Car Adventures - Part 2

Life is full of unexpected events.

That's why I choose to share mine with my little cyberworld here.

Because I just have to continue to find the humor in life!

Or I'll go crazy.

Like Mental Institution Crazy!

So my Labor Day was spent showing my car 4 times to prospective buyers.

I picked the right buyer and all was set to finish the deal later that week.

The night before the deal was to close,

another family contacted me

and begged to still see the vehicle.

So as a backup option, I agreed.

We went for a test drive.

They loved it.

They offered more money for the car.

And could finish the deal the same time as the other party.

So after much internal debate, I chose them.

The appointment was set.

Friday at 3:30pm we were to meet at my bank to sign papers.

Thursday I had it washed/detailed.

All was ready to go.

Friday morning we woke up to POURING rain!

There goes the car wash!

So I loaded the kids up and we headed off to school.

Crashing through huge rain/mud puddles that are splashing up over the car.

First I dropped off Anden.

Then I took Taylee to Holly's.

After I left Holly's,

 I decided to avoid a flooded road which leads to the freeway.

And instead took the side streets to work.

I'm driving along with the wipers humming

and still barely am able to see the road through the rain.

Then the oddest thing happened next!

(yes even odd for me!)

Within a second,

suddenly my passenger wiper gets out of sync

and gets HOOKED to my driver wiper!!

My jaw drops as they wrestle, tug, fight each other

while stuck in a triangle in the middle of my windshield!!

I panic and tried to hurry and shut them off.

Well my wipers are rain sensor activated and turn on on their own.

So yes, I pathetically admit that I don't know how to manually shut them off.

So I fumbled for the controls.

And turned them on super high.

Instead of off.

Then I realized my error as they're wrestling even faster now

 and flipped the switch the other way.

Ahh the fighting stopped.

But they are still stuck in a triangle

(or some sort of gang sign?)

 in the middle of my windshield!!!

And now I have NO wipers in the pouring rain

for the rest of the drive to work!!

So I had my head shoved about 2 inches from the windshield to see the road.

I figured this was the safer option compared to sticking my head out the window!

So luckily I was on side streets and could creep along at 20mph

for the next 5 miles.

Unbelievable.

WHO DOES THIS HAPPEN TO??!!

HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN?!?!

(for the record I was too shocked at the time to take a picture, so I tried to google it later to see if this had happened to anyone else and snag their picture to share with you.  Apparently I am the only one that exists or the others were too freaked out to take a picture as well! lol)

So I shuffle into work and tell my plight to my coworkers

with the worst part that I'm selling the car THAT afternoon!

They were cracking up laughing.

At my expense.

Finally a coworker mentions that the motor might have gone out on the wiper arm.

You have got to be kidding me.

So I panic and call Lexus.

How quickly can you fix it?!?!

They tell me they're never heard of that before

and motors never go out on wiper arms.

But that sometimes the bolts get loose

and just need to be tightened.

He tells me he can quickly fix it.

So I go out to the parking lot to assess the damage.

We unhook the infatuated wipers.

The driver side is mangled and the arm is completely bent.

The passenger side goes limp and almost falls off the car.

And won't even work.

So now I have one mangled wiper that is doing solo duty!!

Holy Redneck!

This is not a cheap car!

How could this have possibly happened?!? lol

So I know that I obviously can't sell the car with a bent arm & 1 working wiper!

So I rush to O'Reillys.

Of course they don't carry Lexus wiper arms.

But they notice the arms are loose and tighten them.

Tada the other one starts working too now!

So I panic again and call Lexus.

This time thinking to ask for my Service Manager instead of anyone random.

As soon as I tell him what happened,he replies

"The ONLY time we see something like this is if you've had your windshield replaced & they

didn't tighten your wiper arms afterwards".

The lighting bolt of a light bulb literally hit me!

"OMG I had my windshield replaced a couple months ago".

"Bingo!" he replies.

Then he tells me how the windshield company should pay for the replacement.

He looks up the part, $115 for one wiper arm.

Special ordered and won't arrive until next week.

UGH!!  I HAVE TO SELL MY CAR TODAY!!

Well at the same time as all of this I had an appointment to test drive

another vehicle I planned to purchase. 

So I called and pushed that one out 30 mins.

And yes it's still pouring rain during all of this running around.

And yes I'm supposed to be working

and not hauling across town fixing stupid windshield wipers!

Well I get a hold of the windshield company

and they immediately took ownership of the problem

and apologized profusely!

Within an hour they were at my work to assess the damage

and order the parts,

and fix the chipped paint from the wipers hitting the hood during their WWE brawl.

All at their expense!!

Best news I had heard all day!!

But then says that they too can't get the wiper arm until next week.

But in the meantime can manhandle the arm back to normal position.

I jumped for joy on that one!

So he got out his trusty pliers and went to work bending it back.

I told him I considered doing that but with my luck today

I would have snapped it in half!

So he finishes up and my wipers are now flush with the windshield

and BOTH are working

in the correct pattern

without fraternizing!

And it's 2pm!!

SUCCESS!

I almost hugged him!

I sold the car at 3:30pm!

And prayed it wouldn't rain.

Because I forgot to tell them my wiper drama!

No worries though.

I sent all the repairmen to the new owner this morning.

I have a soft spot for good ole Ruby

And wanted to make sure she was well taken care of!

So add two more life lessons to my 4027 lb book.

"Check that your wipers are tightened after a windshield replacement."

"Murphy (law) will always have the upper hand.  He'll remind you of this often."

And I got my replacement vehicle yesterday.

We were to meet at 10am to sign papers.

I get a text at 9:15am,

"OMG Katie!  I just went to start it and the battery is dead! I guess I have your luck too.

Running to Lexus to get a new one and I'll meet you at 11:45"

I just cracked up laughing.

Of course.

Of course that would happen.

But at least it was on their dime and not mine!