My Car is a Lousy Hotel Room
September 30, 2011I can say a lot of things about my car. It’s old (1998). It’s high mileage (~200,000 miles). It’s got enough dings and dents and stuff to give it “character.” But, it’s been a great car for me. Very reliable. Very much like my 2nd home considering how much I drive. First, a little back-story on my life: I live ~300 miles from a company (one of our client companies) where I routinely spend 2-3 days/week, and it takes roughly 5 hours to drive there. I can get from my front door to my hotel room door in about 5 hours, 15 minutes if traffic isn’t an issue. (My best-ever time is 4 ½ hours without a stop.)
Sometimes I fly, and there a lot of steps involved. I have to go from my place to a parking lot near the airport, take a shuttle to the airport, and have my friendly TSA agent give me a VERY THOROUGH screening process (I’d write more about this, but it’s a family-friendly blog!), sit and wait for a flight that is inevitably delayed, fly, land, wait outside the airport for the rental car shuttle bus, take the bus to the rental agency, get my car and drive to my hotel. Whew, I’m tired just thinking about all those transitions! Isn’t travel glamorous? Going from my front door to the hotel room door can be anywhere from 4 hours (my best-ever time flying) to 9 hours (snowstorms in the winter, thunderstorms in the summer, not to mention the times when fights are just flat out cancelled). So much for the myth of flying saving time, huh? So, I mix it up and fly sometimes, drive sometimes, and am considering the train but there isn’t a compelling price or time advantage that I can see. Anyway, back to my point…
I like my car! I get to pick my radio station (gratuitous plug for Sirius radio here…it’s awesome! If you’re a Sirius exec and would like to give me a lifetime subscription for blatantly plugging your product, I’ll be very subtle (like I’m being here) about “product placement” in here!), I get to pick when I stop, or if I stop, and I can actually carry a bottle of water or iced tea into my car without my friendly TSA agent making me throw it away. And, if my toothpaste isn’t the travel size, I can keep that too! I enjoy driving, it’s about the only time I can be alone with my thoughts (Yes, I have 3 kids and I work a lot of hours so “down time” isn’t very abundant.) and I have a good time behind the wheel of a car. Being an over the road trucker could’ve been a career choice for me given how much I like to drive. As much as I like my car, it is a REALLY LOUSY hotel room!
Last week I was driving home, late at night, in the middle of nowhere, and I noticed smoke or steam coming from under my hood and my temperature gauge was rising quickly. The smell was distinctive. Anti-freeze. So, I pulled off the major highway so that I could check out the car and develop a plan. It was 11:00 at night, I was 150 miles from home, and my car had apparently just lost a hose and my car was not drivable. I called AAA, and after being routed to the right geographical location, I talked to a wonderfully nice person who arranged for a tow truck to come out to get me. The tow truck driver called me a few minutes later and asked where I wanted to be towed. I had no idea, so I outlined my car’s situation to him and asked him where he’d take his car if it was his car and not mine. And, that’s where he towed me. But, it was REALLY in the middle of nowhere! So, I ended up sleeping in my car (Note to self: if I do that again, I’ll use the back seat rather than reclining the front seat). When the garage opened, they noticed me sleeping and a guy brought me a cup of coffee and we talked about the issue with my car. He worked on it that morning and I was on my way later that day, so the story ends well. It turned out to not be a hose, though. It was the water pump, and the way that the water pump malfunctioned, it caused the fan to be damaged beyond repair as well. So, it became an expensive repair on top of a not so cozy hotel bed. But, at least it was fixed and I got home and took the longest shower of my life later that night!
Why do I tell you this story? A few reasons…
First, and most importantly, I happened to be prepared for an expensive repair because I have an emergency fund for just this type of occasion. I’d be really bummed if this happened and I needed to put the repair bill on a credit card with a high interest rate! If you don’t have one, consider putting away $5, $10, $20/month (or more if you have the cash flow) until you build up a $1,000 – $2,000 emergency fund. It may take a while, but when something like this happens, you’ll be prepared.
Consider some type of roadside assistance program! I don’t know exactly what I would have done without AAA that night, but I’m sure it would have been far more stressful. My renewal package came in the mail maybe 2 months ago and I briefly thought about canceling it since I had paid the premium for 5-6 years and had never needed to call. But, I decided that with an older car and lots of highway time in my life that keeping it in place might be a good idea. Turns out that it wasn’t a good idea, it was a great idea!!! The cost of the coverage was minor in comparison to the feeling of relief I had when I made the call and knew that someone trustworthy was on his way to take me to the worst hotel room I’ve had in a very, very long time.