I woke up today and had planned and expected to spend most of the morning taking care of my car after the battery died over the weekend. I sent an e-mail to my boss to let her know that I would probably be in late, then I called a towing company to see what kinds of services they offered. Their website said that the had a battery replacement service, meaning they would just come out to your car and install a new battery. But they said that service was offered to AAA customers—note to self, sign up for AAA—and that if I paid it out of pocket it would be really expensive. So I naturally didn't go for that service, but they did come out to my apartment to jump my car so that I could at least drive it to a shop.
I took my car to a shop that I've been to before for some minor fixes. The guys at the shop were surprised that I still had the original battery in my car; they said most car batteries last only about five years. My car is a 2001 Toyota, so the battery had a good life of ten years. It took only about fifteen minutes to replace the battery, and I was on my way to work. As it turned out, I arrived at work at about the same time when everyone else normally shows up. (I'm usually at work a little before 8:00, so 9:00 is "late" for me, but normal for everyone else.)
So now my car is running just fine. Again, I'm glad that this problem happened over the weekend while I was at home. I'm glad I didn't end up stranded somewhere late at night or something like that. And I'm really grateful that this happened before the weather starts to turn bad for the winter. At least now I know that I have a new, strong battery to get me through the winter. So it's a blessing all around.
And the best part of the whole thing is that I got a free pint of ice cream from the auto shop. That might sound strange, but they are located right next door to an ice cream factory, and I suppose the shop gets a lot of ice cream from the ice cream place (the shop has a freezer full of ice cream next to their counter). Whenever you spend $100 or more at the shop, you get a free pint of ice cream. Because I spent $108, I picked a pint of espresso chocolate chip ice cream. Yay!
3 comments:
Yay for free ice cream! Just in case you're still considering joining AAA, one of the services offered along the Front Range is a mobile battery testing/replacement program. This is something you can request by phone or email as part of AAA's usual roadside assistance service, so you wouldn't need to call around looking for a company that does it.
A word of caution, be careful when companies say they offer a particular service to AAA customers. I'm not saying it is the case with this particular company, but be cautious because there are some scammers out there who will tell you they work with AAA when really they don't. You can arrange any automotive service, towing, locksmithing, battery, find a repair shop etc by calling 800-AAA-HELP and that way you know for sure you are getting a AAA approved mechanic or towing company.
I'm the social media manager for AAA Colorado and found your post when looking for mentions of AAA. Glad to hear you got sorted out before the cold comes in, even if it wasn't with us. :)
AAA pays for itself in the long run. I have never regretted having it. Even when we don't use it for years (knock on wood), it's worth it for the peace of mind. And they even come for things like if you lock your keys in the car.
Glad it was something minor! And glad you got bonus ice cream!
Carrie, thanks for all the good tips and advice. And, Anna beautiful, thanks for always being my voice of reason (love you!). I signed up for AAA last night. And I already took advantage of one of the benefits by getting a discount on a Super Shuttle reservation. Yay!
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