Oddball Update

Apple’s Mazda6 needs a bit of service, we decided. After getting back from our trip to Michigan in October, the brakes started to feel strange. The car still stops as well as it always did, but the pedal seems to have gotten stiffer — that’s right, stiffer, not spongier — and it squeaks and creaks like all hell, but only about half the time. There’s also a somewhat pronounced shimmying of the car when you stop — in fact, if you let go of the wheel, you’ll see it turning back and forth slightly, bouncing from left to right.

So, since I just picked up my Trans Am today from getting the new compressor put in (ahhh, ice cold air that freezes your face off!), I decided to move on to the next vehicle in line for service. Called up the local Mazda dealer, Morande Mazda. You may recall that their sales department went bankrupt last year just shortly after we bought our car from them. Guess what? Now, they no longer service Mazdas, either. Joyyyyy!

The Morande lady told me to call the local Dodge dealer, of all things. Apparently they’ve just inked a deal whereby the Dodge shop will provide warranty repairs for Mazda owners. So I call ‘em, and guess what? The agreement hasn’t taken effect yet, so I can’t take my Mazda there either. My only choice is to drive 45 minutes north of here on that bastard corridor I-75, and take it to Scanlon Mazda in Fort Myers. Which is admittedly a better dealer, but GOD that’s far away.

Fortunately, they’ll offer me a loaner car. Now that I’m 25, I can actually rent such things from car dealers without paying through the nose. Only question is, the lady at Scanlon couldn’t tell me whether loaner services would be available on the day I’m bringing the car in. So I’m gonna call them the day before and find out for sure, otherwise I could be stranded up there.

And with that, I am convinced that I am forever cursed when it comes to new car service departments.

Categorized as Cars, Cars/GarageBlog, Rants