I knew that I was pushing it with the car battery. The cold weather had been making starting up the car iffy for some time. In fact, it had been necessary to charge it once. I have also already posted that we felt that we needed to take Harriet the Chariot for a spin every few days.
On Tuesday, I decided to leave for grocery pickup with enough time to allow me to go for another little recharging drive first. It was not to be.
The battery was kaput and our little charger was not sufficient this time to resurrect it from its cold death.
What to do?
We have a membership with the auto club, so we could have got them to come and charge it.
But what would we do then because I pretty well knew that the battery had reached its life's end. What would be the point of a temporary, one-time charge?
I decided to call our tire place, the one that I have been using for 15 years.
Me: Do you have batteries?
Them: We can get them within a few hours.
Me: Would you come here and install it?
Them: We will come and pick the car up, drive it back here, install the battery, and bring the car back to you.
I couldn't have asked for more. I wouldn't have to arrange for a temporary charge which would still leave me in the predicament of somehow purchasing a battery and then running around to garages during lockdown while I kept the engine running.
They picked up the car: two mechanics -- one to drive my car.
Shortly thereafter, the phone rang. They had noticed that my oil change light was on. I was aware of this and had been planning to attend to it after the lockdown ended, which will likely be next week, which is also when I intended to have the battery checked.
Them: Would you like us to do an oil change while the car is here.
Me: You can to that? (I didn't know.)
Them: Yes.
Me: Yes, please do it.
Within 3.5 hours, everything was done, including the subsequent picking up and unpacking of groceries.*
Not bad, eh?
What could have been a very major hassle went so smoothly that I am close to being thrilled.
If thrilled is too strong, at the very least, I am extremely pleased with the service that was provided.
What I must do next, is to hie me thither to put a reminder on my Google calendar for February 2026: Change the battery, Dude. Yes, I figure five years should just about do it for battery life considering our long, harsh winters. Next time, I plan to change it before the problems begin.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure after all.
* They also reset all of the things that must be reset after a battery failure. Phew!
20 comments:
My MIL has a new vehicle every three years. She doesn’t put more than 5.000 kms on a car. However, in winter, any time she goes to use it, the battery is dead. The garage tells her she has to go for longer drives to charge the battery. She’s 88. It isn’t going to happen. So she has a car she can’t rely on for half the year. That’s our new vehicles for you.
You are lucky with your service people. The joys of small town living for sure.
Luckily my 2 sons live nearby and they are fanatics about keeping the car in good shape ... it saves them from surprises. Sounds like you have a wonderful service in your area. Are you aware that it is so often not the case???
That's a good story to read about...and I advise you to go ahead and feel thrilled. These days, simple pleasures do rate a lot higher. After all, we're still alive, we woke up this morning, we can hobble about on our mostly blue earth, and you've got your lovely family...oh I do too, but I didn't want you to think I have yours rather than my own. Vehicles that work are part of our lives, and I'm very grateful that mine works as well as it does. I'm off to shop early this morning!
I'm hearing a lot of weak-battery stories these days! Here we blame it on the cold. -Kate
I can certainly understand a thrill like that! With all the stress f living these days, these guys deserve a batch of brownies.
My wife's car is nearing six years on the battery so I have been pondering about doing something the next warm snap. I always carry battery jumper cables in all our vehicles just in case but anymore, asking someone if I can use their car to start mine is like telling them I'm a witch and I want to use sorcery with their battery. I think it is a dying art.
Ed. We have a little charger in the car. It works unless the battery is just about dead as ours was.
Very nice! The service of that tire company is a bit on the rarer side these days. I am glad for a relatively hassle-free outcome!
PipeTobacco
Once I lost my job I simply did not drive my car much. As soon as it got cold, my car started dragging when I tried to start it. Tim thinks that it was actually the analog clock ticking quietly away for a couple weeks in an undriven car.
I had a new battery installed earlier this year, the old one was 10 years old, so I'm very pleased to say I haven't had any trouble starting the car during this bitterly cold weather.
My battery is still fairly new, but I don't drive much, so that's an issue. I DO need to get my oil changed though. Last time was May. I'm still 2,000 miles under though. Glad you got such great service. I would call up the manager and give them a compliment!
So nice when what could have been a hassle is quickly resolved! Small pleasures.
New cars aren't that simple anymore.
A good local service place is like gold!
I recently had to replace my better due to failure to start on a day I needed it to go. They even reset my clock.
Well, that's good.
Do you keep a blanket on the hood of the car?
That's awesome! :)
That was excellent customer service & what better advertisement is the referral of customers to friends & family.
I finally remembered to bring in the battery from the lawn tractor. The cold just fries it!
Well done with the new battery. JB's been taking the car to Crappy Tire for all this. Their protocols are bizarre, though!
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