My dad went home on Saturday. The time he spent here went by so quickly…I wish we could have had more time. On Saturday we started our journey to the airport around 11:45am but it was a short trip. Our mini van started to shake when it was idle. The temperature kept going up and down and the van kept overheating. We made it to the west reading before the car just completely died. It shut down and we couldn’t get it to start again. We sat there on the side of the road for about 20 minutes before we tried again. Nothing. Three cops came by and were very helpful. They found a towing company for us to have the car towed to Meinkie. Meanwhile Alicia called her mom and asked if she could come up to pick my dad and sister up to take them to Kulpsville to meet my mom.
We had to say goodbye to my dad on the side of the road on 422. It wasn’t a nice goodbye. Alicia cried the rest of the day. The tow truck cost us $95, the first of many shocking numbers. We got the car into Meinke and they took a look at the car. My dad said it probably won’t be an expensive fix, maybe $500 or less. Well, the guy at Meinke came back after so rudely ignoring us…here Alicia and I are with two kids, two car seats, a diaper bag, a bag of toys, a lunch box and a bag of breast milk. We asked how long it would be until we knew anything, they had no idea. We asked for a phone book, they told us to hold on, held on for 20 minutes…nothing.
Anyway, he came back and said the head gasket is blown. The cost to fix it, $1700, of that $1200 was labor. Sure, let me just pull out the money tree from my ass and hand it over to you! Alicia and I told them we would have to get back to them, we needed time to think about. I called a cab because we had no way of getting home. More money! It cost us $10 to get home and took 35 minutes for the cab to get to us.
Flash forward to Monday morning. Alicia and they boys were going to come down with me to spend the day with my mom. We got in Alicia’s car, all packed and everyone in, it was 8:15 and I had to be there around 10. I go to start the car and nothing. Doesn’t start, doesn’t try to turn over, just silence. *insert a few awkward and crazy laughs* The neighbors were home (thank god!) and he tried to jump the car. Since it wasn’t catching, it didn’t work. We’ve been having this problem with the neon intermittently for the past month or two but never to this extreme. Steve (our neighbor) helped me get the battery out of the car and his fiancé drove me to the battery warehouse to test the battery. The battery was fine, but he gave me a business card for someone who is in Wernersville and specializes in starters and alternators. I called the guy and he said he would come to our hose and fix it, that day! Needless to say it cost us $200 to fix her car.
This morning when I got to work I got a call from Meinke. They told me that the estimate they gave us was wrong. We called yesterday to see about getting them down to $1500 instead of the $1700. So they guy who makes those calls called me to talk (well more like tell me). He said that there are additional fees involved. For things he never mentioned before. Alicia called him back after I told her. He said that its an additional $200 for the “other fee’s” and that he told me about them on Saturday…he never made mention about other fees until this morning. So now our $1700 bill is $1900…well for now it is. I refuse to pay them another $200…
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