My Love/Hate Relationship with Chaplin's VW

So, I got my car back out of the shop again last night. And it will be going right back in on Monday.

A couple months ago my car developed a coolant leak problem, but figuring that it was going to be a problem that my warranty didn't cover, I kept putting off taking it in to get fixed. Labor is $103 an hour, so even though it'd be a cheap and simple part, it would end up costing a whole heck of a lot because they'd have to get into the engine and take it all apart and whatever and the labor cost would just rack up. But just in case it would be covered by my warranty, I didn't take it anywhere else either, where labor costs would be cheaper.

Stupid Volkswagens, with their stupid pieces that not everyone understands.

Well, when you need to fill the coolant tank every day, there's a problem. And because I'd been filling it with only water for almost three months now, I figured I was getting to the point where I was going to be damaging the insides of my engine with the lack of lubricant in the coolant, so I went to Schuck's and bought a gallon of 50/50 Prestone Coolant/Antifreeze. They didn't carry my VW's pink stuff, or just straight coolant period, but assured me that coolant is formulated these days to work with all types of engines. So I bought the Prestone because the guy said it was the best, and I figured that if I'm going to be buying a coolant that wasn't specifically formulated for my car, I might as well get the best they have. I bought that on Friday, and it was empty Monday morning. That's how bad the problem was. I decided to just go ahead and make the appointment because I needed to get this done sometime, and it was only getting worse, but Jason also asked that I make the appointment because now if my car is leaking antifreeze it was a danger to animals that would be attracted to the sweetness of the poison.

So I made my appointment, and found out that they're going to have to do a coolant flush for $110 because I used another coolant and that was detrimental to the workings of my engine. Great. And, fantastic news, the warranty covers my broken flange which was the problem in leak.

So, if I'd only not put off making stupid appointment, I'd be paying only $27 for my warranty's copay plus tax, instead of the $148 for the flush and copay plus tax.

Argh. But, I laugh about it. As Jason and I, and my coworker too, said, well, that's not too bad. But it could have been so much less! Ah well, we learn. Yay for credit cards. (And still better than the $440-ish total it was before my warranty covered the rest.)

But when they drove my car out to me, I noticed this:



I took these this morning, and it was very bright and my car is very dirty, so all the scratches are very apparent, but you can see the big scratch that runs along the driverside of the door and the dots on the strip that runs the length of the two doors. I couldn't be positive that this wasn't on my car when I dropped it off, but I'm pretty darn sure I would have noticed it, as I've noticed every other scratch that has suddenly appeared. Like that almost vertical one that appeared one day, that looks like someone keyed my car. >:(

So after some deliberation with Jason as to what to do about it, because it's not like I have photo proof of what my car looked like before I brought it in, I decided to go in and tell my advisor. Of course, because I'm stressed, my neck was all tight and I sounded choked up, but he only said, "Oh no! Well, let's go look at it." I love this guy. He's been my advisor before, and he's just great. I don't even feel real bad when I have to pay them the big bucks, because he's just so friendly about it. Now, the other guy, Ricky, ooooh I do not like him. He chews gum and acts like he's only sort of listening to me, and calls me Miss D..., and just makes me so irritated. But Dennis, when I dropped the car off on Monday, instead of just taking notes on what my problem was, Dennis said, "well, let's go look at the car." And he listened to me as we looked under the hood and he told me what the problem probably was and we actually had a conversation.

Anyway. So we went and looked at the car and the scratches and made sure which scratches had already been there, and he told me that if I could drop it off on Monday when their painter was there, they'd take care of it for me. Yay! He did make a comment about not knowing which of his lot attendants may have done this, because they didn't tell him, like they never tell him. So, that makes me think that maybe this happens, not frequently (hopefully), but is not unheard of. That I'm not just making things up.

And, because I have Monday off, it will be easy to just drop the car off in the morning (8am, so much for sleeping in) and pick it up later in the day.

Maybe they'll touch up the other scratches while they're at it, wouldn't that be nice...