Three days ago my car all of a sudden refused to start. Thankfully I had driven to office, but as soon as I parked, thats it. It seized to start again. I couldnt even turn the key to ACC position. I always thought of selling my toyota corolla...Its about 12 yrs old and still going strong, and now when it didnt start, all my hopes crashed. I didnt want to spend extra money in fixing this car. I'm a person who always believes that everything happens for a reason...And so I thought was even this incident...only that I didnt know what was the reason. I tried calling up AAA to see if they can help. Luckily they did have a locksmith service but she said the cost would be $280 to repair it. As soon as i heard the price, I kept the phone. Well i did thank her for the offer, but couldnt accept it without doing ample research on net. And so I left my car in the parking lot and used my office vehicle to commute.
Two days passed by and I couldnt find time to search for anything...in the meantime few more bad things happened, one of them being the shitty Directv bill...those bunch of losers...and the other one being me losing my fone :( ...can it get worser than this ?? Funny thing was my workplace came in handy in 2 of my bad incidents. I could use my test fone to communicate ( thank god i work in a cell fone company ) and use my office vehicle to commute ( thank god once again for making my office provide vehicles to go to sites ). I've been searching for my fone @ home, no luck so far...shud have left it in my friend's place...i dunno...and as for directv, u know the story from my previous blog. And then there was this stock market, which knew only one way to go...downhill...Oh did I mention about my altercation with my manager ?? Yeap that happened too...his concern was that i wasnt focussed...well of course i was not...so wats the big deal...i'm still working right ??
So yesterday i decided to forget everything and do some research on my car problem..thanks to my wife who found me troubled and did some googling to find few links. There were many suggestions by people..few said it could be the old key, while few others believed it could be the Ignition lock cylinder which goes bad after like 150 k miles, especially in Corolla. Some said the steering wheel might cause it, which when turned properly could fix the issue. But most of them who didnt know much about cars suggested I go to the dealer and not worry about anything.
The last one being the easiest prompted me to call Toyota dealer who after hearing my explanation confidently said it was the Ignition lock cylinder which needs to be replaced. And the charge ??? you won't believe...$550 !!!! wait a minute, in few seconds he brought it down to $450...hmmm some marketing trick i thought. But having no other choice i went for it. Next I called AAA to get help towing my car to the dealer. Had to do it in the evening as i didnt want my collegues to see a tow truck infront of the office...felt embarassing...but as this week was superbad for me, the tow truck came @ 4:30 pm right when everyone was leaving...sweeeeet..
The guy tried his hand in starting the car, but in vain. He then asked me about my plan and i told him to tow it to the dealer. I also mentioned to him the price and put up a sad face...Luckily it worked and he said he'll call up his friend who happened to be a locksmith to see if he can help. And god smiled at me for the first time in the whole week....the locksmith said it can be fixed and just for $250 ...yayyyyyy...i waited in my office till he came like for 1 hr. He turned up @ 6:30 pm in his mobile office / truck.
First thing he did was examining my key, which was the first thing i read on the net. He went inside and took some measurements of the key, and in 5 minutes made a brand new duplicate key. All i was thinking in my mind was that now because of this new key, i'm gonna be charged more than $250 :( ...He put the key in and booooom the car STARTED !!!!! I was like whatttttttt...thats it ??? that was the problem ??? the key ?? OMG i couldnt believe my eyes...I was speechless, fell short of words. He put some WD40 oil to lubricate the lock cylinder and I was ready to go...Finally you know how much he charged ??? $40 bucks...hehehe...where was $550 and where is $40...hehe...how did this happen ?? it was a miracle. When i told the locksmith i was intending to sell this car, he disagreed and asked me to keep it for few more yrs as its a gr8 car. I couldnt agree more.
I gained all my confidence back after this incident. Should i have agreed to the AAA lady before ? I would say no, coz i wouldnt have done any research on cars. Also I wouldnt have driven my office vehicle :). ...saved gas money there, which later got spent in fixing key. So it all came a full circle. It all made sense in the end. Just 3 days ago i was planning to sell my car, and now I started to love and take care of my car more...and may be that was the whole reason why this ever happened
..to stop me from selling my car...
Isnt God just great ?...he just succeeded in showing me the "Key" to Success..
Two days passed by and I couldnt find time to search for anything...in the meantime few more bad things happened, one of them being the shitty Directv bill...those bunch of losers...and the other one being me losing my fone :( ...can it get worser than this ?? Funny thing was my workplace came in handy in 2 of my bad incidents. I could use my test fone to communicate ( thank god i work in a cell fone company ) and use my office vehicle to commute ( thank god once again for making my office provide vehicles to go to sites ). I've been searching for my fone @ home, no luck so far...shud have left it in my friend's place...i dunno...and as for directv, u know the story from my previous blog. And then there was this stock market, which knew only one way to go...downhill...Oh did I mention about my altercation with my manager ?? Yeap that happened too...his concern was that i wasnt focussed...well of course i was not...so wats the big deal...i'm still working right ??
So yesterday i decided to forget everything and do some research on my car problem..thanks to my wife who found me troubled and did some googling to find few links. There were many suggestions by people..few said it could be the old key, while few others believed it could be the Ignition lock cylinder which goes bad after like 150 k miles, especially in Corolla. Some said the steering wheel might cause it, which when turned properly could fix the issue. But most of them who didnt know much about cars suggested I go to the dealer and not worry about anything.
The last one being the easiest prompted me to call Toyota dealer who after hearing my explanation confidently said it was the Ignition lock cylinder which needs to be replaced. And the charge ??? you won't believe...$550 !!!! wait a minute, in few seconds he brought it down to $450...hmmm some marketing trick i thought. But having no other choice i went for it. Next I called AAA to get help towing my car to the dealer. Had to do it in the evening as i didnt want my collegues to see a tow truck infront of the office...felt embarassing...but as this week was superbad for me, the tow truck came @ 4:30 pm right when everyone was leaving...sweeeeet..
The guy tried his hand in starting the car, but in vain. He then asked me about my plan and i told him to tow it to the dealer. I also mentioned to him the price and put up a sad face...Luckily it worked and he said he'll call up his friend who happened to be a locksmith to see if he can help. And god smiled at me for the first time in the whole week....the locksmith said it can be fixed and just for $250 ...yayyyyyy...i waited in my office till he came like for 1 hr. He turned up @ 6:30 pm in his mobile office / truck.
First thing he did was examining my key, which was the first thing i read on the net. He went inside and took some measurements of the key, and in 5 minutes made a brand new duplicate key. All i was thinking in my mind was that now because of this new key, i'm gonna be charged more than $250 :( ...He put the key in and booooom the car STARTED !!!!! I was like whatttttttt...thats it ??? that was the problem ??? the key ?? OMG i couldnt believe my eyes...I was speechless, fell short of words. He put some WD40 oil to lubricate the lock cylinder and I was ready to go...Finally you know how much he charged ??? $40 bucks...hehehe...where was $550 and where is $40...hehe...how did this happen ?? it was a miracle. When i told the locksmith i was intending to sell this car, he disagreed and asked me to keep it for few more yrs as its a gr8 car. I couldnt agree more.
I gained all my confidence back after this incident. Should i have agreed to the AAA lady before ? I would say no, coz i wouldnt have done any research on cars. Also I wouldnt have driven my office vehicle :). ...saved gas money there, which later got spent in fixing key. So it all came a full circle. It all made sense in the end. Just 3 days ago i was planning to sell my car, and now I started to love and take care of my car more...and may be that was the whole reason why this ever happened
..to stop me from selling my car...
Isnt God just great ?...he just succeeded in showing me the "Key" to Success..
3 comments:
Dr. Evil, that was a fantastic blog !
Hey Sirish, that was so cool..I believe in the same thing too "that everything happens for a reason" it makes you feel so better and look at things in a positive way :) keep up the good work.
I totally agree with you saying that things happen for a reason. It makes one think in a different angle which gives rise to questions like whether there is a supernatural power controlling us. Great post. When i started reading it I thought it was about Toyota ignition key problem and its solution. But in the end you somehow managed to link it to hope and positive thinking. Inspired by Shyamalan's Signs I guess :). Continue your good work.
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