So yesterday I tried to get up to Elgin to do the dreaded emissions testing. (If the State of Illinois thinks this is so important and wants everyone to cooperate whey do they make it so DIFFICULT???? There used to be more testing facilities, but now they are inconveniently located!!!)
But my 8 year old vehicle wasn't cooperating. Let's just say we're absolutely anal about our vehicles--always change the oil every 3,000 miles, keep them clean (which isn't easy in northern Illinois' crummy winter climate) and make sure all required maintenance is done. Anyway, a clunk and squeak in the front deterred me. Well a trip to the Merlin store in St. Charles (I strongly recommend them--talk to Mike who is the manager) revealed bad ball joints. OUCH. Thankfully Merlin's was able to take care of the problems with their usual speed and skill. Thanks to them.
So what's the choice? Car payments or maintenance? As much as I like the shiny new cars we all know they're EXPENSIVE. I'm not sure I'm prepared for those not-so-easy monthly payments to burden us.
The point of this--as I was waiting for my car one of the folks in the waiting room said, "There goes your rebate from the federal government." Yep, there it went. My response was, "Money is like manure. Ya gotta spread it around to make things grow." I helped the economy by having car problems. Who woulda thunk it?
