Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Feel Good About...

After years of going the "cheap" route and commuting to work in small, economical cars (screw you, OPEC!), Mr. Qiuvo decided that it was time to look for a bigger car. After all, commuting to work 42 miles each way--which is not a looong distance but may mean anywhere from an hour (if weekday traffic is ok) to two hours (if there's any sort of accident)--means a lot of damn time spent in the car. Add the 2 little rug rats to the mix (daycare facility is in the same city as Mr. Qiuvo's work), and it gets more complex.

Picture Mr. and Mrs. Qiuvo sitting up front, while the 2 little ones sit in their bulky car seats in the back...in a Chevy Aveo! Not the most comfortable situation, but hell, we did it for a while in mostly a Ford Focus or the aforementioned Aveo.

Well, good fortune fell on our laps when a dear friend decided to get rid of his minivan. No charge, which was a great blessing, although it needed some work. We dumped some $5000 in repairs (back brakes, struts, shock absorbers, tune up and other engine work in order to pass the dreaded smog check, fix an exhaust leak and warped pistons, etc) and thought, Ok, we're good to go!

WRONG!

I would get this nasty grinding noise when using the brakes sometimes. I took it back to the place that did my back brakes (Midas) and was told, "Oh, you can expect a grinding noise for a while. Eventually the break pads will settle into the grooves and you won't get that noise anymore." So like an idiot, Mr. Qiuvo thought, Hell, why not?

The grinding noise came on and off, so it was a bit deceiving. Eventually, almost a year went by and the noise seemed to stop for good.

Until today.

On our way to work, the grinding noise came back strong! And it continued, even when my foot wasn't on the break. Not good, folks. Something was majorly broken. I tried to "ride it out" since I was only some 15 miles from a car dealership near my work. Eventually though, I threw in the towel--this was a major safety hazard (especially with the kids in the car). Not to mention the huge headache I incurred from the sharp, stabbing pains emanating from the wallet in my back pocket. I saw an automobile repair shop and pulled in. I hope these guys are honest, I thought, because I'm completely at their mercy.

I got to work a good hour and a half late. I was running behind, way behind. As I frantically prepared for a metrics meeting I received the call from the auto shop.

Me: Hello?

AS: Hi, this is Charlie from XXX Auto Repair, is this Qiuvo?

Me: Yes it is, how are you? (like I'm building rapport with a customer)

AS: Fine. Listen, checked your car.

Me: Holy shit, please don't let it cost so much. Please don't let it cost too much.

AS: Your front brake was sitting on the rotor. You're going to need new brakes, including the brake pads. We can salvage one rotor, but we'll have to put in a new one.

Me: Ok...Please don't let it cost so much, please don't let it...

AS: It'll come to about $307 plus tax

Me: Yes! Not as bad as I thought! Could that really be it? So that was it? There was no other sort of structural damage?

AS: Well, your transmission casing is broken, that's going to need to get replaced.

Me: Shit! Ok...what would it take to get that fixed?

AS: Well, you'd have to put in a new transmission.

Me: And how much does something like that generally cost?

AS: Well, I can get you a rebuilt transmission with a 3 year warranty for $3000.

Me: @#%&%#@&#%@#&%!!!!

AS: Hello? Are you still there?

Me: Uh...yeah, let's do the brakes. Go ahead and work on the breaks. Damn it to hell!

So all these thoughts came through my mind: Is he scamming me? He only mentioned the transmission after I probed him for any other problems. Wouldn't he have told me about the transmission without me having to ask first? Maybe it's not so bad. Maybe it'll last a while. Maybe I'll be driving on the freeway and end up with the transmission on the ground.

AAAARRRGGHHH! Another $3k on top of what we've already spent on repairs would mean that we got a "free" car for about $8-9k. I ultimately decided to hope for the best with the transmission situation. There will be a lot of under-the-breath prayers uttered during certain times on the road, I'm sure. If it comes down to it, a new car would probably be the way to go. Isn't it funny how life just tends to grab you by the balls sometimes? And to add insult to injury, once it has you by the balls, it also tends to ask you to "Cough."

@$#%#&*@&#@!!!

--Qiuvo