I Hate Cars

OK, I don't really hate cars.......... I just get very annoyed with them. I actually love cars..... maybe too much! I have always been very into cars and the mechanics that go into them. I am a girly girl in every sense of the word but you can also catch me alongside any man in the garage wearing coveralls, covered from head to toe in grease and oil, climbing under the hood- or under the car- and loving every minute of it. Of course that was before when we actually had a place to work on our vehicle. Or should I say could work on our vehicles. We haven't had a lot of luck with our last three vehicles. Here's a little history:
We bought a used Cadillac STS a couple of years ago and it was my dream car! My Christmas gift from my husband! I called her the "Baby Caddy" and took care of her like a third child. My husband and I went out for our anniversary and the car was vandalized- badly! Never understood why someone would do that to a car just for the fun of it. So, I called around to several body shops and finally found one that would work on her for us. Apparently not every shop wants to work on vehicles that carry a certain stigma because they feel the owners are overly particular snobs. Whatever. So we had the work done and a few months later I popped the trunk to put something inside and literally freaked out. The entire trunk area was covered in mold! How did this happen? Well, apparently the body shop failed to put the seal back in around the tail light, water leaked in and since I never used my trunk I didn't realize until it was infested with this furry fungus ick. Called the insurance company and they sent someone out..... and after the man had completely taken the insides apart-literally- he determined that the mold was clear through the car and even in the HVAC system. He told me he hadn't seen a car that bad since hurricane Katrina and that the car was a total loss. BUT he was not going to total it because they couldn't prove that we didn't take the seal out ourselves. So, knowing that this car is not safe for my children to be in I did what any honest (and probably stupid) person would do. I called dealerships, explained the situation and asked if they would take it as a trade-in. Found one that said yes and drove down to see what they had. Pulled on the lot, fell in love with a Cadillac SRX crossover. Brought it home that night. A month later we started having weird things go wrong with this car but I didn't think anything about them. One day I was driving my daughter and son to a doctor's appointment, it was raining, a car merged in front of me and I went to hit the brakes but the brakes wouldn't work! Panic!!! Shortly after that other funky stuff started happening that made me think my car was possessed by an evil spirit of some sort. The moon roof would open and close whenever it wanted to, the stereo would change channels or volume whenever it wanted to, if you turned a corner while applying the brakes the whole back end would kick out and throw you into the wrong lane of traffic, the car would lock you inside after you shut the car off and then you couldn't turn the ignition back on- causing me to climb out of the moon roof on more than one occasion. Weird stuff. Stuff you don't expect after paying that much for a vehicle. We kept trying to contact the dealership we purchased it from for three months but they would not return our phone call. And we had since moved over 3 hours away. So I took it to the dealership we bought our first Cadillac from because I love them. After four days there they came back with the news..........the very bad news. We bought a lemon. The computer was bad. The entire computer- which operates every single component in our car- was bad. And since the computer had failed, many other systems had been damaged because of it. $10,000 for all repairs. HUH!!?!!??!!??!! OUCH! That's gotta hurt. We finally threatened the dealership we purchased it from within an inch of their reputation (This redneck woman came out in a BIG way) and got them to do an exchange of collateral as approved and suggested by our bank. Well, we ended up with a newer Chrysler Town and Country minivan that had less miles and a full factory warranty. Sounds perfect huh? He he he Yeah. No! We have had it in the shop quite a few times for numerous things. No biggie- we have a warranty! It's covered!
Which brings us to today. My husband is still remodeling a bathroom for a family member so I decided to pop in and see him and then go visit my friend Krissie. On the way to see him my ABS light comes on. Hmmm....... that's odd. Popped the hood when we reached our destination, look around, every thing appears fine. Go on my way............try and stop at a busy intersection and guess what! No brakes! And dead in front of me stopped at the light is a brand new Lexus SUV with temporary tags still on! AHHHHHHH! I slammed on the emergency brake and.........stop.........just...........in.......time. Phew! That was close. After this happening a few more times I drove it to my trusted dealership that was a loooooooooong mile away from where I was, pulled right into the garage, gave them my sob story and talked them into hooking it up to their little computer diagnostic machine even though they were officially closed. As I stood by the technician I kept seeing a blinking "FAILED" come up on the screen........... many times. I asked him what exactly that meant and when they told me the news, I knew I wouldn't be driving my babies home in the van. So I left the keys and headed home in the rental. So, you see, we don't have a lot of luck with vehicles. Especially not with breaks. My husband and I have always purchased used vehicles (preferred to) and never had a problem until recently. And with all of the computer technology in vehicles now- we can not work on them ourselves. I can't even change my own oil anymore which is actually very disappointing for me. I think I would rather have the Baby Caddy back moldy at this point. At least the brakes were good! All of these car troubles have been within the last 11 months............ I am starting to think Fred Flintstone was a very smart man.
I spent the entire afternoon frustrated and feeling sorry for myself because of my broken car and ruined plans. And then I had to remind myself of the silver lining. The kids and I are safe, we have a full warranty (Praise God! Because I doubt this work will be cheap) And I got a free rental out of the deal so I get to suck up someone else's gas for a week! Hey! This positive attitude thing is working!

~Heather :)