped.

Later, in the afternoon, I decided to try car2, again. He started right up. I knew the battery was close to needing to be changed, so, since the television weather people mentioned that it was going to be frigid weather for the upcoming week, I decided to get a new battery. I took car2 to the Wal-mart Automotive shop.

People walk in through the customer door with no problem, but have to be buzzed out, if they want to exit through that door. The employee manning the desk, "Tex", discussed batteries with me, and people piled up behind me, patiently waiting to be helped. After we decided what battery I wanted, I sat down to wait. While I was waiting, I found that it was a great spot to people watch. As I sat there, a policeman came through the customer door and walked into the store. Several other people came through, and some had to be buzzed out. Tex went about his business, paging people whose cars were finished, taking new orders, selling stuff, and talking to people about batteries and tires.

A policewoman came through the customer door and walked into the store. Another employee, "Tom", came to take over for Tex, so he could go to lunch. Tom asked me what I was waiting on. I told him, and he looked out into the bay. He said my car was in there. He asked several people, walking by, if he could help them. Some took his help, others didn't. The policeman came walking back, with a young woman in handcuffs. Tom buzzed them out. Soon, I told him that this seemed to be a great place to hang out, what with so much going on. He agreed.

Tom asked me how I liked my car. I told him it was pretty good. He asked if it was warm. I explained that this one really wasn't a warm car, not like my other car. He told me that he had to spend some bucks, recently, getting the fan fixed in his car. More customers came up and he helped them. One couple asked how much it would cost to change a headlight. Tom told them it would be $7.50 plus the cost of the light. They didn't seem to like that answer, but I filed that information away. That's cheaper than the shop charged when car1 needed a light changed. Soon, the policewoman came walking through, with a young woman in handcuffs in front of her. The policewoman carried an oversized purse, which I figure was the young woman's. Tom buzzed them out.

A couple came in with a battery. The guy told the woman that he would meet her out front, when he got the battery taken care of. He explained his problem to Tom, who took the battery to be charged. Tom told the guy that it could take a while, and the guy explained that it was his son's battery, and it was needed tomorrow, so his son could get to work. While he waited, Tom started chatting sports with him. Ten minutes passed, and Tom went to check the battery. It was not charged, so he discussed options with the guy. The guy said he would have to find his wife and discuss it with her, so he left to find her.

Finally, Tom told me my car was finished. I stepped up to pay. After the transaction was finished, Tom what I was going to do with the rest of the evening.
"Drive my car," I told him. I then explained that car1 had gotten a battery about five years ago, from Wal-mart, and I wondered if I should think about getting a new battery for him. Tom told me that I probably didn't need to worry about it unless I started having problems.

Car2 started right up. We made it home, and I expect car2 to start for the rest of the winter. In fact, he should start for a good long time. As Tom explained it, the battery has a three year warranty - if it has to be replaced within the three years, it would be free. After that, the battery has an additional six years that it would be replaced for a reduced amount, dependant on how much had time passed.

The next morning was frigidly cold. At most, it was 1 degree Fahrenheit. I knew car2 should start. I went out to car2, and put my key in door lock. I tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t turn… at all.

Car1 to the rescue.

Labels: cars