Pep Boys Sucks
Creepy as hell
Bunky and I were excited to go shopping with Kiwi this weekend, but as soon as we started up the car, we started hearing this squealing noise, mixed in with a scraping metal sound. Obviously this is no good, so we turned right back around and then I took the car to Pep Boys for repair. Now I should mention that I really hate Pep Boys. The workers act like they can't see you, they never call you back, they always try to rip you off, and everyone in the store is generally rude. However, it's close enough for me to walk to, so I keep going back for more.
Operation Dump Jalopy
Yesterday I began my mission to get a new car. I'm hoping to get something before October, since that way maybe I can get some savings on 2004 model cars. I mostly just want something reliable with good gas mileage; I typed this phrase into Babelfish and it returned "Toyota/Honda". At this point in time, I'm looking at the absurdly small Scion xA. I've driven the Echo before, so I figure it's the same thing. I know this is hardly ideal, but I believe it may be a good value for what I can afford. I know I don't want to deal with the headache of a used car again.
Much of my introductory research was done on Edmunds.com and Jeff Ostroff's awesome car buying site. I also finally checked out my credit report. I got a 3-in-1 credit report, in order to get a better idea of what financing terms I could get. Although I have never been late with a payment, I was afraid I would have a low score because of how young I was (I've only had a credit card for maybe 3-4 years). However, I was pleased to find that I actually had a very good credit score and was just shy of the highest bracket. More importantly, the report had some very interesting information. I found I had 4 more credit cards than I thought I had. I think these credit cards were from things I signed while a freshman at Cornell (I am a sucker for "free" t-shirts). Most of them had pathetic credit limits like $300 (wtf...?) or $1,000, but one that I hadn't known about actually had a higher limit than the two cards I use now! Fortunately none of these cards had ever had a balance, so I didn't have to worry about someone opening accounts in my name. I'm not sure though if I want to close the accounts, because they are actually my oldest accounts T__T. Maybe I will keep the oldest one, and the one with the high limit, and dump the other two.
Armed with this newfound confidence, I actually went to a dealer. I had read all about their nasty tricks, and I ended up going to a dealership that was described as being sketchy and pushy by my coworkers (confirmed). It was an enlightening experience. I just wanted to see the cars and look inside them; I wasn't even planning on test driving anything yet. Their salesman made a valiant go at it but was surprised to find that I basically ignored him. He would start talking about some unimportant aspect of the car, see that I was just saying "Hmm, mmm" and not even looking at him and he would just sorta tail off into a mumbled whisper. It was great fun. I'm not sure what they thought I was looking for, because the major parts pointed out to me were the emergency glow-in-the dark handle in the trunk (you know, cause I lock myself in there all the time), the shatter-resistant plastic on the headlights (because other plastic just shatters like candy glass), and the clearly marked label on the oil cap (omfg, sign me up now!)... Bunky noticed how my aloof treatment of the salesman was putting him on edge and tried to copy, leading to the following exchange before we left:
Salesman: Are you sure you don't want to take a test drive?
Me: Yes. We're just looking for today.
Salesman: How about a brochure about the car?
Bunky: No thanks, we're not at that stage yet.
Salesman: .............
Me: ............
Salesman: ... Not even at the stage for a brochure...?
[silence]
Me: ... er, we've already read about it... online...
[hurried exit]
[later]
Bunky: I don't think I should go with you when you buy the car. I don't want to ruin it...
Me: ... Hmmm...
Incidentally, the brochure actually is online. It was still a useful fact-finding mission, at least. Recon stage complete!
Log Fluming Fun
It’s been super busy the last week, so there weren’t too many updates to this blog. This is not because it’s dying, though (I know I hate when that happens)! The main reason for continued hope is that Bunky got back this weekend from her summer internship. When it’s just me in the house, it always seems like going out is more trouble than it’s worth, and I had a hard time convincing myself to go and do something out of the ordinary. Because of that, there weren’t that many things worth writing about. You know, aside from the piece of junk car breaking down. However, I told myself that when Bunky got back we’d probably have all kinds of adventures. I was correct.
I was supposed to grab Bunky on Saturday at Norfolk Airport, which I’d never been to. Plus, because I didn’t want to risk breaking down in an unfamiliar place (I’ve become desensitized to breaking down in familiar places…), I rented a car. Or so I thought. Even though I had called about a week ahead of time to reserve a compact car, they were out of them when I got there. So I ended up with a Dodge Dakota that had a backseat…
I’d never driven a truck before, so I wasn’t too pleased about this. I got in the vehicle and it was so large that I felt like I was in a limo. Unfortunately, the beast handled like a torpid turtle with a really large rear end. Did I mention that Hurricane Charlie was passing through at the time? It was the perfect weather for trying something new. Visibility was zero, and there was tons of hydroplaning fun on my drive. There were also flooded areas in the dips in the road, so I probably looked like I was on one of those log flume water park rides. Good thing I was in a big, heavy, tall hunk of gas-guzzling American steel (I later found that $10 wouldn’t even fill a quarter of the gas tank up, and I had used half a tank in 2 days driving T_T).
In spite of all the obstacles, I found Norfolk Airport to be very nice. It wasn’t that large, and it was near all these pretty trees and water. The signs were well laid out, and it was easy to find. Good thing I liked it, because I then had to spend the next hour waiting in the airport only to find that all flights into Norfolk had been cancelled. So then I had to drive back home in even worse hurricane conditions.
Anyway, it was definitely a real adventure as I got to visit a new airport, drive a truck for the first time, and debut my hurricane driving skillz. The experience was annoying, but I suppose it was a confidence booster.
Quite a Chain of Events
Yesterday, I was pretty happy because I got off from work a half hour early. I was on my way to the grocery store, when my car broke down. It just suddenly had no power, and at the stop light, the battery gave out. So there I am, the first car in the left hand lane of a busy intersection, right at rush hour. I had no battery power so I couldn't turn on my blinkers. It was a hot, humid, rainy day and I was completely blocking off traffic. You know when you turn on the radio and you hear about so-and-so road being blocked off? I was that jerk blocking you on your way home. I had to leave the car in the street, run the nearest gas station in the rain, and frantically call tow companies, but none of them could be there within an hour. Fortunately, a police officer had been in a store across the street and came to my aid. I guess the police require their tow contractors to answer dispatches within 20 minutes, so the truck came pretty fast. The whole situation still sucked pretty bad, though.
Of course, the company only took cash, and I didn't quite have enough on me. I went to the ATM machine, and naturally my card didn't work. My bank was supposed to send me a new one, but they told me my old one should still work. Obviously they lied to me. So I couldn't even get my car towed to a garage. In the end, it didn't matter, because everyone was closed already anyway. At least I had money for the cab fare home. Sadly, when I got home, there was no food in the refrigerator.
The only bright spot was that I learned a lot about legal issues involving towing. I'd heard Bunky babbling about various property and right to foreclose issues, and it all made sense now. If I don't pick up the car in 30 days, the tow company has the right to crush the car, but if they want to sell it, they have to wait another 30 days. Interesting...