I was at work tonight at the art center and I was talking to my boss and I remembered that he had bought this fancy hybrid car awhile back, so I asked him if it was a Prius (thinking about my brother Karl's new car). He gets this funny look on his face and he says, "Yeah, why?" So I told him my brother had just bought one. He said, "Let me tell you about my Prius......."
He then explained that one of his headlights was going out. In fact, the car TOLD him that the headlight needed to be replaced. So he went to an automotive shop and looked it up in a parts book and bought what was supposed to be the replacement bulb for about $20.00. Went home and tried to put it in......... Couldn't figure it out, so he goes to his mechanic friend. The mechanic friend checks it out, does some calling around and gives him the bad news. The bulb lists for around $200.00 and you can only get them at the dealer. In fact the dealer says they have to do the replacement.
So he takes it to the dealer. He has someone from work go with him because he has to leave the car there for awhile. They called him at work and told him that, apparently these are some REAL special high intensity/variable intensity, computer controlled bulbs. They aren't $200.00 they are $300.00 plus AND then there is around $200.00 labor. Apparently, they have to partly disassemble the front end to change the bulb. Final cost? $534.22. He's real emphatic about the AND 22 CENTS.
Well, he didn't HAVE $534.22 cash available, so he needed to use a credit card. Which was at home. So he has the person from work give him a ride home. Only the key to his house is in his car at the dealership. His neighbor who keeps his spare house key is in Reno. The service department at the dealership is now closed and yes, the dealership is still open-- selling Priuses no doubt, but no, they can't let him in to the service department to get his house key. So he ends up spending the night at a friend's. In the morning he has to get someone to take him to the dealership to get his house key so that he can go back and get INTO his house, to get the credit card so that he can then GO BACK to the dealership and get his car.
He wasn't having a good day..........
Now he's telling me this story in the pottery studio and one of my students pipes up with, "What about the other bulb?"
You should have SEEN the look on his face.........
3 comments:
Robin and I figure we'd have to own a Prius for about 13 years before the money you'd save on gas would actually pay for the difference in cost over buying a cheaper less full-efficient vehicle.
That's fuel-efficient, not full-efficient
wow what a day. I'll have to keep that in mind. If you guys haven't heard,.. (we have/had 2 cars,..a yukon and a saturn redline),.. the redline was totalled yesterday so I've had cars on my mind all day. I'll have to keep this in mind when looking. Not that a prius is in our price range or anything,.. but,..Stacey was trying to convince me today that it might be a good thing to get a hybrid,.. I think I might let them bake a little more first before I get one. That said,.. I am still looking for a nice fuel efficient vehicle,.. heard of any good ones that get pretty good gas mileage? with decent quality,.. and lots of power? let me know.
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