Showing posts with label van. Show all posts
Showing posts with label van. Show all posts

Friday, January 18, 2013

Nine Days Later . . . Plus Four

Our van had developed a mystery ailment.  My theory was the shop wanted to fix things we didn’t ask them to fix.
Each day, when Paul would talk to them, he was told what they “thought” the problem was in addition to how much it would cost.  And each day, they discovered that was NOT the solution.
We got so fed up that Paul told them after nine days that they could try one last thing and then we would pick it up that afternoon.
I went in the pay the $$$$$$ bill and pick up the van.  They started it up for me and let me get in.  My plan was to pick Paul up at work with it and then we could pick up the car.
Before I could even get out of their parking lot, I knew something was not right.
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Not only was the “service engine soon” light on (that happens a lot with this car) but the brake light was also on.  After all that money?  But I wasn’t about to go back to THAT shop.  So I kept going.
That’s when the “service engine soon” light started flashing which even I know is NOT a good thing.  *sigh*
Because I was thinking more clearly than I had when we originally dropped off the van at a shop we knew we didn’t entirely trust (but it was close) . . . I was no longer sick . . . we decided to drop the van off at our normal mechanic’s. 
Finally we did something right.  Because we hadn’t made an appointment, we were at the end of the line.  But four days later, we had our van back where it belongs.
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I asked our mechanic about our previous repairs and he told us it was an easy fix and it could have all been taken care of for under $200.  It’s not fun feeling like someone has taken advantage of you and probably loads of other people.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Mature!

We bought our van 16 years ago.  I wasn’t given much choice in any options because Paul wanted to buy a vehicle THAT day. 
So green it was.  . . with built in car seats though we didn’t have any kids that needed car seats.
Little did I know I would still be driving it after all my kids had left home.  In fact, I have renamed my van . .. it is now a portable storage unit!
It was traveled all over. . .most of the longer trips have been between here and Utah.
It has a rebuilt engine, a new transmission and no air conditioning, but it still runs.
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I was certain that I would surpass the 200,000’s before March was over . . . but the battery kept dying.
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I got a jump start. . .
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and my oil checked and topped off. . .
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And this time I was going to drive it enough to. . .
charge the battery enough so it would start the next morning . . .
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and to surpass the 300,000 milestone.
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I guess our van is now broken in.  It’s matureSmile