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Worst. Day. Ever.
Mar. 16th, 2012 10:07 pmIt started out harmlessly, of course. I had the day off (thank God), and so got up early to attend my exercise class at the gym.
Then my car made the most awful noises as I started backing out of the garage. When I pulled it back in, the car shuddered horribly with every inch. I tried this three times with the same results every time.
Let me preface the rest of this by saying that I know next to nothing about cars. I drive one, but my Dad pretty much handled all maintenance and repairs. The most I can really do is check tire pressure or oil. Even those are a little shaky. I've always known that would come back to bite me someday. Well, that day turned out to be today.
So I did what I always do in these situations: called Dad. He actually has a Redding phone book at home (I knew his hoarding skills were unmatched!) and together we located a dealership that services Saturns in town. But with all the noises and shuddering, I pretty much didn't trust the car to get me there in one piece and not break down on the roadside.
So I had to have it towed. AAA is sometimes a godsend. This car has been with me since high school, though, so seeing it hoisted up on the tow truck was actually a little hard for me! I was like "my baby!" inside my head. XD
So Saturn Baby got towed to the dealership, and I get everything squared away there. The problem now is that they have so many cars to look at that the service people probably won't even LOOK AT IT until Monday. I have to work the weekend, however. So now I need to rent a car.
Having actually thought of this earlier, I found there was a Budget Car Rental just a few blocks down the street from the dealership, and the people were nice enough to give me a ride there. However, once I was dropped off and inside, the car rental people told me they had NO CARS for rent.
So now I'm stranded. At a janky Budget Rent-A-Car. Thank God again there was a pie shop next door. I armed myself with a cup of coffee and a slice of boysenberry. Well, of course you know what I did next. Called Dad. He was good enough to hook me up with the phone number for Yellow Cab, which picked up me from said pie shop (it really was delicious, probably the only bright spot in the whole day).
So after finally getting home and calling my insurance to check for rental care coverage, I was able to get a hold of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. They do, in fact, pick you up just like all their advertisements say. Which was a relief. And many dollars later, I was hooked up with a Chevy Impala. Giant old person boat car. But sooo comfortable.
This entire process took me from 10 am until around 4:30 pm. Six point five hours, and I still had to go grocery shopping afterward. I am beginning to totally envy England's train/tube system. Cars are a headache (I took three Advil upon return home, of course). Now I just hope the estimate doesn't come back too high; otherwise I might have to look into replacing the car altogether, which I really don't want to take on at this point.
Tl;DR I missed my exercise class and actually ended up eating pie and almost having a nervous breakdown at several points today.
Then my car made the most awful noises as I started backing out of the garage. When I pulled it back in, the car shuddered horribly with every inch. I tried this three times with the same results every time.
Let me preface the rest of this by saying that I know next to nothing about cars. I drive one, but my Dad pretty much handled all maintenance and repairs. The most I can really do is check tire pressure or oil. Even those are a little shaky. I've always known that would come back to bite me someday. Well, that day turned out to be today.
So I did what I always do in these situations: called Dad. He actually has a Redding phone book at home (I knew his hoarding skills were unmatched!) and together we located a dealership that services Saturns in town. But with all the noises and shuddering, I pretty much didn't trust the car to get me there in one piece and not break down on the roadside.
So I had to have it towed. AAA is sometimes a godsend. This car has been with me since high school, though, so seeing it hoisted up on the tow truck was actually a little hard for me! I was like "my baby!" inside my head. XD
So Saturn Baby got towed to the dealership, and I get everything squared away there. The problem now is that they have so many cars to look at that the service people probably won't even LOOK AT IT until Monday. I have to work the weekend, however. So now I need to rent a car.
Having actually thought of this earlier, I found there was a Budget Car Rental just a few blocks down the street from the dealership, and the people were nice enough to give me a ride there. However, once I was dropped off and inside, the car rental people told me they had NO CARS for rent.
So now I'm stranded. At a janky Budget Rent-A-Car. Thank God again there was a pie shop next door. I armed myself with a cup of coffee and a slice of boysenberry. Well, of course you know what I did next. Called Dad. He was good enough to hook me up with the phone number for Yellow Cab, which picked up me from said pie shop (it really was delicious, probably the only bright spot in the whole day).
So after finally getting home and calling my insurance to check for rental care coverage, I was able to get a hold of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. They do, in fact, pick you up just like all their advertisements say. Which was a relief. And many dollars later, I was hooked up with a Chevy Impala. Giant old person boat car. But sooo comfortable.
This entire process took me from 10 am until around 4:30 pm. Six point five hours, and I still had to go grocery shopping afterward. I am beginning to totally envy England's train/tube system. Cars are a headache (I took three Advil upon return home, of course). Now I just hope the estimate doesn't come back too high; otherwise I might have to look into replacing the car altogether, which I really don't want to take on at this point.
Tl;DR I missed my exercise class and actually ended up eating pie and almost having a nervous breakdown at several points today.
