OK, I'll admit it. I'm totally a vehicular hypochondriac. It comes from years of driving old cars. That noise? Yes, I heard that. That shudder? Totally felt that.
And I will worry and obsess about it until someone tells me that everything is fine.
Also, I know that every time SweetPea takes either vehicle to the doctor because I said it was doing something funny, they give each other a look because she's at it again.
So last November when I declared that the Volvo was riding funny and making an awful noise, the mechanic gave her a once-over and declared that she looked perfectly normal.
Only she wasn't because the noise didn't stop, it just got worse. I eventually figured out that it was probably the rotors.
Yesterday we took the Volvo in because we have to get her smogged, and the service light's been on and she won't pass smog with the service light on.
And y'all probably just started laughing because how can you be a vehicular hypochondriac and drive around with the service light on like it's no big deal?
I'll tell you why. I don't know if this is standard for Volvo, but for our car, that damn service light comes on once a year like clockwork. To remind us poor, dim owners that it's time for our yearly check up. When it came on at the end of summer, our mechanic ran a diagnostic to make sure everything was fine and dandy, but forgot to reset the light.
Yes, I've been driving around with the service light on like it's no big deal because it's not a big deal, I swear.
So we take the Volvo in to get the light reset and get her an oil change. We drop her off and head off to run some errands while we wait.
And then we get the phone call.
Turns out, the Volvo was making this awful noise (nooooooo), so he put her up on the rack and pulled her wheels off. Turns out her rotors were grinding (you don't say) and it was so bad that not only did the rotors need to be replaced, but the brake pads, too.
It was so bad that the mechanic actually said that I was lucky I had not been in an accident.
Y'all.
I am a vehicular hypochondriac.
But I am. Never. Wrong.
2 comments:
The Area 51 Conspiracy Theorist in me believes that they don't tell you your brakes are going until their completely shot so they can make the beaucoup bucks rebuilding the whole thing.
Now I shall replace the tin foil in my ballcap so that aliens cannot eat my brain.
In his defense, he was really swamped when I took her down there and he never actually put her on the rack and pulled her wheels off... I told him she was making a noise and it looked like her ass was sitting too low and he gave her a once over and told me everything looked fine.
We are actually very very lucky and have a great mechanic who has never been anything but honest and above-board with us.
The point remains that I have never been wrong and that they still do the eyeroll thing.
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