I want to apologize for the delays yesterday and today. People are waiting for their cashback, hearing back on job opportunities, and setting up meetings. Not to mention I’ve been absent from the news… and other projects…

Keeping my car working is important right now, I’ll be driving around considerably over the next few months. So, I’ve been proactive in getting it a tune-up when it started to need one, and not waiting for something catastrophic.

Well, that hour long job has turned into a five hour debacle (edit: and counting). Pepboys may be hundreds less, but the five hour duration has cost me hundreds in time. And, when they forgot to do the courtsey brake inspection… which I made them then do… they found problems.

As I noted on Twitter, you should still shop around for repairs. Midas quoted me a whopping $400 for a tune-up. Pepboys did it for $167 out the door. All it took was two phone calls… and Midas tried to compete by dropping their price $150. These companies know enough consumers don’t shop around.

So, back to Midas later today for under-warranty brake repairs… and then the dash panel lighting blew, so it needs to go to the dealer for a dimmer switch replacement later this week.

Sorry folks, but I have coined a new acronym (which totally beats TMI). DTFBOC: Due To Factors Beyond Our Control.