I’m having trouble with my car again. My instant reaction to car trouble is to just flail and weep.
I have a Chevy Cavalier. According to the state of Kentucky, it’s worth about $1200. A year and a half ago, I took it to a transmission shop, and they charged me $3300 for repairs that would later prove to be absolutely worthless.
This car is the right car for me, when it’s working. It’s small, I feel comfortable driving it, it usually does what I want it to.
But when it’s misbehaving? Holy smokes, does it ever piss me off.
More than anything, it’s frustrating to try and diagnose a problem with the exact flags it’s throwing up, because apparently, someone decided that the car’s computer should throw this flag up when pretty much anything at all is wrong with the thing. Looking at car repair forums, it could mean about a dozen different problems.
And the biggest problem is: I don’t have unlimited money to take my car to a shop and let some mechanics poke around at it. I don’t have unlimited time to wait for my car to be fixed. I have one mean of transportation. I need my frickin’ car. And I certainly don’t have the money to buy a different car, which makes me heartsick.
I know we have to keep the mechanics of the world in business, but wouldn’t it make more sense for cars to give more specific answers as to what’s wrong?
Can someone pretty please call Oprah for me?