My car broke down ...

As some of you may know, I traded my rather new scooter, the Yamaha Ego S, with my first brother's Kia Suria ... This happened some time late 2015 ... Anyway, though I hardly complained about it on this blog, every time I went in for service, there always seemed to be problems with the car ... First, it was the drive shaft ... That cost me a hefty sum of money ... Then, one maintenance issue after another popped up each time I sent the car in for service ... Nevertheless, I always remind myself to be grateful that I no longer needed to be exposed to the elements and errant drivers if I still had my scooter ... Now and then as I drove to and fro work, I found people stranded by the roadside with their cars, which apparently had broken down ... Every time I see this, I always thanked God that I never had to face the situation ... Until a few weeks ago ...

It happened at the end of Ramadan ... I bought my dinner at a McD's drive-thru and was nearing my place when all of a sudden, the car broke down ... It slowed to a halt and the battery light and another light shaped like a teapot lit up ... I don't what that light is called ... I don't know anything about cars, but I know I have to maintain one ... However, there was one vital car maintenance issue I never bothered to check ... The radiator ... After the car was towed away and my second brother picked me up, he mentioned about the radiator ... I must always fill the radiator at least once a month ... If the radiator breaks down, all sorts of car problems will crop up, so he says ... Well, from the time I got my car until it broke down that fateful Thursday evening two days away from the Eid, I had never ever filled up the radiator ...

The mechanic called me up the next day asking about how the engine died and what sound did the car make when I tried to re-start it ... Never in my head did it cross that I should mention to him about the radiator ... Only a few minutes after I hung up on my mechanic did I realize I should probably mention about the radiator ... So, I called him up and told him, and he concurred ... My radiator was bone dry and the breakdown had nothing to do with the battery ... He didn't sound too pleased about it, though ... Maybe it's because it wasn't a parts issue, but just because I was negligent in maintaining the radiator ...

However, I called him back a couple of hours later and he said that, quote unquote, "a pipe burst" ... I don't know what pipe he meant, which meant that I had to go to his workshop the next day to find out ... I called back again to find out how much the repair would cost me ... The sum was a little too much for someone who makes a pittance when all things, such as growing cost of living, are considered ... I decided to borrow my mother's money and pay her a small sum each month ... No, I'm not complaining about money ... I'm alive, that's what matters ... But, being alive also means I want to enjoy the finer things in life, such as paying good money to watch a good movie at the cinema, which I can no longer afford to do with the stinking salary I'm getting from a suck-ass job ...

Of course I still watch movies at the cinema, but now you know the REAL reason as to why I watch fewer and fewer movies in the last couple of years since I started working again ... That and a bunch of excuses I cooked up in the other blog ...

Anyway, maintaining a car is rather expensive for someone who doesn't really make much ... So, if you recall, that is why I came up with the 4 Reasons For Finding A New Job in my post entitled "Work Rant: A Continuous Essay Into The Mind of A Mad Wabbit" ... If I can work near my place, I can get back the Ego S and definitely cut my spending by more than half, at the very least ... So, it's not just that I miss riding a scooter, I miss being able to spend on some guilty pleasures as well, like bingeing at Daiso ... Okay, so I don't buy anything anymore at Daiso, but you know what I mean, right?

Anyway anyways, one day before Eid Al-Fitr, I went to pick up my car ... The mechanic wasn't there, but one of his workers who fixed my car was ... I asked him what was wrong with the car, so he showed me that they changed the radiator cap and that the real issue was the thermostat housing, which had burst ... Googled "thermostat housing" and it does in a way connect to the radiator ... But if I hadn't called the mechanic for a towing truck and instead called the Auto Assist provided by the insurance that covers the car, I would have saved almost half of what I had to pay for the whole repair ... Alas, I didn't have the necessary information as the car is insured under my brother's name ... So, it was the mechanic who paid for the towing service and apparently I was supposed to negotiate with the guy who picked up my car, my mechanic told me ... Thus, lesson learned, if the car ever breaks down, God forbid, I will call up the towing service provided under the car's insurance policy ... It's f**king FREE!

The damaged thermostat housing