Car trouble
I had an appointment on Friday afternoon. It was going to take at least a couple of hours and then some drive time, so I told my boss that I was not going to come back that afternoon. I was hoping to make it back before five and work a couple of hours since we have a lot of stuff to do. I was on the phone with my Mom when I started to feel the steering well not responding like it was supposed to. I tried to get off the phone as soon as I could without letting my Mom know I was freaking out. I tried to steer the car and realized that the power steering had stopped working. Lucky for me the dealer was just on the way back.
I wrestle the car through the curves and it was just scary enough to make me go directly to the dealer, but not quite as scary as to stop and call a tow truck. When I get there the service guy took one look at the car and said it would take a couple of days. I asked for a loaner and he said he would get one form Enterprise. Enterprise has not failed me yet, but they failed the dealer. After finishing the paperwork, since the car was in I wanted them to check the range on my remote entry as well as the tire pressure monitor, he told me that in five minutes a car would pick me up.
I know from previous experience that it could take a while to get a car, and since the closes Enterprise was the one on Metcalf I had my doubts. After waiting for a while I started to get concerned. The car should have been there by now, and filling out paperwork at Enterprise would also take time, it was getting later and later. The service guy assured me they had been called so I waited patiently and read a magazine.
I started to see the dealer close ups and put away. It surprised me because most dealers I had been at before stay open until nine at night. This one seem to be getting ready to close at 6 P.M. I went to the cashier lady and asked if she could help me, but she directed me back to the service guy, who by now was nowhere to be found. I started to get nervous because I was without a car to get to work at a decent time, so everyone would be gone.
I was lucky enough to have another one of the mechanics still there. He kind of took control of the situation and got the Enterprise number, however, they were close and not even their corporate office would do anything but leave me in recorded message hell. The mechanic dude disappeared and I started to see I was the only person left. The the mechanic pulled up on a brand new Malibu and told me I could take it as a loaner. He truly saved the day.
I had very mixed emotions that day because even thought the service dude took the car in, he did not wait until I actually got picked up by the rental car place. However, the mechanic going the extra mile and getting me a car was very cool. He could have just as easily said that I needed to call a cab and deal with getting a loaner the next morning. Lets hope my car repairs are all done quickly and I can have panther back in action.
Reader Comments
in my day we didn’t have no fancy power steering, we had to stick a foot out of the door to make the card turn. oh, and only rich people had doors on their cars, we just duct-taped some plastic to keep the wind out. and not with real duct-tape either. we made our own out of old rags and leftover cherry-pie filling. nowadays a person sits in his fancy car and complains about having to steer. what is this country coming to.
@meesha.v
That sounds horrible, what country was that, Russia? LMAO
Wow…sounds like a nightmare experience, but total props to the dealer loaning you a brand new car.
It’s an Impala, silly. LMAO!
Ugh, sounds like a crap day. At least you had a decent person come thru at the end.
I gotta say tho, that my first car had manual steering and breaks. Not quite Flinstones, but it took enough work that my friends and I all called her the beast.
Hope you get your ride back soon!
N }:-
You are going to find out that you were just low on power steering fluid.
Now way it should take “a couple of days”.
They should have been able to top you off and send you on your way in 5 minutes, no charge.
Actually it was something more serious than a top off… a hose was broken and they had to replace it. They overnighted it and it should be done today.
Sounds like the mechanic deserves some praise to his boss. Car troubles are the worst and never seem to happen at a good time. Thankfully you weren’t an accient that that steering problem.