Cars are not my friend!

I absolutely hate dealing with car problems or even having to take the car for scheduled maintenance, like oil changes! I feel like these mechanics see a girl walk in the door and all they see are dollar signs! Over the past few months we have had to take the car in for some repairs!

It all started a few months back when I took the van in for a routine oil change and asked them to rotate the tires! Next thing I know they tell me my brakes, shocks and struts, and several other things need to be replaced! I went in planning to pay about 20 bucks and they tell me I need $2000 worth of work, and they were giving me "a deal" at that! We ended up having them do the 60k mile service (since we were 40 miles under 60k), but then had to take the van to the dealership to see about the struts, since it was still under warranty! Of course the dealership said that struts and shocks met the "minimum requirement" and they didn't need to be replaced! Then they told us the manufacturing recommends replacing the timing belt around 60k. Needless to say we pressed our luck and put off replacing it at that time!

Last month we reached 70k on the car and finally took the van into to have the timing belt replaced! Of course they told us we had other things that needed to be replaced! Jon was able to work a deal and we had everything taken care of and things have been just fine! We also joke that it's a K-k-k-Kia, but we have had it for almost 5 years and we really haven't had very many problems with it! (Although, when we have a problem it is hard since that is the only car that we all fit in! Yes, we have learned our lesson, don't buy a car your family doesn't fit in!)

We thought our next car maintenance would be replacing the tires, but we were wrong! After class on Thursday I got in the van and turned on the a/c and the air coming out of the vents was HOT! Not unusual for summer days in Vegas, but after driving for nearly 30 minutes it was still HOT, it felt like it was burning my face! I knew something was wrong, but didn't know what to do since I couldn't get a hold of Jon at first! I had errands I needed to run so the kids and I ran around with the windows down and then I stopped at a shop to have the a/c checked! I thought maybe the freon needed to be charged or something, but there was no freon! They told me there must be a leak and they could check it for me for $80! I told them I was going to hold off since we still have a warranty on the car and headed home! By the time I got home and called the dealership they were closed! I was so frustrated! Having to drive around in the heat and knowing that it was going to cost us money to get this taken care of was the worst!

First thing Friday morning I called the dealership and the earliest they could take the van was Monday! Monday! I asked if he knew we lived in Vegas, but they were full on Friday and closed Saturday and Sunday! Thankfully we didn't have too many places to go over the weekend!

We rented a car Sunday night and dropped the van off that night to make sure they would take care of it first thing Monday morning! Thankfully they were able to get in and check out the problem first thing and the problem was covered by the warranty! It took some juggling to get the car there and picked up, but now we have ice cold a/c! Now please, no more car problems for a little while!