One thing I dread is car troubles. I know so little about cars. I think that any time I take my car into a repair shop, I'm taken advantage of. They could say, "Your flap-doodle is shot and it must be replaced." I respond with, "Oh, OK. How much will it cost and how long will it take?"

My car recently started acting up. I could tell even before I went to the shop that it was an expensive kind of problem. The official diagnosis was that the vehicle needed a new transmission. Ouch. The cost of replacing the transmission was about as much as the car would be worth as a trade-in (it is an old vehicle). I decided to have the car repaired and I'm hoping that I get enough use out of the car for long enough to make the repair worthwhile.

I took the car in to a repair shop on a Wednesday. They said they could get a transmission to put in by Thursday afternoon. They would take the car apart Thursday morning so that when the transmission arrived in the afternoon,  they could start putting it in immediately. Well, guess what. The part did NOT arrive on Thursday. And even more bad news, the mechanic would not be available to work on the car until the following Tuesday. My car has been disassembled at the shop for five days now. The only thing that kept me from blowing a gasket of my own is that the car place loaned me a car (for free) to drive while mine was was not functioning.

I am hoping and praying that they get my vehicle fixed tomorrow and my life can go back to normal.