On hazing

I am officially a car owner now.

I'm quite certain I started a blog in June in a similar manner but, no, I really mean it now.

In the last week, I have brought my car in for an oil change, innocently brought it to a dealership to have a recall issue addressed, received a phone call that indicated they would do the recall work for free but here are the other $600 in repairs you need to do right away (that's with the warranty - it would have been closer to $900 without it), called my father in a panic to make sure I was not being taken advantage of, picked up the car only to have the original problem that I thought to be a symptom of the recall not addressed, called my dad to vent about it, dropped it off again for it to be addressed, received a phone call telling me I'm taking crazy pills and there is no noise, called my dad to make sure that yes I was being taken advantage of, marched back to the dealership, male presence by my side, only for them to suddenly hear the noise and realize it was easily fixed by a quick realignment of the hood, walked out of the dealership uncharged for the day of "service" and full of zip.

The best part was having the guy who finally heard the noise say, "Sorry, we've been really short staffed today and have been rushing through jobs." Awesome. I was already not planning to see this place ever again after the guy who called to inform me there was no noise mentioned, "Yah, I even drove behind the technician testing your car, and I couldn't hear anything either." Wow. Yah. That's really saying something.

So, yes, I'm $600 poorer and it's now suddenly a tight month and less than 10 days in. I must say, however, that I was simply amazed by how depressed this entire situation made me. To have my car taken away for a few days was awful. I am so spoiled now. Thankfully, my boyfriend was nice enough to lend me his car for two of the days and hitch rides to work from friends. Still, it was awful to inconvenience him and, well, to not have my Grover. The third day, yesterday, I was without my car again and (GULP) rode the Metro. I cannot tell you how irritated I was to have to ride the Metro after months of freedom away from it. Since my move, it's just THAT much longer of a ride and involves 2 transfers. I wanted my "takes 1/2 the time as Metro" car commute, I wanted my Jack Diamond morning show, and I wanted my independence back. Now.

I will say that I felt like a complete rookie on the Metro again. I've been a regular user of public transportation for most of my post-college life, but 3 months away and it was like I didn't know how to function. I was weirded out again by people I had gotten used to, I couldn't remember the direction I was supposed to take for my first transfer, and it took me a moment too long to realize my bag wasn't entitled to the seat next to me. How soon we forget.

And all of the Metro annoyances were in full effect. If it's not groups of tourists, it's masses of really loud kids who have just gotten out of school. And don't get me started on the phantom yellow line train to Huntington that will suddenly appear out of nowhere amidst 5 green line trains to Branch Avenue. Oh, and the best part, was I "just missed" the shuttle to campus once I got off the Metro, allowing for that awkward "maybe he'll see me and stop" run, to no avail. That FORCED me to go to Starbucks to get a coffee while I waited for the next. And out another $4.37 on top of the $600.

But the whole process brought out the nasty cynic in me and that, I guess, is what was really upsetting. I hated that I couldn't trust the dealership. I was aware of this going in, don't get me wrong, but it was difficult for it to finally happen to me. I hated feeling like I was communicating with someone who was laughing at me on the other end of the phone. I hated that I didn't understand my warranty to the level I should, I hated that I couldn't find the time to do some simply comparison service charge shopping, and, of course, I started to question my whole car buying process - did I make a huge mistake, did I not do enough research, etc. I did, by the way, write a strongly worded letter to CarMax explaining that after 3 months of ownership and their "125 point inspection", I knew for a fact that at least one of the three issues was one they were aware of (more likely two) and that I was supremely disappointed by that reality. We'll see what comes of that, if anything.

The good news is all is well again (knock on wood) and yesterday didn't cost me a dime and my next major service should be a lot cheaper given what I had done this week. Still, I understand now just what slaves we all become to our cars and how they are so very hard to give up despite our mistreatment as owners, even after only a short while. But the true success for me, in all honestly, was being validated this last time around and not charged for it. Nothing like emerging victorious in a room full of people who thought you were completely nuts. As absurd as it sounds, it was David v. Goliath moment for me, and coming out on top was just the way to end the week.