We are awesome parents (read dripping with sarcasm). We surprised Chloe with a car for her birthday that promptly died 5 days later. Like we needed this little hiccup during this exact time of life. We are quite well known for making lemonade out of lemons. If everything went perfectly all the time, you'd never have any interesting stories to tell. Trust me, we are not short on stories.
The owner of the dealership we bought the car from was a genuinely kind man. He wanted to make this right and he did. He found a "newer" engine (only 100,000 miles vs the 172,000 of her original one) and installed that, along with a new clutch and all the thousand little other things attached to that. I'm not one for details, I just want the car to go. He had it ready sooner than he estimated. He was very apologetic. We were thankful.
Fast forward to Chloe instantly driving it around the neighborhood again. Granted, she's very nervous about stalling out since the last time it stalled out it never woke up. She somehow felt this horrible coincidence was her fault even though the problem had nothing to do with learning how to drive a stick shift. The engine sounded wonderful and she said the clutch felt much smoother.
Until it wasn't....You would think that would be the end of the story. Nice guy fixes car for rock bottom price and girl is happy again. That's what the headline should read. But sometimes, you do get hit by lightning twice.
About the 3rd day of driving, we were waiting at an intersection in the neighborhood and the car started idling really low, like it was about to stall out any minute. Then it did. Then we had to go around a round-a-bout very slowly since there were lots of children nearby riding their bikes. It stalled out again. Chloe's worst fear. She refused to drive it again after that, even though it had nothing to do with her shifting abilities.
Again...we called super nice guy and he said bring it right back and he would check it out and fix it for free. Come to find out, it had 3 old coils that weren't doing something right. I don't know, I never really grasp the part where they explain the problem. Anywho, he fixed it in one day and called us back and said, "Your daughter's chariot is ready and it is running like a million dollars." (See I remember the important details.) And he didn't say it sarcastically. He genuinely wants her to feel safe and happy in her car and for it to treat her right.
Not only did we give Chloe a car, we gave her a great story to tell at parties. Win/win.
