Car Maintenance Blues

The joys of owning an older vehicle that is paid of are many: no car payment, low registration fee, lower insurance rate, and a car or truck that is like part of the family and comfy as an old shoe. The downside of course includes maintenance and repair costs, and the fact that your vehicle looks about as good as your old shoes.

In my case, the age of my truck isn't a particular problem. I have a Jeep Wrangler, and they age well. Even old Jeeps look pretty cool. But the maintenance wave has worn me out this month.

A couple of weeks ago, my brakes started squeaking. I recognized the sound, and knew it was replacement time, but not too urgent. I have an eight mile drive to work, eight miles back, and don't venture too far from home for much. Still, I wanted to address the issue soon. Last Saturday, I sought out--let's call them Only Brakes--a repair shop I'd heard about on the radio. For only $99 they'll replace your shoes, and machine your drums and discs if necessary. Cool!

To avoid making this post too long to read, I'll just give you the bullet points:

• Only Brakes' Internet address was wrong, causing a hunt for the place that took 45 minutes.


• Only Brakes was so full-up, I'd have to leave my truck overnight. No dice.


• I decided to go next door--we'll call it Spiffy Lube--to get the oil change. Only $21.95. Cool!


• Spiffy Lube pulls up Chrysler's recommended maintenance at 40,000 miles, so the cost will be more like $120.00. OK, whatever, just do it.


• Spiffy Lube says my oil cap is stripped. They can't get it off.


• I go next door to a nameless garage, and they remove my cap, free of charge. Cool.


• Back to Spiffy Lube, got the oil changed, and it only came to $111. I can live with that.


• Today, since we're having a work lunch at Rio, I decide to drop the Jeep off at the Only Brakes nearby. I'm assured that it'll only take an hour or so. And the price is $99! It's 11:45 am.


• Returning from lunch at 1:30 pm, I'm excited to see that the Jeep is up on jacks, and being inspected. I sit down for a very long wait.


• At 2:15, I'm called out to look at my Jeep. I hate this part. Bad drums, bad calipers, broken spring. It's going to cost $500. Holy schnikies! It will take "a couple of hours."


• After roaming the neighborhood (Las Vegas' China Town), getting a soda and reading material, I head back. I arrive back at 2:45 pm.


• I read all of my reading material, drink my soda, and visit the latrine several times (lots of iced tea at lunch). At about 4:45 pm, I notice that no progress is being made. My truck still has no brakes whatsoever. I investigate.


• "It'll only be a little while," they say. From here on out, every other time I look there is alternately someone working on the Jeep, or nobody anywhere in sight. Around 5:30, I see that they are finally putting the wheels back on.


• Excited at the development, I figure I'll be leaving any minute. Nope, after two wheels, the guy disappears again. It is 6:00 pm by the time they button up the hood, and take it out to test the brakes.


• I pay for the work, and leave at 6:15 pm--a full 6 and a half hours after coming in. I'm exhausted from doing nothing all those hours. No TV, no reading material supplied. I could tell you what every poster on the wall says, and draw you a schematic of a brake system, I'll tell you that.

Moral of the story: If you have an old vehicle, you have to expect days like today. And if you go to a place called (something like) Only Brakes, and the first question is "what do you need?" you might consider going somewhere else. What do I need? Dude! All you do is brakes!