I cannot afford my life.

[pseydtonne]

I'm driving to work. I roll up the passenger window when I hear a loud crack. The window rolls itself back down. Attempts to bring it back up fail. There's a burnt smell. Good thing it's a sunny day.

Since the window seems to be solid down there, I assume the automatic window roller (a feature I never wanted but couldn't avoid if I wanted cruise control) is shot. I don't have enough money for a repair unless I beat up the people that ripped me off last week.

I am freaked out. I can't believe how lousy my car can get so fast. I've had one gewgaw after another die on this thing. I find it hard to believe this is normal for a three-year-old car.

All of my money goes into my car these days. It's hard to afford food. I'm thinking I will have to get a second job very soon if I want both food and a working car. I really want to cry for a while, but I'll have to wait for the repair imbeciles to call me back.

I don't even know that I can get a second job. My schedule is so messy that working extra hours may not be plausible. I'd have to work weekends. I'd lose even more time to myself.

-help, Dante

Comments

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

shit, man. that's really not good.

question #1: do you possess The Club, or anything similar? i refer to a steering wheel lock. if you own a vehicle whose windows cannot be closed securely, and you ever park the car in any vaguely urban area, you need to have it.

if you do not have one, let me know. i have one that i have not been using ever since i got my most recent car (which has power windows; the old one had manual windows). i still carry my Club in my car, and i have the key on my keyring. you are more than welcome to borrow it, and i would urge you to do so.

do you have my cell phone number? email me (vecna_99@NOSPAMyahoo.com, remove NOSPAM to mail) and i'll send it to you. get in touch.

2) do you keep anything of value in your car? take a lesson from my experience, and don't. lock your glove compartment, and if your trunk release has a lock, lock it. i know it's a pain in the ass, but getting your shit stolen from your car is exceedingly unpleasant.

this saga of yours reminds me so much of my own nightmare with my old VW... at least your mechanics seem to be more or less honest, if rapacious in their pricing.

good luck.

-steve

[epanastatis.livejournal.com]

Did you ever get a credit card? It sounds like you need one about now.

pseydtonne, meet mangosteen...

[cos]

http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=mangosteen&itemid=10659

(Yes, I know you've already met, but your journals need to meet :)

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

This is not normal for a three year old car. I'd trade it in for a Honda, if I were you.

cars that age gracefully

[cos]

I've had my car now for just two months less than four years, though I've overused it somewhat, and put 143,000 miles on it. Just by coincidence, a few days ago I went through all of my service receipts, typed them in, and added them up. I've spent a total of $8193.86 on service. Of that, $1122.74 was from the time I ran into a big stone in the road and ruined my radiator, hoses, ducts, wires, and other stuff in the front end, and $211.45 was from the time I had a flat tire and very stupidly forgot to put the wheel rim back in my trunk when I drove off on the doughnut (hey, it was night, in the middle of nowhere) and had to buy a new one. Not counting those two expenses, that's $6,859.67 spent on maintenance, or about 4.8 cents / mile over a period of almost four years. (If I count those two, it's still only 5.7 cents / mile)

So... Try a Saturn? :-)

BTW I do rather aggressive maintenance. I usually go in every 3K miles for the scheduled stuff, occasionally I miss it but never go more than 6K without a service stop. Anytime I notice something different, I ask them to investigate, and if there's something to fix, I fix it. If they say "the extra vibration is being caused by one of your engine mounts, it's starting to collapse but it still has a while to go, you'll eventually need to replace it but not yet" - I have them replace the engine mount. Stuff like that. It'd be interesting to compare how much I'd spend on maintenance if I didn't do stuff like that, over a similar period of time and miles. I think I'm better off doing what I'm doing, but I don't really know.