You Know It's Trouble When the Guy at the Shop Recognizes You and Knows Your Name.

So, did I ever tell you about the drama with my car? I forget if I did or not. Well, I won't bore you with the past details, but I'll give you an update (if you haven't heard about all the drama and want to, ask).

My car has been in the shop since Monday night when it was towed there from the airport. Yep. Nice, huh? This is the 10th time my car has been at the shop since the end of August when Jiffy Lube FORGOT to put oil in my car. So here's what happened...

Last week my Check Engine Light (CEL) came on AGAIN. I about freaked out because I was sooooo frustrated by the situation. I took it back to the shop where my friend Tim (aka, the shop manager) quickly plugged it in to run the codes and figure out what was going on. It had tried to overheat a few times since I got it back at the beginning of January (it was in the shop for 10 days over Christmas, too), and twice since the CEL came on again. Also, my heater hasn't been working. Again. So the codes in the engine read "Multiple Cylinder Misfire" and "Misfire in Cylinder 2." I looked at Tim and said, "Wait a minute...isn't this what it was just in for over Christmas to get fixed? This cylinder misfire business?" And he explained that they fixed what they thought was the problem, turned off the CEL, drove it to see if it would come back on, and when it didn't, assumed it was fixed. Apparently not. I also told him about this overheating business and he said it was not related. Ugh. So we made an appointment for me to drop my car off this Wednesday after the technician who's been working on my car got back from vacation.

So, Monday, on my way home from work, my car said it was overheating. Again. But as per usual, if I could find a way to make sure I kept pushing the gas and didn't really stop too long or have to sit idle, it would cool back down. However, several times when I had to stop at a stoplight, my car would start shaking violently and the CEL would start flashing rapidly until I could start going again. Scary. So I called my folks and freaked out on the phone with them, telling them about the whole overheating, so cold I could see my breath with no heat to be had, shaking, light flashing thing. They basically said, "Well...just be careful until you can take it in again." Yep. That was pretty much the plan anyway.

Monday night I had to go pick 2 friends up at the airport. So I packed Allee in her bag and headed out. My car started overheating after about 2 minutes. Awesome. So I had to pull over a couple times on the freeway, in the pouring rain, to try and let it cool off a bit. Doubly awesome. I finally made it to the airport, and I was waiting in the pick-up line to meet my friends when the car started overheating, the shaking, flashing CEL thing started again, it starts making this bad noise, then the OIL light starts flashing, and smoke/steam starts pouring out of the engine. Great. So I call my friends and tell them my car is freaking out, and they walk down to where I'm at in my smoking, now dead car. Fan-freaking-tastic. I was on the phone with my dad, freaking out, and they went and asked security what to do. They pushed it over into a police parking spot, out of the line of traffic, and my dad and I agreed I should just call a tow truck and rent a car.

So one friend waited with the car while my other friend came with me. Renting a car really stinks. No, seriously. I hate it. The first lady wouldn't take my debit card and I operate on the no credit card policy, so that didn't work. She did, however, give us the phone number for a tow company, so we got them headed our way while we went to the next counter. The lady finally helped us, telling us the best rate we could get was $54 a day (HOLY FREAKING COW!!). But this was pretty standard, so we went with it, especially since there weren't any other options, and she was fine with my debit card. Phew. I rented it for three days, hoping my car would be back by then and I could move on with my life. The tow truck got there at the same time we got to the car, so we hopped in and drove over to meet them.

We drove to the shop with the tow truck, then I took the guys home. What a freaking nightmare. I basically was having a nervous breakdown about calling the shop and Jiffy Lube and everyone again, so I made my dad make some calls, too, which helped. (I hate being a girl sometimes! I TOTALLY feel like I'm being taken advantage of in a lot of ways because I happen to be A) a woman, B)young, and C)not that knowledgeable about this car stuff. Ugh. So thanks for your help, Dad.)

Anyway, as of Thursday, the shop was still in an "authorization hold" (whatever in the heck that means), trying to figure out if they're replacing the engine again, fixing it, or what, and I was supposed to take the car back. Tim at the shop told my dad he could get us a better deal on a car, so I agreed to take it back. However, I was supposed to take it all the way back to the airport (about a 30 minute drive if traffic isn't horrible), so I called Hertz and begged and pleaded to be allowed to take it back to their store right down the street from my house, and they agreed if I could be there by 6 PM. The weather was awful and traffic was even worse because of several accidents, so I made it to the place with about 10 minutes to spare. I walked home in the pouring rain (luckily only about 10 minutes away--better than an hour on the train and then a 20 minute walk, which is what would have happened if I had to take it back to the airport).

I had read Audri's facebook post about getting a rental car from $10/day in Vegas on Priceline, so I decided to try and find a better deal. Lo and behold, Hertz (the same one I had just returned my $54/day car to) had one for $22/day. Funny. So I booked it through next Wednesday morning, and Friday morning walked back down to Hertz to rent ANOTHER car from them. Awesome. It ended up being even less because I told the guy about the whole fiasco with my car and he gave me a discount for being a Costco member. So I rented a car for 5 days for $100 less than I just paid for 3 days (can you say ridiculous?). And the best part is, I worked it out so I can return the car to the airport before I leave Wednesday morning to go to San Antonio for a conference, which means I don't have to try to find someone to drive me out there at 4 AM. :) This is excellent news.

So, the update is...there is no update. My car is still at the shop indefinitely, and it's costing me hundreds and hundreds of dollars already without knowing what will happen with the car itself. I am so freaking sick of the whole situation I can barely handle it, and I have no idea what the outcome will be. All I know is that if they don't fix it right and I have to get it fixed again, or if I have to fight to get reimbursed for all these crazy expenses that I should not be incurring, I've been told I should contact an attorney. I've already written a nasty-gram to the Better Business Bureau (which did elicit a response from the Jiffy Lube guy, after they'd been avoiding my phone calls and the calls from the guy at the shop), and I'm not the kind of girl to just go suing people, but this is getting ridiculous, and I can't afford it. Seriously, can't I just catch a break already? Sheesh.

So that's where we're at right now. I'll keep you posted.