The Damn Car.

So, as some of you may have seen lately on facebook, I've been dealing with some automotive drama this week. And I don't want to jinx it and say it's in the past, but I think I'll go ahead and share it with you anyway.  

At the beginning of July, I took the Civic in for a routine oil change. The guys at Midas got it all taken care of, and also informed me that I was long overdue for a timing belt change. They explained what the heck a timing belt WAS, since I'd honestly never heard of one, and I went on my merry way, telling them I'd deal with it. Well, the very next day, I got an email from the Honda dealership advertising a timing belt special they were running. Hmm- how peculiar... And then! Less than a week later, a co-worker started talking about how she'd just changed the timing belt in HER car! At this point, I couldn't help but wonder if the universe was speaking to me. Never had I heard of a timing belt, and then three times in one week?! I decided to listen.  

After calling around to compare prices, I was shocked to find the Honda dealer actually had the best offer. So to the dealer I went! Last Wednesday, I dropped off the car at 9am and had Leo pick me up about an hour later. I got a few things accomplished around the house and decided to lie down for a nap around noon. At 12:30, the phone rang. (In hindsight, those 30 minutes of sleep were the best 30 minutes of my entire week.) My friendly Honda representative was on the other end of the phone, and delivered the very tough news that our cost had just more than doubled. In short, the wheel clicking I'd been ignoring for about six months turned out to be something kinda major (imagine that) and they basically needed to rebuild the front suspension. Fantastic. There was no more sleeping after that-- just pouting. And around 4:30 that afternoon, Leo dropped me back off at the dealer. They close at 6pm and after watching every other customer leave, and most of the staff, I was finally escorted out the front door at 7:15. It was not a fun night.  

And that was the end of it …or so we thought. 

The next day, as I was walking up to my car after work, I realized there was something hanging underneath that I’d never seen before. I actually had a friend check it out as well- just to confirm I wasn’t nuts. And on top of that, I was noticing a “springy” noise in the back passenger wheel I’d never heard before. Ugh. So on Monday- I went back to visit my new Honda dealer friends.  

Sure enough, the splash shield underneath was hanging loose and missing a chunk. No one seems to know how that happened, but it mysteriously occurred less than 24 hours after they tore apart the underside of the car, so they went ahead and replaced it for free. (Hallelujah.) And they informed me that the springy backend noise was the exact same problem they’d just fixed in the front, now occurring in the back. Apparently the bushings (?) have had enough and are starting to voice their displeasure every time I hit a bump. But you know what? I. Don’t. Care. For $750, I’ll just go ahead and listen to the periodic squeakiness. Fine by me. So they replaced my splash shield and I was on my way.  

But I didn’t get far. 

About 20 yards in front of the dealership, I was doing a U-turn and headed toward home when something HORRIBLE happened. I heard a loud pop and there was lots of grinding, and the car wouldn’t accelerate or shift or do ANYTHING correctly. By the grace of God, I had just enough momentum to coast into the entryway of a Subway restaurant, and there I stayed. I tried exactly twice to put the car in park, only to hear more horrible grinding and continue to coast backwards into traffic. So I pulled the emergency brake and sat and thought for a moment. First I called my Honda friends. I informed them that I was stuck at Subway right out their front door and needed their assistance immediately. Leo was coaching and didn’t have his phone, Dad didn’t answer on the first try, so Mom got to endure the freak out that came next. I could hardly breathe I was crying so hard. People were honking at me because I was blocking the entry to Subway, and I was 100% convinced I had just left my transmission back on the roadway somewhere.  

The Honda guys arrived in a minivan within moments, and helped me at least push the Civic into the nearest parking space. They threw me in the minivan and got me back to the dealership, where I went directly to the ladies’ bathroom to mop up my face and try to regain my composure. It was ridiculous, but it’s like every ounce of keeping it together from the week leading up to this just broke. There was no holding back that sense of frustration and helplessness. I came out of the bathroom just in time to grab a complimentary bottle of water and watch five more Honda employees head across the street to push my poor car across the five lane, highly-traveled road that was in front of us. By this point, I had two Honda guys sitting on either side of me in the waiting room, explaining that it would all be ok. (They probably just wanted me to stop scaring the other customers.) All I kept thinking was maybe if I asked reeeaally nicely, they would put that ridonkulous amount of money we’d just given them toward a down payment on a new car.  

They got the Civic right in and figured out pretty quickly that it wasn’t the transmission, but I’d managed to shatter the front driver-side CV joint. (Another new car term to add to my vocabulary.) And while that isn't pleasant, at least it wasn’t something internal that would cost another small fortune. My new minivan-driving friend actually took me back to the garage and showed me the underside of the car and the damage. (If I hadn't been having a mental breakdown at this point, I would've taken a picture for you.) He then dropped me off at home, where I got to fill in Leo once he arrived about an hour later. Luckily, he's mastered the art of talking me off the ledge.

The car had to stay two nights at the dealer (mostly because I work crazy hours and we couldn’t pick it up after the first night.), but I felt that time was important for it to sit there and think about what it had done. I asked my mechanic guys if I got a discount for strategically breaking down just steps from the front doors, and they just laughed and thanked me for "handling it so well." Ha! If that was handling it well, I'm afraid to see someone handling it not well.

We picked it up yesterday, and it’s driving beautifully. Of course, I’m completely terrified to ever make a U-turn EVER again, but I’ll get there. I just need it to last until graduation. The goal is to avoid a car payment until at least one of us is out of school. But honestly- I'm pretty darn tempted to trade it in for a scooter at this point. I'm guessing maintenance for those is a little easier on the wallet.