Car Woes, and Blogging.

~ beetleypete

I went to the supermarket today to pick up just a few bits, like fresh bread and some milk. Unfortunately, the gear selector of my automatic car jammed solid as I parked in the car park. I eventually had to call out the breakdown service we subscribe to, and wait 90 minutes for them to come out. I couldn’t even go and get what I needed inside the supermarket, as the key could not be removed because the car ‘thought’ it was in Drive.

The repair main connected my car to a computer, and diagnosed the fault as the gear selector switch solenoid. He then fiddled around with the lever, and managed to get the car started, and into Drive. I knew better than to chance leaving it at that, and drove to the local main dealer for my model of car. They booked it in for Tuesday, said I could leave it with them, and ordered a taxi to get me home.

As a result, I am not long inside the house, have just cooked dinner and put it in the oven, and will have no time to comment on everyone’s blogs.

I may well be without my car for some time, as the dealership reported great difficulties in finding the right parts at the moment. Fortunately, Julie has a car, and it is much newer than mine. So at least we are not stranded. I have been trying to nurse my old car for some time now. It has done relatively low mileage, but is showing its age in other ways.

Just another thing to ‘happen’. On top of the heating boiler repairs, and everything else that piles on at once.

Ain’t life grand when you are old, your dog is old, and so is your car? 🙂

61 thoughts on “Car Woes, and Blogging.”

  3. Yes, life is ‘grand’ when you are old, your dog is old, and so is your car. My teaching team at school are all 2 decades apart. How can that be when we are all the same and good friends? I’m in my 70’s, Naomi is in her 50’s, and Heidi is in her 30’s. I’m old. 🙂 I feel your pain with the car.

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  6. We all tend to forget how old things around us are (at least my mother always thinks she just bought everything a short time ago and usually it is several years when we check). I’ve never had an automatic car although I’ve driven one a few times. I hear that the problems with part supplies are generalised, but I hope they manage to locate what your car needs. Yes, it seems that nowhere is a country for old men (or women, or cars)… Take care, Pete.

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  7. We are similar issues with our stuff: the inverter broke down, it’s battery ran out of life blood, the washing machine decided to give us grief every now and then, the wifi connection doesn’t work on weekdays when it is sorely needed for office work and electric cuts are so frequent, we are more often without lights than with. 😄 All at once! Life at its best!

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  10. I sympathise with problems coming all at once. I haven’t yet told hubby he is not safe to drive and I am considering getting rid of our car this year as I only use it once or twice a week. He hasn’t been out of the house since coming out of hospital and is very unsteady on his feet. I didn’t realise getting old was so difficult.

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    1. Thanks, Julie. I think things get on top of us more as we age. I personally find events like these much more stressful than I did when I was younger. My wife is almost 10 years younger than me, but has her own medical issues to deal with.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  18. Oh dear Pete, but if you want to nip over into Lincolnshire you can borrow my black VW Polo reg 2007 very low mileage, 23000, but it still goes. Lol. I do hope that it doesnt take as long as you think it will to get it back. It wasnt mine that failed the other day it was a 2019 golf lol. Xx

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  19. When I was young and broke we had a car which couldn’t get into reverse gear any more and really didn’t like to go in first either. I am amazed thinking about how we just worked with it since we had no money to fix the thing. That was a VW bug with a hole in the floorboard that we covered with a rug scrap.

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    1. I had a VW bug with a hole in the floorboard, too! The back seat caught on fire one day when two people were sitting on it. Needless to say, the car wasn’t long for this world, and it ended up being scrapped for parts.

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    2. I remember owning an old car with broken windscreen wipers. I attached string to them, and pulled them back and forth from inside until I could afford to get a new wiper motor fitted. 🙂
      Best ishes, Pete.

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          1. Yikes. We had a similar mishap with the brakes going out as my mother descended a hill. She yelled “hit the floor”(no seat belts in those days) and we were all fine as she steered the car off road into the woods

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  20. thats the trouble with having a Datsun car Pete – they only parachute the car parts in once a month – and when you thought it raining Cats & Dogs – it is actually raining Datsun Cogs.

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    1. I know you have had more than your share of car troubles, Jude. I just don’t feel I can justify using savings to change my car for something more modern. Even used cars are so expensive now.
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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      1. I know. When I was panicking last summer and looked at second hand cars I was shocked. My own car, a 2008 VW JETTA, about 80k miles is worth peanuts. Even a small 3 Yr old car is going for over 10k.

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      1. Pete, we are a two car household as well and as a result our annual milage is very low…thanks to the pandemic as well, my wife’s 4-1/2 year old Tesla has 18,000 miles total! I had a tire replaced due to a nail and asked the Tesla rep how often I need to bring the car in – he said that unless the car itself tells us to, NEVER! There is NO maintenance for it at all!

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  23. Indeed, Pete. When I see the bills I always wonder, will there be enough to see us all to the end? There was a time when I worried myself sick but I realise that it is pointless, just makes matters worse. So I try to take each drama as it arrives. But they do tend to come in bunches, so I feel for you.

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