In year 2000, I bought my second new car (in addition to 2 prior used ones), all domestic; the first new one was a Ford, the second GM/Olds. Except for the first, a used Chevy that I bought from a Navy enlisted man in Florida (which seemed to drink a can of oil every fill-up), I've driven the heck out of my cars, probably over 100K miles. I bought the second used, a Cutlass Supreme, after I had moved to El Paso to join the UTEP faculty, off some rental company car lot (in part figuring they had to have been well-maintained). I still agreed to a maintenance service package, and believe it or not, it was money well-spent. Less than 2 weeks of owning the car, I had an A/C failure, and believe me, you don't want to be driving in El Paso without air-conditioning.
I have certain emotional attachments to my current car, in part because I had converted bonus points from my 3 CEO awards over 13 months (probably an employee record at the time) as a down payment (I donated my Cutlass to charity). What I didn't realize at the time was GM was planning to retire the brand in the near future; the last Olds was produced in April, 2004. I would have had concerns about service and parts for my new car.
I have never been obsessed with cars; I've seen them as functional travel devices. My Navy buddy Joe was obsessed with Saabs. One of my brothers in law had a thing for Corvettes (and eventually bought one as a mid-level IT manager at a mobile phone services company). It actually was a thing that led him and my middle sister to try to fix me up in the 80's, the one and only time I recall someone trying to fix me up on a date. I would later learn that the brainy woman they figured was a great match for me was a PhD student at some health sciences institution. "And--get this--she owns a CORVETTE!" But on the first night of my visit, my sister and brother-in-law took me to an adult bar (not the first time; my friend Joe took me to one, threatening to kick me out of the car in downtown Orlando after dinner). And my brother in law topped off my glass of beer every time my attention was diverted. I don't know how much I drank, but the nerd that I am caught myself slightly slurring my speech and thought, "That's odd; am I drunk? How do you get drunk on one glass of beer?" [I'm not a teetotaler; when I go home for Christmas, I might have a beer or glass of wine for dinner or order a rum & coke at a cocktail party. But I almost never order a drink when I eat out, and I haven't bought anything to drink home in literally years. I think the last time I had alcohol in my apartment was when I redeemed my Diners Club card points for three bottles of wine.]
So anyway, the next morning, everybody is hung over (headaches) but me--but I was rather tired and listless. My sister and brother in law had friends over; maybe a half dozen of people mostly quiet and not doing much of anything. That's when all of a sudden this woman came into the room, looked down at me, and said, "HMMMPH! Some gentlemen know to come to their feet when a lady comes into the room." [To this day I wish I had come back with "Fine! Let me know when one comes in !"] This apparently was the arranged date--and I didn't know at the time they were trying to fix us up. I think she was in and out. Do I blame my bachelor status on missed opportunities like this? No, I'm good. Maybe I didn't impress her, but her judgmental attitude sucked. Do I regret not riding in her Corvette? Nope. Did I ever get car envy? Maybe once: Joe's wife and our former colleague Lynn had a sweet black Ford Mustang. Some idiots as a wedding prank got cheese in her ventilation system.
[As an aside, after earning my first Master's in math, I was a Navy math instructor teaching calculus et al as a submarine training program in Orlando, initially assigned to the enlisted track. Let's just say that maybe 90% of the instructors were male and most of us were single. Joe and Lynn were among my colleagues. I still remember the first time I saw Lynn; she was pretty and wore her hair in curls, a ready smile and sweet disposition, a curvy figure. I had a mad crush on her. "Cool your jets, Ron; she's married!" Joe told me. Rumors were that Lynn's marriage at the time to another Orthodox Jew had issues, e.g., that her husband had once locked her out of their house. So one day she came to work wearing her hair straight in a different hairstyle. I protested to Lynn, "Why did you change your hairstyle, Lynn? I thought your hair looked great in curls?" Joe interjects, "Lynn, don't pay any attention to Ron; I think your hair looks great as it is." I could tell Lynn loved the attention her hairstyle was attracting. Later I said to Joe, "Dude, why did you score points at my expense? You yourself told me she's married." Joe prophetically said, "Well, you never know what's going on happen." I got my honorable discharge some time later and moved back to Texas to take my first programmer/analyst position. I eventually learned Lynn and her husband divorced, and she dated some of my colleagues, including Joe. I couldn't be happier when Joe and Lynn announced their engagement (maybe a little bit of jealousy) I lost track of them a few years later (the instructor positions were limited to a single 4-year term of service, and the last I knew they were living in Maine), but I had heard they had two beautiful daughters.]
My Dad had a very protectionist view of the auto market, and I suppose to some extent he influenced me in my selection (but part of it was I liked knowing I could find one or more dealers almost anywhere I would move to get my auto serviced). The problem is that service can vary greatly between dealers. I had a couple of service plans with GM during my first 8 years of ownership, one more of an extended warranty, the other for certain services, like oil changes. To give an example, there was this dealer in Libertyville that not only honored my regular oil changes but threw in a free car wash. On the other hand, when I moved to the Baltimore suburbs, my nearby dealer only handed it during business hours, no evenings or weekends. Typically I had to commute at least one hour each way, so basically I had to find a way to rework my work schedule each time I needed car work (or a medical appointment) done.
This has always been a pet peeve of mine: unlike a number of facilities nearly always open, e.g., Walmart, diners, gas stations, even laundromats. Why couldn't dealerships have hours more convenient to their customers? Obviously a lack of competition.
Of course, like any long-term auto owner, I've had my share of big repairs (including replacing my manual transmission, multiple major brake repairs, etc.) But probably the most annoying thing, as I may have mentioned in past posts, is having 5 major power window failures, in absurdly regular fashion counter-clockwise starting with the driver-side windows. I don't know how many times other people have had power window failures, but I'm sure 5 must be a record. Is this even reasonable reliability and quality workmanship?
How does this work into the service discussion. The last time I had a power window failure, it was on a Friday and thunderstorms were forecast over the weekend. Now I knew it was unlikely I could drop in and get same day service, but I was shocked to hear they couldn't fit me in before next Wednesday. What am I supposed to do until then? "Duct tape." Seriously? Now I had a Pep Boys maybe a mile away from my apartment complex. They had the necessary parts in stock and they could get it done before close of business. I suddenly realized I had alternatives to dealer car service.
But my chagrin over quality only got worse. A year ago last summer, I was living in SC. As part of my Arizona job offer process, I had to get yet another drug test. But they demanded that it be done, not in a convenient health clinic maybe 1 mile from my apartment but through an affiliated office of their partner. Basically I had to take an exit from the route and when I approached the exit intersection--my foot floored the brake. Brake failure! (It happened once before during my ownership. Wow, these reliable GM vehicles.) I quickly hit my emergency brake and somehow muddled my way to a convenience store and called for a tow to the local Chevy dealer (at the same intersection as the local health clinic). I won't go into the hassle of waiting 90 minutes for a tow and the fact there was a deadline for the drug test.
That didn't prepare me for the Chevy dealer to take 5 days to finally get back and tell me they couldn't find the parts and wouldn't take the work. What do you suggest? They shrugged their shoulders and suggested a salvage job. I found a brake shop which could fabricate its own brake lines; it was pricey but better than buying a new car. But this was disturbing--I hadn't even driven the car 100,000 miles, and I was running into chronic parts problems. Is this the era of $20K-plus disposable cars?
Fast forward to last Friday. I go out to my car and start my car, only to find I can't shift out of park. (My lever worked up and down, but it wouldn't catch outside of park.) I get it towed to a local service shop. It turns out the shift drive cable was broken. Now came 3-4 hours of trying to find a replacement part. GM and its suppliers had discontinued the part. A dealer in Puerto Rico had the part in inventory but good luck on getting it anytime soon given the post-hurricane reality. Oh, my God, was this yet another death sentence for my car because of a part that should have never been discontinued?
The local shop located an area salvage yard with a compatible Olds model car. Both the acting manager and one of the mechanics sacrificed or deferred their lunch hour to pick up the part and install it respectively. I'm very impressed with the customer service, the professionalism, etc.; I couldn't bill my full 8 hours at work, but I got to salvage maybe half of it.
I'm amazed with new technology being deployed. For example, the tow truck was able to automate my car's hookup without any manual work outside. One reason I've been waiting on buying a new car is a number of smart car innovations due on the market shortly. If and when I'll buy, chances are that it will not be another Government Motors car.
