My Beloved Impala

What happens when you buy a used car?

Everything goes bad on it all at once. Right?

Right.

Fourteen months ago we purchased my wife’s company car. Three good reasons why.

(1) My wife, for good or ill, was the only driver (with me on occasion)

(2) Her company paid for regular maintenance, which she had done on it

(3) They offered it to us at about a grand off the Blue Book value

Over the past year I did regular maintenance every three or four months. Primarily oil changes, but I did have the brakes looked at a while back. Overall the car ran fine, with one exception. Suddenly, out of the blue, the car became impossible to turn. Physically impossible. Arnold Schwarzennegger and Lou Ferigno couldn’t turn the wheel if they both tried at the same time. Well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift. Turns out it was the power steering pump, a common failing in Chevy Impalas. So common, in fact, that Chevy warranties ‘’em. We took it to a dealer back in October at zero cost to us and that was the last major thing to go wrong.

Until June 2.

I took it in for an oil change and when I picked it up I was handed an estimate of $2,064.00 for repairs.

Now, apparently, my beloved Impala needs –

* New shocks

* New struts

* New control arms

* New tires (4)

* And a 4-wheel alignment

What the heck? Did my wife go four-wheelin’ in my beloved Impala?

First however: we purchased a 5-year extended warranty when we bought the car. Second however: I guarantee most of these items will be “wear ’n tear” items and thus not covered. We’ll see.

The problem I’m facing now is that my wife wants to take my beloved Impala on the Great American 2012 Triangle Tour: 650 miles west to Toledo, Ohio; 1100 miles southeast to Hilton Head, South Carolina; and 850 north to Northern New Jersey. And the problem they’ll be facing is exploding tires due to the “wear ’n tear” of beaten-down shocks, busted struts, broken and bruised control arms, and an out-of-alignment undercarriage. And the problem I’ll then be facing is the Wrath of the Wife.

So, a few phone calls made, and it turns out if I dish out $176 in cash I can buy two new tires to replace the most-worst ready-to-blow wheels on my beloved Impala, and get the car in decent-enough shape to complete the Tour, God willing.

Another hand reaching for my wallet and another thing to keep me staring at the ceiling as post meridian clicks over into ante meridian.

 

 
 

Don't drive on these at home!