Car Troubles Suck

So this car of mine, its a good '99 Rav4, about 72,000miles. I got it a couple of years ago, used. Good check-out on carfax(no history of any accidents), and I paid my guys at Toyota to check it out before I bought it as well. I even asked the man at the Toyota service center (who knows me from years of working with them)

"If I was your daughter - would you tell me to buy this car?" and he said "yeah, it'll be a good car for you."

So I bought it.

This is the car that recently the transmission died. DIED. No warning, no strange noises or behavior. It just went kaput one day, a couple of weeks ago. Luckily my brother was available to pick me up that rainy afternoon. He has been able to let me use his car on weekends to get my work down to the Portland Saturday Market. My brother rocks and I cannot even imagine what I'd do without his support. Well, I can imagine, I'd have to rent a car, and that would just add to this financial hole.

I am not a car person. I have very little appreciation for them. They freak me out, I have really been enjoying riding public transportation. Its a relief in my busy days to just stare out the window or read a book, listen to NPR "This American Life" - the bus rides are long and its a much appreciated break from holiday madness. But its really screwing with my life. Everything takes 3 times as long to do, and there are 3 times as many things to do because its freaking peak holiday season time! Arg. And I've had a few good experience with running out the door only to see my bus fly past me (arg) and also the joy of waiting at a bus stop transfer for nearly an hour (arg). Public transport has its pro's and con's - but over all, I really appreciate it lately. I think because I am so busy, its nice to be forced to sit around for an hour to get somewhere.

I am surprisingly prepared for this crisis, lots of stuff, lots of shipping materials, lots of inventory - but there is also constant shipping to do, more stuff to make at all times, and did I mention that this transmission failure is amazingly expensive! I think its the most expensive thing that could go wrong with this car! For that I am ill prepared. Financial crisis seem to be a common thread in the world at large right now. Seems to be the "bigger picture" if you know what I mean.

Well, I am having my own micro-crisis. Car failure: painfully expensive and inconvenient.

Tomorrow the car will be done maybe (new used transmission with a 6 month warranty is being installed, plus whatever else needs to be fixed), I have mixed feelings about this. Its going to cost at least 2Gs. Ouch. But the darned car is worth between 7-10Gs in trade in value(I looked up the current value before committing to the work), so its worth value of the car, or at least that's how I figured it. I really almost just donated the thing to Good Will, good ridance kinda thing, tax write-off potential. But it just seemed like the right business decision for me to fix the car, so that is what I am doing.

If you needed any extra incentive to shop for glass mobiles this year - perhaps you feel like doing a good deed for a friend? A few gifts for loved ones from LeahGlass? Please feel free - consider it a drop in the bucket called "fix Leah's wheels!"

I love public transportation for me - but for my glass business I need the automobile. gosh darnit.

Buy mobiles to help get Leah's car mobile again!