I try not to make a habit of erasing prior posts, but after scanning through yesterday's, I may have to make an exception -- after what Mike told me today.
Mike owns a 1995 (thereabout) Chrysler New Yorker that he purchased off the same person who sold me my bomb (and who has ideas about another car for me). I just got home from work today fresh with the news that his car now needs $2,500 in repairs to be deemed safely driveable again. Among other things, his heater core is giving him fits, the rack & pinnion is gone, and the front struts are shot. It cannot be driven on the freeway whatsoever.
He overpaid for that car; being charged $800 in interest - unfairly, I may add. And now, as is with my situation, he's faced with repairs that would equal or eclipse the amount the car is worth. Unlike mine, his is still driveable, but now he's in my boat: the car cannot do what he would ultimately like it to.
Is the supplier selling us a boatload of lemons, intentionally or otherwise? He is very good-natured and wants to see us mobile, but I do have to question where he finds his cars, and how he blindly goes about saying they're good, when there's now two cases building against those claims. I can't say for certain if Mike's feeling hosed, but it would not surprise me if his frustration is peaking along with mine.
But like I mentioned with the college issue up above, those that work hard & get rewarded little can't have things the way we could when we were kids and our parents were alive, well, and working. It is not in our interests to settle for bottom-of-the-barrel products, but sometimes that is all we have. Anyone that questions our recent judgements have to understand what living without a raise from work since 2003 can do while the cost of living continues to skyrocket, with no end in sight.
I fear losing my job due to the transportation issue. I try not to invoke panic, but when it's your moneymaker you have to go to, you need wheels. I only wish I could criticize (or try to analyze) the supplier without hard feelings. There's been too many kicks in the butt to go around lately. Eventually, they'll run out of places to kick.
