Daily Archives: June 11, 2005

Cars and the Idiots who Own Them

Yes, I’m talking about me.

This morning, we had a big day planned: food shopping, checking out an international market, and having some guests this evening. We decided to go to the international market first1. We had heard they had really cheap produce and were not disappointed. We picked up quite a bit of greens and herbs and were on our way. We put them in the cooler to survive the trip to the next store, I put the keys in the ignition, and…

Nada.

The key turned all the way around the ignition, without turning on the car, and it wouldn’t come out! We tried for 15 minutes with the awful thing, every gimmick we’d ever heard of for stuck keys. Then we called our insurance company and they sent a tow truck–Estimated Time of Arrival: 2 hours.

Off and on for an hour I tried jiggling and juggling and haggling and huggling. Finally, after an hour, I took off the steering column’s plastic wrapper and looked at the ignition itself–it seemed a part was loose…just need to push it in…suddenly, it turned and locked and came out and went in and ignited! I canceled the tow truck, and drove straight to the dealership.

The thing is, I was going to take it in next Saturday for a full checkup no matter what anyway. Now I have an appointment for Monday morning to do that and fix the ignition. Skip work or rent a car? It’s hard to make up work when I have night classes. I might have to rent a car if mine needs serious work anyway.

Computers I can handle (usually!), but cars are another thing entirely. We ended up going to CostCo near where we live, instead of the much cheaper (and farther) Sam’s Club, but we made it home in one piece–and now we have yet another “theft deterrent.” 😉


1 – Grand Mart International Food, 6255 Little River Turnpike, Alexandria, VA.