Learning About Things I Didn't Know I Had To - PART DOS
Before I moved here I pretty much knew zero about cars. I bought my car brand spankin new back home and have taken it in religiously for tuneups and never had a problem with it. If I did, I would simply call up my brother or my dad and let them be the hero that they love being and have them come save me. I never got to that point.
When I moved here I didn't have a car. I even went without one for a few years. But I got sick of taxi's and the lack of freedom I had with them, even though they were convenient and when I had saved up enough money, I bought myself my first used car. I named her Bootyliscious. She's a red Chevy Monza and she's cute.
Right from the bat there were several things I had to learn from it.
First off, I purchased it without test driving it myself because I forgot how to drive stick. I learned when I was 17 and then bought an automatic, so what would make you think I'd remember? So I had a friend re-teach me how to drive and within 15 minutes I was getting around just fine (yes I stalled but I still got around just fine ok!).
There were a few minor things that had to be taken care of and my friend gladly helped (simply because if I had a car, his life would also be easy). He checked the oil, told me how to make sure they changed it, changed some lights and we bought a gas cap for my gas tank. I really didn't think you could just go to Walmart and buy a gas cap, but apparently you can!
I also didn't know that Mexico is really great at taking a car and making it as cheap as possible. They have versions of cars here that they don't have back home that are seriously below the basic models. While my car is not a total shitmobile....it is certainly one of those, "where can we cut corners to make this car cheaper" cars.
So here I am after 2-1/2 years of owning my car and I've learned that I should listen to it, that it speaks to me, and if things don't sound or aren't running right, it means there is a problem...and that no, it's not just because it's a cheap crappy car.
I've had issues with my air conditioning on more than one occassion and that is probably due to the place I went to in the first place. But I figured if they didn't fix it right the first time, it's their responsibility to fix it right the 8th, 9th and 10th time without a charge. Apparently the panel controls for my a/c is broken, and I now have a jerry-rigged "switch" to turn my a/c off and on that hangs below my steering wheel. They told me that this only cost me 50 pesos to do, instead of 5,000 and really, I'm better off. The switch is now broken and the a/c doesn't go off at all. I'm sure glad THEY knew what they were doing because boy oh boy, what the heck would I do without them?
Anyhow, I've had various issues that I wish I did not have. And it seems that every time they fix something, a month or two down the road it is something else. I've finally found the 3rd mechanic that I am happy with both in repairs and price, plus they are just really nice people which is kind of rare to find here. I suppose if I had him first, I wouldn't have had as many issues as I've had. As a result it's cost me more money and the ability to listen to my car a whole lot better.
My guess is that if I had listened earlier on I would have not had to do so many other repairs. But what do I know in terms of the various sounds it should make and how smoothly the clutch should work or how accelerating shouldn't be as hard as my car was making it. Or how about that burning smell and the leakage coming from under my car that I should have paid attention to.
Because you see folks, it's not that it's just a crappy car and runs like crap. It's just that I wasn't paying attention.
Just goes to show how communication is sooooooooooooo important. Even if it's with an inanimate object. I didn't know I had to learn that!
Now I know better.
Check out my car at: http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-14772657-_JM
If they sell the car the link might not work anymore but this gives it multiple views :)
When I moved here I didn't have a car. I even went without one for a few years. But I got sick of taxi's and the lack of freedom I had with them, even though they were convenient and when I had saved up enough money, I bought myself my first used car. I named her Bootyliscious. She's a red Chevy Monza and she's cute.
Right from the bat there were several things I had to learn from it.
First off, I purchased it without test driving it myself because I forgot how to drive stick. I learned when I was 17 and then bought an automatic, so what would make you think I'd remember? So I had a friend re-teach me how to drive and within 15 minutes I was getting around just fine (yes I stalled but I still got around just fine ok!).
There were a few minor things that had to be taken care of and my friend gladly helped (simply because if I had a car, his life would also be easy). He checked the oil, told me how to make sure they changed it, changed some lights and we bought a gas cap for my gas tank. I really didn't think you could just go to Walmart and buy a gas cap, but apparently you can!
I also didn't know that Mexico is really great at taking a car and making it as cheap as possible. They have versions of cars here that they don't have back home that are seriously below the basic models. While my car is not a total shitmobile....it is certainly one of those, "where can we cut corners to make this car cheaper" cars.
So here I am after 2-1/2 years of owning my car and I've learned that I should listen to it, that it speaks to me, and if things don't sound or aren't running right, it means there is a problem...and that no, it's not just because it's a cheap crappy car.
I've had issues with my air conditioning on more than one occassion and that is probably due to the place I went to in the first place. But I figured if they didn't fix it right the first time, it's their responsibility to fix it right the 8th, 9th and 10th time without a charge. Apparently the panel controls for my a/c is broken, and I now have a jerry-rigged "switch" to turn my a/c off and on that hangs below my steering wheel. They told me that this only cost me 50 pesos to do, instead of 5,000 and really, I'm better off. The switch is now broken and the a/c doesn't go off at all. I'm sure glad THEY knew what they were doing because boy oh boy, what the heck would I do without them?
Anyhow, I've had various issues that I wish I did not have. And it seems that every time they fix something, a month or two down the road it is something else. I've finally found the 3rd mechanic that I am happy with both in repairs and price, plus they are just really nice people which is kind of rare to find here. I suppose if I had him first, I wouldn't have had as many issues as I've had. As a result it's cost me more money and the ability to listen to my car a whole lot better.
My guess is that if I had listened earlier on I would have not had to do so many other repairs. But what do I know in terms of the various sounds it should make and how smoothly the clutch should work or how accelerating shouldn't be as hard as my car was making it. Or how about that burning smell and the leakage coming from under my car that I should have paid attention to.
Because you see folks, it's not that it's just a crappy car and runs like crap. It's just that I wasn't paying attention.
Just goes to show how communication is sooooooooooooo important. Even if it's with an inanimate object. I didn't know I had to learn that!
Now I know better.
Check out my car at: http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-14772657-_JM
If they sell the car the link might not work anymore but this gives it multiple views :)
Labels: car, cheap, crappy service, listen, mechanic, repairs
posted by My Way @ 4:46 PM
1 Comments:
At 6:01 PM, March 15, 2007,
Anonymous said…
I wish I could learn to communicate with my bomba like you can with your car!
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