I walk out to my car in the parking deck for lunch, and see a napkin tucked under my windshield.
"Your car has a bad leak. I think it's coolant."
(several seconds of standing, staring, blinking as birds chirp overhead)
How did someone pay attention to a leak under my car?
I look a little further. There's a loooong trail of liquid running as far as the eye can see. Clearly not water, which would have evaporated hours ago.
Meineke is three miles from work. I figure I'll make a run for it, rather than trying to navigate a tow truck up to the third deck.
One and a half miles later, I'm camped on the side of the road. At least I've figured out that the problem is with the transmission, which roared like an airplane while I drifted at 15 mph until it stalled for good.
I've never had a car break down before. Um, now what?
Need a tow truck. Good old Joe's Towing from my college days, maybe?
I call Dena to see if she can get me the number. (No smart phone here.) She's not there.
I call Jack in California. He gives me Joe's Towing's number. (Smart phone.)
Bright idea. State Farm customer! The receptionist gives me the name of Winks Towing. And thanks to my emergency roadside assistance coverage that I'd recently added (genius deduction for a 13-year old car, eh?), soon a friendly dude has me rolling toward Meineke. Didn't have to pay a dime - State Farm's arrangement with Winks takes care of it.
Meineke said they could get me in the next day.
Dena and I decide that, with transmission trouble being expensive, we'll just declare the car dead if the damage is more than $1,000.
I get the call in the morning. Turns out that a filter had simply cracked. So they just fixed it. Ready to pick up. Total cost $102!
To sum up the math lessons:
1. Car - transmission fluid + driving = auto roadkill
2. State Farm + roadside assistance = free ride
3. Meineke = awesome
No comments:
Post a Comment