Money, Money, Money!

This is getting a wee bit ridiculous. If you all recall, in my last post, I mentioned that we were having car drama. Today is the fourth consecutive week that one car or another has been in the shop. I'm going to give you all the run-down:

Rob realizes that it's time for a tune-up on his car. They find that the distributor cap and ignition wires need to be replaced. Although it sounds very minimal - it was quite a hefty bill.

Three days later, we head up to Rob's work party at Snowbird Ski Resort. The jeep starts to overheat, but we make it back - no problem. The next day, second gear is totally out.

We take in the Jeep (to the FIRST mechanic) who after 4 days, has still not even called with an estimate/problem. We pick the car up and take it to the second mechanic. Six days later - the car is finally "fixed." We had to replace the TRANSMISSION.

Rob's tires are completely bald - so we go to get the front two replaced. The alignment is off - so we need to realign them so as to not repeat the same wear on the tires.

The next day, the jeep begins to make some odd noises, so we once again take it back to the second mechanic. Four days in, and we still have yet to hear what the new problem is - and NEEDING A CAR, we go to pick it up again.

The reason we NEEDED the jeep so badly was because Rob was getting the windows tinted on his car. It sits in the sun all day, and is super hot by the time he heads home from work.

So, now we are at today. Rob dropped off the Honda to get the wheels alligned, and I was supposed to pick him up. I start the Jeep, and the engine is so loud, that it startles me. There is a rattle and a buzzing that I've never heard. As I drove down our street, people were staring at me...it was THAT loud. I pulled into the mechanic, and he even came out to see what all the noise was.

Needless to say, we picked up the Honda, and dropped off the Jeep - where tomorrow they will begin to work on wheel bearings, thermostat (the reason it was overheating to begin with) and whatever is making the rattling noise.

I think as soon as we get the Jeep back, we'll be putting them both up for sale. I'm starting to realize that when you read an ad for a used car that says, "new this," and "just replaced that.." that you're probably not getting that great of a deal. So - with that said...any of you suckers looking for a new car? I've got a great 2002 Honda Accord (with new tires and tinted windows) and a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee (new transmission, wheel bearings, and thermostat).