CARS, DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THEM?

You wouldn’t think a 2001 Saturn still under 20,000 miles would have many problems. Wrong. The Saturn belongs to my parents and all mechanics during regular maintenance service were awed by the pristine condition of the engine. As I recall, the car always worked well for my parents, but I haven’t been as lucky and had some transmission problems in August. My parents are no longer driving and gave me the option to take the Saturn. I had a 2000 Nissan with only 37,000 miles and liked it; however, there had been too many minor mechanical problems and let Jonathan use it for awhile. He found a buyer who would pay a reasonable sum and not wanting two cars decided to let the Nissan go. As I sit in a tow truck on the way to the Saturn service department, I’m beginning to think I made the wrong choice.

Most car dealerships offer customers rides to limited destinations when vehicles are serviced, but wouldn’t it be nice if they would pick up customers when service was completed. That fact precluded my immediate return home and hung around to hear the hopeful good news. Unfortunately, it would be several hours until they knew the result, so I walked over to the mall--hey, it’s Christmas, you know, so time wouldn’t be a complete waste.

Started getting hungry after 3-½ hours of walking in and out of major department stores, fighting the ever increasing crowds, and stood in one of the three lines in the food court at McDonald’s. (Why is it that McDonald’s always has the longest lines?) Will from Saturn called my cell, and I couldn’t hear so took it outside (my stomach would have to wait). He gave me the great news--the technician recommends replacing the transmission and the battery.

So there my Saturn will be until the end of the day on Monday. It will have a new transmission and a new battery, and someone’s wallet will be $3,400 lighter. I think I’m a jinx when it comes to cars and am tempted to just walk everywhere.