Sometimes ya just gotta spend the money to save money down the road.
Such was my thought when I took my Subaru in for an oil change. It'd been nearly a year. And though I've not been driving that much since losing my job in August, it's still well worth keeping up on scheduled maintenance.
Because when you don't, it's only more trouble and higher repair bills later.
Subarus are such great cars as it is. The cost of upkeep will return enormous dividends in service, reliability and dependability.
No, I'm not a paid advertiser. Yes, I'd do their car ads for free, absolutely I would! Yes, I'm an avowed Subaru cultist and proud of it.
I've heard reports of them lasting well into the 300,000+ mileage (482,803 km) because the owners maintained them; once in a Montana shop I saw a guy bring his in with like 350,000 miles (563, 270 km).
A lofty goal? Not at all — with the proper upkeep and TLC. That'll be me, with those miles, if I live that long.
So I took her in for the oil change. And mentioned to Bill, the manager, who knows me, that she'd been making a funny sound very intermittently of late. Only when the weather's cold. And only when the car's cold and just started up.
Occasionally when I turned the wheel hard all the way to the right or left — and the car needn't be in motion — for example, when preparing to pull away from a curb — there was this squeaking. Like a hand rubbing a balloon.
It was so intermittent and short-lived — and there were no other symptoms or strange odors — it was something of a puzzle to troubleshoot. My research returned a low level of power steering fluid or belt as possible culprits; a fluid check showed it at the low-level line.
So Bill said he'd have the mechanic take a look as a courtesy and top off the fluid. There was no leak. Belts looked fine. They added fluid at no charge.
Once again, Subaru treats me well! This excellent responsiveness has been consistent across half a dozen states in which I've had the car serviced.
Lordie I love this car!!
It's all good. I love that feeling when the car's had her checkup or been serviced. I hear and feel her purring, I swear I do.
I'm glad I bit the financial bullet and went, for her and my own peace of mind.
It also presented the opportunity to ask Bill whether he'd received the typed letter, sent in an envelope, stamp and all!, I'd mailed about two months ago.
It'd been written on an occasion in which they'd gone an extra mile, financially as well as in service, in a fluke minor repair.
See, I passionately believe in bringing poor service or quality to the attention of a manager as well as praising good service and quality.
He checked his stack of letters; he hadn't received it.
Darn post office!
Fortunately I'd saved it on the laptop.
I left Subaru with a hearty thank you, a great big smile and a promise to resend that letter.
And, oh yes, I found a 5 dollar bill (7.78 AU; 3.89 EU) on the floor – sweetness! It shall go to my gold Buddha coin dish.
It was a happy springy purrrrfect day.
Barefoot Blogger 