The stress started Friday, 4-28, and has ranged from a simmering to full-blown boil ever since! And that's where this article - https://getpocket.com/explore/item/four-ways-to-stop-thinking-the-worst-will-happen-when-you-re-stressed?utm_source=pocket-newtab
- Four Ways to Stop Thinking the Worst Will Happen When You’re Stressed - comes into play. It turns out that I should have read this article on Friday, 4-28, not Wednesday, 5-3.
To catch up on what my week has been like, on Friday, 4-28, when I was on my way to work, lights came on in our 2007 Ford F-150. On the left side of the steering wheel, I saw "O/D Off" and where the odometer is, a message displayed "Trans Fault". I turned around and asked Karen to follow me to Linder Tire, hoping that Mark would be able to fix whatever "Trans Fault" meant. However, when I talked to Mark, he told me that he doesn't work on transmissions and that his mechanic had a 9 hour job scheduled for Friday. Mark assured me that he would do what he could.
On my way back to work, I thought about whether I needed to find another mechanic to look at our 2007 Ford F-150. I stopped at All-Seasons Automotive but they weren't open yet. I remembered that there was a "Quality" garage just north of the McDonald's on 965 so I decided to drive there.
That turned out to be the best decision I made on Friday as it turns out that Alex at Quality Care Auto (QCA) works with Mark at Linder Tire when there is something one or the other business cannot do. For example, one of the techs at Quality went down to Linder Tire to do ... something mechanical that escapes me now ... when the tech at Linder Tire was sick. Alex and I talked through some different scenarios including the fact that QCA would work on transmissions, outsourcing to other businesses if necessary. Alex's words calmed me down a bit and it made me feel good to discuss the situation with Alex. Alex didn't think he would be able to get to our 2007 Ford F-150 on Friday but if there was a cancellation, he would try to look at it. However, since our 2007 Ford F-150 was still at Linder Tire, not at QCA, and since I had asked Mark to look at it, I didn't know what to do other than to return to Linder Tire and explain that I had talked to Alex at QCA. Mark was extremely cool about the situation and said that he had our 2007 Ford F-150 already pulled into the garage. He said that if needed, he would get our 2007 Ford F-150 up to Mark at QCA.
Work Hours passed on Friday. Eventually, I got a phone call from Mark at Linder Tire that he had found out it was a sensor and that he had transported our 2007 Ford F-150 to Alex at QCA.
Later, I called Alex and he confirmed that he would be looking at on Monday.
I went through the spectrum of the unknown. Would fixing a sensor cost $100? Would fixing a sensor cost $5,000 or, worse yet, $10,000? I had no idea. I spent April 29th and April 30th going through that spectrum pretty much continuously. I am certain Karen was thinking about the unknown cost of fixing a sensor as well.
Finally, Monday comes and I hear from Alex at QCA. He reported that he had diagnosed the issue and with an oil change and fixing the sensor, final bill would be $595. The part would come in Tuesday and he would get it done after that. While not good news - who thinks a $595 car repair bill is good news? - it was also not devastatingly awful news either.
Which leads me up to yesterday. When I called around 3 PM, Alex reported that it had been pulled into the garage and that he would call when it was done. However, around 4 PM, Alex called. The wrong part had been sent so he had requested to have the correct part be sent, it would arrive on Wednesday, and he would make it the highest priority. He also said that he was going to reduce our bill for the invonvenience.
And today is Wednesday. I took Karen to UIHC this morning and when my 3 - 3:50 meeting is over, I will return to UIHC to pick her up and then head to QCA to pick up our 2007 Ford F-150, ending this episode in car repairs.
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