I have now been in the Midwest for just over a year (?!). In that time, I have put 30,000 miles on my car. This is THREE times the mileage I would put on my car in a year when I lived in the Boston area. That is what a couple of half cross-country trips and commuting 60 miles or more a day will do, I suppose.
I have also had my brakes and a bunch of "little" things that are $100 - $200 each done. All of these things are regular maintenance, but when you add the miles on so quickly, the maintenance gets done more frequently.
Yesterday, I managed to do some non-maintenance damage to my car. When I parked, my front bumper was on the curb. I just figured I would drive off it when I was done at the end of the day as you do when your bumper hits the curb. What's a bumper for, right? So I did.
I heard the plastic scratching and got out to see if everything looked okay. It did, but the plastic thing that looks like a vent on the bottom of the bumper had popped out. I stuck it in the car to put back when I got home. Then when I got home, I saw that I probably should have put it back in before driving home. The front of the (plastic) tire well had popped off (it had torn around the screws holding it to the bumper) and had worn away on my drive home, and my bumper on that side had popped out. So I tore the rest of the hanging plastic off and finally got my bumper back on.
I figured I had fixed it enough to drive and this would just be one of those things about my car. But as soon as I got on the highway this morning, I could tell there was a piece of plastic rubbing the tire. So I pulled off the next exit, got some duct tape at the gas station and taped it up best I could. I guess duct tape was correctly located with the automobile accessories. It seemed quiet the rest of the way to work, but this is clearly not a permanent solution.
CF says hindsight is 20/20, which is true. I just get so frustrated and angry with myself when I make totally preventable mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. I wish mine were on the cheaper end of things.
1 comment:
Gah. Car problems are always stressful. And expensive. My step-father thought he could clear that pillar in the underground parking garage but SSSCCCCRRRRAAAAAAAPE... that was the sound of $1,400 of dents being put into his doors.
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