Our minivan was eight years old in December. It's a Toyota, so it runs quite well. My concern is that one day it's going to be running along on the freeway, and the body is just going to disintegrate as we drive.
About three weeks ago, Nikki was opening the side door and the handle broke off. Just broke off in her hand, and she fell down. Hard.
Scott went in to order a new handle, and found out it will cost about $250 to fix it. It's a plastic handle. But apparently, in the world of Toyota, you can't order a 50¢ plastic handle by itself. No, you have to order the entire part of the door that SURROUNDS the handle. And then you have to pay to have it installed, of course. Scott was so mad that he asked for the name of a manager and left. So we still have no handle.
We've taken to using the other door to get in. Unfortunately, the handle on THAT door hasn't worked properly for about five years. And Scott noticed today that that handle's parts are bending. ??? Anyway, he's pretty sure it's going to break, too.
We got on the Internet, and guess what? EVERYBODY who owns a Sienna has broken handles. The guy at the dealership told Scott that the handle on the back hatch will break next. So we have that to look forward to, since we can't even open that door from the inside.
THEN we loaned the van to a fellow teacher who took students camping last weekend. It came back with the rubber pad on the emergency break ripped off.
The speaker cracked when we loaned it to a teacher who needed to transport students for nursing field experience. The back windows have already broken and been repaired once, and when I closed them today Scott said they sounded loose again. The paint is oxidizing on the roof (probably because we've never waxed the darn thing) and there are more dings on the body than you can shake a stick at.
Oh yeah, and it's filthy. Today we found a layer of sunscreen under the seat when we removed it so I could transport cookies.
I'm beginning to feel like we should just move into a trailer park and call it good.
Our other car will be paid off in October. I guess I know what I'll be asking for for Christmas.
1 comment:
Okay, Cindy. I was looking over some of your older posts and just had to laugh over this one! Not AT you, but WITH you, of course. Mark and I are not great - or even good - at HOME ownership . . . feeling like our fairly new home is crumbling around us. If you find two spaces next to each other at that TRAILER PARK, please let us know!!!
Post a Comment