Buy a New Car on Saturday, Put it in the Shop on Monday

10.31.05 | Ramblings

I’m beginning to think my luck with cars is running out. First, I get side swiped by some dude back in July, putting my 4Runner into the body shop for a week and a half. Then my wife got backed into in a parking lot a few weeks ago. We just got her car out of the body shop last week.

And now, I bought a new 2006 Toyota Tundra on Saturday. As my seemingly dumb luck would have it, a defect popped up in the front brakes that nearly caught them on fire as I was driving into the office today. I was about half way between home and work, on the 405 freeway, when the truck began to shimmy. I stepped on the brakes and the whole thing began to chatter at 60 miles an hour. I immediately got off the freeway and on to a side street, jumped out of the truck and found that the front brakes were smoking like crazy. It was so bad I thought the truck might catch on fire. Fortunately, it didn’t. Everything cooled down while I waited for a tow back to the dealership.

I’ve got to say, I’m really bummed about this happening. Here I go out and work a deal all afternoon on Saturday, drive the car locally on Sunday without any trouble, and then have to put the darn thing into the shop before it even has 60 miles on it on Monday. The service department called me this afternoon and told me they’re not really sure what the problem is, but just to be safe, they’re going to replace all of the major components in the front braking system. That’s great and all, but it’s sure one heck of a way to start off with a new truck.

To be fair, I do have to hand it to Toyota of Huntington Beach. They’re going out of their way to make sure I’m taken care of. Free tow and loaner while mine is being worked on. I’m sure there’ll be other little things offered to make sure I’m a happy customer. But darn it! All I want is my truck. There’s nothing worse than getting a new toy only to have it taken away.