I Have a Screw Loose

I think there is a conspiracy going on. If you have a newer model car/truck/SUV, I think the mechanic's mafia sets out to rig your car to need repair work done. I think they have undercover people in all the places your car may visit, just to ensure that something does happen so that you need to go straight to the garage and have several hundred dollars of repairs done.

For instance, I took my car to the car wash the other day. I asked for both the exterior and interior wash/clean. The only thing wrong with my car when I got out and gave the keys to the car wash attendant, was it was dirty, very dirty, ( I have 3 boys and 3 dogs, need I say more?). Anyway, when they were all done with it, it looked so pretty from the outside. Then, I got in and it smelled so clean and fresh and then I looked down at my console and saw this:










Now, not only is it not really that clean, but there is clearly a huge screw and washer where there wasn't one before, and not only that, but where was it supposed to be? and what was going to happen if I drove home with a missing screw? was my bumper going to fall off? my tire? my seat suddenly recline? It was just downright disconcerting.

The other thing that happens every single time I take the car in for the oil change at my mechanic, is that I get about halfway home and my car sputters and dies, in an intersection, when I need to be accelerating. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. What they don't know is that I am somewhat car savvy (and yes, I know that that was a bolt, not a screw, but that word did not lend itself to a good blog post title). I put on my blinkers, pop the hood, get out and reattach the air intake to the air filter. They always knock it off when they change the air filter? accident or deliberate...hmmm? But what about all those people who aren't gearheads? Of course, they go straight to the garage and pay hundreds of dollars to the mechanic to repair something that actually takes about 2.3 seconds to fix.

And what is up with the car companies manufacturing cars so that nobody but dealer mechanics can work on them? My handy dandy hubby is very mechanical. He used to be able to fix anything wrong with one of our vehicles. Until the mid 90's or so. Now, a computer is needed to run the diagnostics on a car and even simple things like a fuel pump are put in locations such as the gas tank, so that it makes it impossible to fix them yourself. It recently cost us $700 to replace a fuel pump that costs about $150. He recently told our sons that all their cars were going to be 1970's models so that he can do all the work on them himself, or better yet, teach them how to do it! I sure hope all their friends think a 1975 pale yellow Ford Pinto Hatchback is a super cool ride!