Hoping for a no-peat

I have had the worst luck with my car over the last year.

In the first few months of the year my windshield got hit by flying gravel on my way to work.  It was a small chip and, thankfully, it was repairable without having the windshield replaced.

At the beginning of last summer we were on our way home from Tulsa when a bobtail dump truck in front of us unleashed a barrage of gravel on our car.  The bottom of his gate had a four inch gap because it was either not securely closed or it did not function properly, and all of the leftover gravel from his last dump came out and pelted our car.  I had almost 100 chips in my windshield and just as many on my hood.  After he flipped us off several times, we finally managed to get the driver to pull over and he cussed at us, yelled at us and after looking at the damage said, "I don't see anything!"  Then he said, "I didn't do that!"  Didn't do what?  I thought you said you didn't see anything?  *SMH*  Then he stormed off back to his truck.  Little did he know we were already on the phone with his boss, who heard every word of his juvenile tirade.  Thankfully, the company was in a nearby town and we just went to their office.  Had I not quickly whipped out my cell phone and videoed the truck pelting us with rock, the company would not have paid for the damage.  We had to get a new windshield and hood repair, but it was paid for by the truck company.

In late summer I needed new tires.  For convenience, I decided to buy tires at a one-stop-shop super store.  Bad idea.  When I picked up my car and headed home, it was obvious that the tires were out of balance.  I took my car back and they rebalanced the wheels, but the head tech on duty told me that the reason they were having trouble balancing the wheels was because their equipment was almost 25 years old and they had to "force" it to fit my rims - which are stock and not fancy.  So, you mean to tell me that you have this problem with every single tire that you work on that is being mounted on a late model vehicle?  And I'm the first one to complain?  This cannot be!  I thought the story was malarkey.  They also said that the tech who worked on my car the first time had been in a hurry to leave because he had a date later in the evening and when he balanced the tires, he did so with sticky weights on the rims.  Now, I'm not a car rim aficionado, so that didn't mean much to me, but apparently, it's quite a no-no.  Once again, when I headed home, the car began shaking violently from the wheels being out of balance.  I called the store again and spoke to a manager who told me to take the car to their sister store in another town that had newer equipment and have them balance the wheels and now it was also out of alignment.  Once again, it didn't work.  Another call to the manager and after I talked to his boss and told him I wanted my money back and they could have those defective tires back and that I was taking my business elsewhere, he paid me for my time and inconvenience, gave me four new tires that were better than the ones I had bought, paid for another tire shop to install them and paid for an alignment.  It was a week long ordeal and I never, ever, ever, ever, ever want to buy tires again.

In mid fall my windshield got hit by another rock!  And it immediately splintered all across the windshield, so we had to have another windshield put in.  We used the same company that had put in the windshield at the beginning of summer and found out that because the truck company paid for it, they got a corporate discount and paid about $100 less than we did for the windshield.  What a crock.

Yesterday, on my way to work, I got hit by another rock!  Dude, for real?!  It was dark and foggy and as I met a car going the other way, THUNK!  I hoped against hope that my windshield wasn't cracked or chipped, but I knew the odds weren't good, just based on the sound that the rock made.  If you've ever heard a flying rock break glass, you know what I'm talking about.  Sure enough, there are two chips in my windshield.  :(  :(  :(  :(  :(  I think it's repairable and I don't think we'll have to replace the whole windshield again, but still, what a pain in the patootie!  So, I'm starting off 2013 the same way as 2012.  Let's hope that the rest of the year is a no-peat of last year!