More on cars

Since the beginning of January, I've been driving back and forth between my home in Chicago and my job in Cincinnati. The 5-hour drive is about the same time commitment as a flight, is much cheaper, and allows me to bring a lot more junk for my personal comfort. My car is a 10-year-old Acura Integra. While it still has less than 100,000 miles, it's feeling its age these days.

A few weeks ago as I was loading my large suitcase into the back, the hatchback door would not stay open. It just flopped back down. Try loading a suitcase that requires 2-hands to lift into a car while you are holding the door up with your non-existant 3rd hand. Yeah, it was not good. But I managed to wrestle my bag into the car to drive home and then went early on Saturday to the dealership to get it fixed. I had only one day to get it fixed before I had to drive back to Cincinnati on Sunday. The very helpful guy at the service department (which is open on Saturday, by the way) told me that the rear struts had worn out. Struts apparently are the little thingys that hold the hatchback door up and keep it from bonking you in the head.

The dealership guy said they didn't have any of the struts available, but called all around town to find some for me. He even told me that they'd be way cheaper if I bought them from an autoparts store. But, nobody had the darn things. I thanked the guy a lot, because he spent quite a bit of time with me even though it wasn't going to make them any money. As a last resort, I traded cars with my husband and tasked him with ordering the struts and getting them installed.

So, this weekend, I finally returned my husband's car to him. My husband has a much newer car with heated seats, so he really wasn't thrilled to drive my beater. It was good incentive for him to get my car fixed! And this morning, I packed up my car for the long drive back (my company has President's Day off). With snow in the forecast, I decided to refill the window washer fluid - just to be safe. I even found about 1/2 a jug of washer fluid in the garage. Washer fluid filled, I closed the hood of the car. Oops, it's not latching properly. I try again - no luck. I try slamming, I try gentle pushes, I try resetting the lever inside the car. Nothing. My husband of course is at work, so trading cars is not really an option. What to do? I obviously can't drive to Cincinnati with the hood flapping.

Then I remember the helpful guy at the dealership, which is probably open on President's Day. I can drive that far with the safety latch holding hood down. And yes, the folks at the dealership helped me out. They not only topped off my washer fluid, but they reset the latch so the door would stay closed. Of course, at some time, the car will need a new hood latch, but they got me on the road in less than 20 minutes with no charge. And, this was a different guy than the one who helped me with the struts, so it's not just one guy who's nice. How many people get this kind of service at their car dealerships?

Here's the shameless plug for my favorite car dealership: McGrath Acura in Westmont. Did I mention that I didn't even buy my car there? These guys rock!