Just Living is a Full Tine Job

The car sagas continue...

I was traveling around with Keith the Car Guy, one of my best friends. We stopped at the body shop for a little touch up to one of his cars. The body man told us about a 2001 4Runner for sale.

It had 200,000 kilometers (about 120,000 miles) which is a little high for me.

But, we went and looked at it as a replacement for my 1999 4Runner that has been nothing but trouble from the purchase in early 2009.

As it turns out, it is in great shape. All the fuse covers, little doors, sun visors, vent controls, etc. are on the car and working. Not like mine! Where all this stuff is missing or broken.

I went home, reluctant to switch cars. My old car, granted a mess, is a known mess. The devil I know is better than the devil I don't know.

I woke in the morning more willing to consider this other car.

I got a call from Keith. He said we needed to go immediately to look the car over and test drive it. So down the road we go, about 30 minutes from Boquete.

The car runs perfect. No smoke from the diesel which is unheard of. All diesels smoke at least a little.

We drive it back to Boquete and had our mechanic check it over. He finds about $400 worth of remedial maintenance required. (Shocks, brakes, turn the the discs, universal joint, power steering pump seal)

Not bad for a 9 year old car.

So now it is decision time. We can get it at about the same price I can sell my old car. With the commission to buy the car and the maintenance, it will cost about $1,000 to get the newer car up and running.

So tomorrow, we leave at 7 am to buy the car, then onto David to buy the parts. Then the mechanic will have it for a couple of days.

Now the slick stuff.

We will take the new tires I just put on my old car and put them on the newer car. As well as the front bearings we just replaced on my old car.

The labor for all this switching and the remedial repairs might be $60.

With any luck, I will have a car that was taken care of rather than the neglected, piece of shit I now have.

I hope, I hope, I hope...

All this car stuff has taken over 6 days of running around, with more coming in the future. That's why I say that simply living here takes all your time!