We Have A New Car!
After an absolutely horrible start to my week last week, the week has ended on a good note. Tuesday afternoon after I fed my brother's cat, I drove over a speedbump and I heard a huge KA-CHUNK....uh oh....that can't be good. So I paid close attention to the noise as I was driving to work. Everytime I hit a bump it would make a horrid grinding and screeching noise. I looked underneath and the right rear shock looked a little off, so I thought maybe I just broke a shock or strut. I worked all afternoon, wondering what on earth it could be. I had made an appointment at Midas for 11:30 the next morning. I was driving home from work and I noticed the alignment was way off. We always used to have perfect alignment, and now I had to give the wheel a quarter turn to get it to go straight. There was definitely something major wrong. It was more than just a strut. I got home from work and talked to Matt, told him that the car got worse and I was going to take it in that night. I called around and the only place that could take me for an inspection was Canadian Tire down at the South End. I had to carefully drive all the way down there, register, and wait. And wait. And wait. About an hour later I was sitting in the waiting room when the head technician came to the door with a very sombre look on his face...Tech: Would you like the bad news, the bad news, or the bad news?
Me: "Umm, how about that bad news?"
Tech: You need a new car.
Me: *stunned looked" Uh....really?
Tech: Your frame is cracked in two places. We could patch the one section, but the second section is completely deteriorated. I would need 4 inches of metal to weld onto, and I don't even have that to work with.
Me: Oh....*continued stunned look*
Tech: I'm sorry.
How to react? I'm completely stunned, and yet not all that surprised...the car was 12 years old after all. Now I was faced with the daunting tast of telling Matt. I told the tech I would call my fiance while he was getting everything set up for payment. I called Matt and gave him the news. He was beyond stunned....he couldn't believe it. He had so many questions so I just handed him over to the tech and let him answer all of Matt's questions. I called my parents, told them the news, and started to hit panic mode. The technician told me I could drive it home, but once I got home I had to park it and take the plates off. I drove home (and I probably shouldn't have) with my four-ways flashing. Parked it, and walked away. That night I was borderline panicky as I tried to figure out how the hell I was going to get out of this one.
After talking with my parents, with Matt, and with my parents, and with Matt again, I began to calm down. I got to work the next morning, told Kim my tale of woe, and she let me have Friday off so I could go buy a car.
The car shopping experience is a whole other story that I really don't want to get into. Let's just say it was interesting, fun, stressful, and in the end rather enjoyable because I found a car salesman that was the most delightful person I could have asked for as a salesperson! In the end, Matt and I are now the proud new owners of a 2002 Ford Taurus.
and I seem to be having technical difficulties with the photo option, so when it's working I'll post some pictures.
Sara
-Who never wants to do that without Matt here again.
posted by Sara @ 8:16 a.m.
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