Real Kato Blog: Healing Rachel

Another pointless and rambling car story.

So I took my car to the dealer for maintenance today. This was Rachel the Accord, not Katie the Mercedes. (Does everyone name their cars? I know at least a few people who do, like Kate.) The engine "malfunction indicator light" was on. I hate seeing that light, because it means "You Are Too Stupid To Fix This Problem Yourself So Don't Even Try." Of course, for me, maybe that's a good thing.

I had originally taken the car to Tao Auto. (One would think that "Tao" was some sort of Asian reference, but it actually stands for Thomas A. Owens, the owner of the auto shop. I was crushed when I found this out. They even pronounce it "tay-oh" instead of "dow".) They're a reputable shop and they specialize in Honda repair, and they're close to my house. But they looked at the problem (a bad oxygen sensor) and said it should be covered by warranty, so they said to take it to the dealer. That's one of the reasons I like these guys: they could have gone ahead and fixed the problem and charged me out the wazoo for it, but instead they pointed me in the right direction.

So, I took the car to the dealer and explained how my regular mechanic had told me about the oxygen sensor. An hour later, I get a call back and the guy Robert tells me, "Yeah, it's a bad oxygen sensor, all right. You also have a leaky left strut. Did your REGULAR mechanic tell you about that?" So it's like he was jealous of the fact that I normally take my car to a place that charges me HALF of what they do.

What I wanted to say was, "No, Mr. Jealous, but YOU also didn't notice this problem LAST time I came here, when I TOLD you that I heard a rattling noise on the left side of my car." But seeing as how this repair was also under warranty, I didn't say a word. He could have told me that I had a leaky left testicle and I wouldn't have batted an eye. So long as the fix is free, I'm fine with it.

Anyway, now all is well. Rachel no longer rattles, and the irritating yellow light no longer comes on. Woot!

Permalink 4 Comment

Posted by Ken in: life

Comments

Comment #1 from vena (Guest)
2005 Feb 15 - 11:19 pm : #

my family has named every car we've had. it started out pretty straight forward, greenie (a little green bug) orangy (an orange dautsen) then it got a little stranger, snowleopard (a white subaru) dafny (a blue dautsen) and the most recent addition, cuthburt.
apparently a. my parents go through cars like shit through a goose
b. the older they get, the more existential they get.
i do have to say that cuthburt is an amazingly approprate name for that car. it's this funny little grey toyota that i think every 6th person in the nw owns. very unassuming and sort of sad looking. to me at least. i do have a tendency to anthropomorphize.
anyway. yes. other people name their cars, i'm sure if i had one, i'd name it. i named my bicycle though, it's the punkrock pony.

Comment #2 from (Guest)
2005 Feb 16 - 3:55 pm : #

You have two cars?

I've never named a car, unless you count "My Car" or "The Brown Car" (you probably remember that one)

I have enough trouble falling in love with them without them having NAMES. I've only recently gotten over the loss of my Grand Prix. *sigh*

Comment #3 from Jen (Guest)
2005 Feb 16 - 3:55 pm : #

That last comment was from me. The previous system filled in my name for me, so I didn't think to do it here. Anyway.

Comment #4 from Ken (realkato)
2005 Feb 16 - 5:27 pm : #

Oh, yes... "The Brown Car." I remember it well.

Yes, I have two cars. Rachel is the practical commuter car, and Katie is the fun convertible. I do feel guilty about my consumerist excesses, but when you're a single guy like me, sometimes you have to try to BUY your way to happiness. And, I tried to balance my karma by giving away my last old car to a needy friend.

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