So Mum and I drove up to Vermont to check out the jail. I mean Bed & Breakfast… It was a nice ride that included Franconia Notch. People drive clear across the country to see The Notch. We’ve been through The Notch several times over the past couple of years and each time it was simply the road between here and there. We didn’t even stop – except for traffic. This last time was a breeze. We were heading north when most of the other traffic was already heading south.
Klunk, our GPS, sent us on a couple of wild goose chases. How she came up with one of the roads she put us on is a complete mystery to me!
But we survived. 355 miles round trip.
Well, it should have been 359 miles…
... Mum and I both practically bounced off Galileo’s headliner! We’d hit a tank trap disguised as a New England pothole and both passenger side tires were blown.
We limped to the safest spot I could find with the four-ways on and I called AAA. Now I’ve had AAA Plus for years and I must say the service seems to have gone down hill markedly from when I first signed up. It is about two and a half hours from here to drive a healthy car through The Notch and on to the jail, I mean, Bed & Breakfast. It took over three hours for AAA to get a tow truck out to my disabled car.
And then the tow operator ripped the valance half off while taking the car off the truck at the gas station!
That was the beginning of the annual ritual Galileo insists on going through each spring. And every year it gets more and more elaborate. I got the tires fixed – I thought – the next day when the gas station opened. That involved getting a rental so I could get a couple of last year's summer tires from storage and bring them to the gas station, then get myself to work.
Then I had another flat a week and a half later. This time I had him towed to an independent Volkswagen specialist. And AAA screwed up again. This time the dispatcher gave the driver my desk phone instead of my cell phone to call for directions to where I was parked in the two thousand plus car parking lot.
Then I had another flat a week and a half later. This time I had him towed to an independent Volkswagen specialist. And AAA screwed up again. This time the dispatcher gave the driver my desk phone instead of my cell phone to call for directions to where I was parked in the two thousand plus car parking lot.
I was sitting in the car not at my desk as instructed by the automated ‘get thee thyne arse out to thy car and wait’ message they call you with when the tow truck is supposed to be fifteen minutes away. My boss actually walked out, in the rain, to tell me that my desk phone was ringing off the hook. I had already called the dispatch center back to find out what was taking so long. ‘Oops… We’ll send another truck…’
That old song was called Smoke gets in your eyes. In this case it was coming out my ears!
Well, they did finally arrive to take Galileo off to get fixed – again. And the dispatcher who made the mistake called me back to take responsibility and apologize. I’ll give her full credit there. Most folks these days wouldn’t. Mistakes happen. Apology accepted.
Then I hear from the mechanic. Galileo arrived in one piece. (Well except for the valance that hasn’t been fixed yet…) But getting him ready for inspection this year is not going to be pretty.
Or cheap.
Between the brakes and catalytic converter and the tire that got him towed the bill was almost $1,600.00 – Oh and there’s a leak in the muffler, too. That’ll be another three hundred plus. And…
I’d already paid for the cat when he sprung the other stuff on me.
I refused to do the full brake job. He was authorized only to replace the e-brake cables and the one caliper that was cammed over and the rotors and pads. The bastard charged me the full labor for changing the rotors and pads even though the brakes were already apart to do the cables. He was pissed that I would dare to complain.
I don’t care what kind of boat he has. He will not receive another payment on it from me!
Oh, and one of the two surviving studded snow tires, the one that had been cross-rotated by the gas station from the left rear to the right front to put the two summer tires on the back in place of the two snows that were destroyed by the tank trap has a massive blister on the sidewall. So now I have a mismatched non-studded snow tire on the back to replace the summer tire that quit on me half a mile from work when I was trying to get to the 0dark:thirty meeting on the left rear, the one drivable summer tire on the right rear, a studded snow on the left front and a matching studded snow with a massive blister on the right front. And the spare came with the car thirteen years ago.
I would describe that as the dictionary definition of NFG.
After calling around for pricing I decided to get Galileo’s new tires at Sears. The mismatched non-studded snow is now the spare and there are four brand new all season radials on the car.
After all that I tried to squeak the car by inspection hoping the guy wouldn’t notice the “minor leak” in the muffler that had been described to me on the phone. It failed. Not only for the muffler but also for the rear marker lights. I got away with those last year because the look like reflectors.
Off to find someone else to do the muffler.
Pep Boys said they could do the muffler for less than half what I’d been quoted by Galileo’s former mechanic. And they are open evenings! Woohoo! Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
Except…
When we got there I recognized the muffler they had sitting on the floor in front of the tire display. Then they got Galileo up on the lift.
He doesn’t need a muffler. He needs a resonator. And they don’t have one.
I’m writing about this after the fact. That’s the only reason I’m not screaming right now.
After looking at the job they guy at Pep Boys recommended that I take Galileo to a real muffler shop. That was the best advice I’ve received in this whole saga.
The Monro shop on Chelmsford Street in Lowell was fantastic! He had no problem with my buying the part at my best price. In fact, he suggested it! Then it was just labor to install once I had the part.
The lights were also an easy fix once I diagnosed the problem. It seems that VW in their infinite wisdom (read with sarcasm) used a corrosion prone metal for the contacts in the sockets. After thirteen years on New England roads there weren’t any contacts left in one of the sockets and the other was so corroded that the electricity would have an easier time taking a bus to Boise than try to get to the filament in that lamp! With new sockets ($23.95 each OEM) and new bulbs from Pep Boys the lights work like new. We won’t mention to the guy at the inspection station that I remounted them with silicone after the plastic tabs broke off with age…
* Deep sigh *
So I took off at lunch this afternoon and went to get Galileo re-inspected. Traffic on the big road was zipping right along so that’s the way we went. Hop back off one exit and about three minutes later (twenty minutes or more during rush hour…) and we were right at the inspection station. Just as the garage door was being closed for the car ahead of the car ahead of me.
And this guy is in no hurry!
And he’s short. About forty-five minutes after pulling into the parking lot I was bashing my knees into the dashboard because he refuses to put the seat back anywhere near where the owner had it. But at least Galileo had his sticker.
Thank gawd that’s over for another year!
The only problem is that all that ended up costing me in the neighborhood of $2,500.00! I had planned to use that cash to pay for little things like, oh, hiring a home inspector… Maybe part of the down payment or closing costs… Minor little things like that.
If I had known ahead of time how much all that would end up costing me there would be a new-to-me Ford Ranger sitting in the driveway right now!
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