After sliding off the road the other day, stuff didn’t really improve. My nose started bleeding while I was paying for groceries. My van just...stopped working on the highway. Pulled over and parked, shut it off, restarted it...totally fine. Got stuck in the parking area at the school- two nice ladies and a kid pushed me out. Called the service department at the dealership we bought the van from to make an appointment, the lady asked the year/make/model and what the problem was, told me they could get it in at 10 the next morning. So!
Fridays I have both kids with me while my husband is at work. So to drop my vehicle off for several hours is a big deal- we can’t go home, that’s 30 miles away. Sitting in a waiting area for more than 15 minutes with young kids is a feat I am just not up to. So I packed a bag with warm clothes, snacks, and drinks so that we could just walk around that area of town, do a little shopping, get lunch...solid plan. Kids were excited about it. I was resigned.
The trouble started with the weather; after the snow stopped falling, the temperature dropped. It was barely 0 degrees when we got to town. And then, the service department didn’t have me on their schedule- plus they were pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to do more than an oil change, not being a Kia dealership. So they said they’d change the oil for 60 bucks, and “see” if they could fix anything else, and they’d call when they were done, so long, have a nice day.
Me and the kids trooped outside to put on hats and mittens before heading over to Walmart. I took a minute to text my husband all the happenings, and as I pressed send, a car salesman appeared. Because you can’t just stand in a car lot without that happening.
He asked a bunch of questions about the van and what we were doing out in the cold and I told him we’d bought the van from him and we were just going to walk somewhere.
Apparently I should have told the shop people that we bought the van there, because that was like some kind of password that opened up this awesome door- he said, “You bought it here? Then you get to borrow a car until yours is done! Come in, get some coffee, I know your husband- he’s sent a lot of business my way. His dad, too. Why didn’t you tell them in the shop who you are? They’d have bent over backwards to help you.”
I said “I didn’t know I was a VIP.”
And so I was set up with a 4-door pickup, fancy coffee, and candy for the kids...which was a total gamechanger for the entire morning. They even charged me less than half of what they’d quoted me for the oil change and apologized profusely for not being able to do more and for sending me and the kids out into the cold earlier.
