Transmission

Thursday evening I drove home about 2 miles at 20 miles per hour because my car would not go over that speed. It would not move up in gear. I aint no mechanic, but it seemed like a transmission thing to me! Transmission, an 11 year old car, looked lke a new car is in my immediate future!

I go home and start searching for new cars online. How much I can get for my trade in, $1600 says edmunds.com. Why the hell are sedans cheaper than coupes? They have two more doors and are typically longer! They have two more doors worht of things like handles, swithces and buttons?! That just seems crazy! Aint like I am looking for a Lamborghini!

Friday: Towed the car to the mechanic. Told them the problem and they got that look on their face that said "transmission!" He even said the words "Sounds like the transmission." Take a look and let me know. I rented a car for the day. I rented a Pontiac G5 (replaced the Sunfire), a car on my radar and figured why not give it a test drive, and a bit less than the G6 (replaced the Grand Am). It drives nice but is a little light.

Then the bargaining starts with me. Am I willing to spend $500 on an 11 year old car? $700? $1000? A thousand it is. I will spend up to $1000. After all it beats the hell out of 5 years of car payments. What if they say it is $1100? And if I say yes to $1100, $1200 is only another $100. I am certain $1500 is out of the question.

Finally in the afternoon they called to say they have driven the car several times and even put 21 miles on it. There does not seem to be a problem. OF COURSE! I said nothing? They said nothing. They adjusted the throttle, but he said that would not have caused the problem. I paid my $100, for the estimate/diagnosis which he said he would credit if it happened again and actually needed repair.

Saturday: Drove today, and nothing. Just like it always was.