Clareified

My car’s “Brake Light” was flashing intermittently for three months with no relationship between when it would come on or go off and whether the emergency brake was actually engaged. However, since that problem started like two days after I had gotten the car back from repairing some other problem, I decided not to take it back until the scheduled three month check-up, especially after I determined that the light wasn’t alerting me to any actual problem with my brakes. Finally, on one of my drives to a Scrabble tournament, Adam started to freak me out that the light was telling me that my brake fluids were low or something, so I decided to actually take the car in. “My car guy,” as Hank HIll would say of the man that has been dutifully ripping you off for the last seven years, said he recommended I get the brake cap fixed, though he admitted that the light didn’t usually indicate a brake cap problem and he didn’t know why the light was flickering. Fine. We buy the brake cap, but they don’t have it in stock, so we have to go back to have them install it. Two days ago I took the car back in, he changed the brake cap and I drove home. Yesterday, I drove to the hairdresser’s and as I tried to slow to a stop, the brakes wouldn’t depress. I kept pushing on it as hard as I could, but Nothing. After about twenty seconds of this, and swerving around to avoid hitting anything, the brake finally went all the way down and the car stopped. I drove it to a parking spot and parked with no further incident. I spent about twelve hours doing various errands in the ECB and walked back to my car. I got inside, pulled out and drove home. On my way home I started to think about the brake thing, but figured, I just must not have pressed my foot squarely down on it, because the brakes were working just fine now. Suddenly, as if the brake could read my mind and seemed pissed off that I was ignoring its very clear warning, it went out AGAIN. This time the car didn’t stop till after the gentle collision of the curb and a snow bank.
Awesome.
I very angrily call “my car guy” and scream that they must have fracked up the cap installation and he says “nah, you don’t even really need that cap to drive.” (Funny, he didn’t mention that when I paid $125 to get a new one.) And now we’re waiting for a $75 plus $5 a mile tow back to the dealership.
Oh, and it obviously goes without saying, the “Brake Light” has remained unlit through this entire ordeal.
Someone wake me when it’s 2010.

This entry was posted by Dawn Summers on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 9:15 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.