Not shiny new red, but soon to be good

Yesterday, I took Kris' car in for an oil change and tune-up. Today, I took my car in. Tragically, I hadn't taken the car in for an oil change for over a year: I'd driven fewer than five thousand miles this past year, so the change-the-oil signals hadn't really gone off.

Doyle and I went to lunch in Mountain View, and while eating, I missed a call from the dealership, the voice on the message was a little panicked. I called back a little worried, as Doyle drove me to the dealership.

When I finally managed to talk to a service rep, he immediately let me know the car was okay, everything in the service went well. Then, in an excited voice, he mentioned the back window of the car.

Ah, the back window. Window here is a misnomer for my car, in that it's more of a door than a window: I haven't been able to see out the back window in three years, maybe longer. I've stopped using the rearview mirror, relying on the side mirrors and lots of leaning to see what's behind me. I'm far more cautious with lane changes and backing up, as a result.

Uh, oh, I wondered. Is the dealership going to insist I have the rear window replaced because it's in violation of some vehicle code, and for safety reasons, they are unable to release the car to me? Because, I mean, yeah, I understand this could be the case, but, man, that would suck being sans car for a week.

Instead, in a cheery voice, the sales rep, Dan "the Man," told me, "We're going to replace that window for you! And we'll pay for the replacement."

O.M.G. This is, like, so totally awesome!

I was really surprised, and asked "really?" probably six times before he finally insisted. The cost is expensive, their cost is around $700, so my cost would be around $1100 if I had initiated the repair. I kept racing over the various reasons why the dealership would make such a generous offer, throwing out that the car was still under warranty (it isn't), and settling on there was a safety recall on the window and the Honda Corporation was actually making the payment.

Regardless, I was really very excited about the fix.

After paying, I went out to pick up the car in the car pickup bay. I'm always entertained at how excited the service employees are to drive my car and chuckled when the woman who took my payment bounded out of the building to be the one to drive up my car. As she approached me, after pulling the car up, she seemed hestitant, and started to explain to me, did I know, well, it's about to rain, and I should fix...

Huh?

"There's a tear in your rear window. I didn't know if you knew about it. It's pretty big."

What?

We walked over to the car and it became very clear why the dealership was offering to pay to replace my rear window. There was a tear in the window about six inches long, and not in one line.

Oh.

The tear appeared to be along the fold line of the window, which folds when the top is put down. I later realized there were about 10 miles more on the car than when I brought it in. I speculate they put the top down and took the car for a drive "for testing," and the top tore at that point. I further speculate that, since lowering the top wasn't required in the oil change and tune-up, having put the top down, they felt responsible for its breaking.

Dan came out with a roll of tape to cover the tear until I bring the car back next week for the window replacement. I looked at the makeshift repair, and commented, "I look like a redneck now. The only thing I need now is duct tape on the fender."

"I can get you some, if you'd like," Dan answered.

So, I've had my car for six years now. In that time, we've had the front windshield replaced three times, the heater go out completely and later fixed, the front (crap, is it the quarter panel or fender? Dad, help me out here, and I promise to write it down here and remember it forever) and bumper replace, the rearview mirror fall off and put back on twice, the tires replaced four times (on not that many miles, mind you), and now the rearview window tear. When I think of how ridiculously easy my CRX was to maintain, and how inexpensive that car was to drive, I'm a little frustrated at just how much this car costs.

Good thing my daily commute is actually a walkable distance. I can just not drive at all.