Grateful #34 - Proactivenss AKA the 4th car is the charm.

My very first car was beautiful.   It had a sunroof, leather seats, a spoiler, and was adorned with 716 bumper stickers that told the drivers behind me that A)  I was obviously a teenager and B) I liked music, democrats, going against the norm, and clever sayings that reaffirmed my youth.   And while it looked so cool from the outside, I neglected to think about the inner workings of the car – the parts of the car that made it run.  I drove it through PA, NY, and everywhere in between, without so much as an oil change, a tire rotation, or a service check.  One day it literally just stopped working.   Every car I’ve had since then (save the car I have now) was given to me or handed down to me, and suffered a similar fate.  Learning from my mistakes takes me a few more mistakes than the rest of the world, apparently.

I bought my own brand new car a year and a half ago; funny that when you buy something yourself, you tend to treat it better.  Today I took my car in for its 10,000 mile routine service check.  Before something went wrong.  Before the check engine, check oil, check fluids, check battery, check everything lights came on.   Before I was stuck on the side of the road with smoke wafting out of the engine.  I am grateful for  finally doing something as a precautionary measure instead of as an emergency measure.  Never again do I want to get in my car and have to say a little prayer to the automotive gods that the warning lights on my dashboard don’t light up – it’s a feeling of impending doom.  A very expensive impending doom.

I’ve learned my lesson about taking care of things along the way instead of having to fix them after a catastrophe.  If I ever have kids, the 4^th one is going to be in great shape.