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Life happens while we make different plans.

Yesterday my car would not start for the second time in two weeks. I had a dentist appointment in 15 minutes. In dress boots, I took off and ran/fast walked two miles. Made it in 25 minutes. It was a cold sunny day so I didn't overheat.

As usual, I forgot my phone and remembered after a half mile. Didn't want to turn around. Meanwhile, the dentist's receptionist tried to call me. "We were all worried about you," she said when I arrived. "You are always early or on time." I felt bad about being late.

My ex-husband Terry and I are friends. I asked the receptionist to call Terry and ask him to pick me up. He goes to the same dentist. Terry was there when I walked out. Hooray!

Terry tried to jump my battery. Nothing. The smart thing he did was leave his car running for a few minutes with jumper cables attached to my battery. Still didn't start.

Arranged a tow truck through my car insurance. When the tow truck arrived the driver said, "Try starting your car first. Often cars start when I arrive." My car started. Surprise!

"Terry must have given you enough juice to start your car," he said. I did not know that. It's probably a basic principle that I missed. My wealthy father never fixed anything or worked on cars. He bought a new car every year.

"I feel overly proud and triumphant when I refill the windshield cleaning fluid," I told the tow truck driver. We laughed.

The last time I bought a battery for my car it cost $100. That was over 15 years ago. To my shock, the new battery was $266. Inflation and the pandemic shipping crisis.

An employee of O'Reilly's Auto Parts installed the new battery and recycled the old battery.

It's better than monthly car payments.

LiterateHiker 9 Oct 27
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6 comments

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1

I'm glad for the good result. Jumping a car can take some time depending on how flat the battery got.

1

Sorry you had the trouble but it turned out alright. Here are some of my take aways from your experience. Strangely, the tow truck driver is exactly correct. We have people come in all the time not being able to figure these things out because "the car started twice last week." Usually it is the battery. I'm sorry for battery costs going up and I'm not even sure you can blame my parent company. (Yep, that's the one I work for.)

My own battery quit last year and my boss installed me another one. I was lucky. It started and got me to work and it was over 7 years old. They guarantee them for 5 years but often these days they go bad after 2 years. Recently I reported that the delivery car I was driving had some starting issues because of changing sounds in starter turnover. It had to either be starter or battery. Missy told me she would test my battery while I was at lunch. It checked out as battery life almost over, so they changed my battery. It was a little over 2 years old but less than 3.

@DenoPenno

That's good information. Thank you!

1

And the bad news is that your new battery won't last as long as the previous one. Planned obsolesence has become a fine art with car batteries and they tend to last about a month longer than the warranty

@Cyklone

That IS bad news. Planned obscolence is unethical. Bastards.

1

I like that O’Reilly’s is so helpful. My car is in the shop and I’ve been driving a “loaner” from a friend. I took her car to be washed and two days later noticed a plastic “panel” from between the sliding door and the back was missing. Frantic, I went to the car wash…in the same big parking lot as O’Reilly’s…and FOUND IT! Went straight over to O’Reilly’s with it and they sold me new mounting clips for under $15 and installed the panel for me. Life is good. Glad you can count on your ex.

2

I do my own car repair/maintenance or have my son help. My dad was a mechanic so I was going to know how to do it or else.

My dad worked on cars but never taught me. Didn't stop me though- I've worked on mine when it needed fixed and I didn't have money to take it somewhere (which was often!) Had a water pump go out in a van once right before we were to drive 700 miles to visit grandparents for christmas. I bought the pump and a Chilton's manual and got it going and we drove the next day!

@JonnaBononna My dad's favorite saying was that no daughter of his was going to be conned by repair shops. He succeeded. I've told off a number of guys thinking I was an ignorant woman and that they could rip me off.

4

I just sold my 16 year old car, so I feel your pain. I have had a dead battery a few times, and I've had to call my insurance company as they send Roadside Assistance. One thing I did recently was to buy an device that will charge the battery that I can plug in in my garage. I haven't had to use it yet. My dad told me I didn't need to learn anything about cars because I'd have a husband to do that. My ex hated to get his hands dirty, he wouldn't do anything more than add oil and wiper fluid if needed. The reason I sold my car was my daughter moved to the Netherlands and did not take her car. I bought her car as it is newer than mine and it helped them out.

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