When we travel, we like to play the license plate game, where we eye the passing cars looking for all fifty states. That is a game that we can play together. Yesterday, I played a different version, by myself. It was time to renew the car’s plates, and I began the scavenger hunt that is that process. It is easier now than it once was. I get a postcard that lists the items that I need to assemble. Number one, as always, is the state inspection. In the past, when we were poorer and our cars were older, we needed to get a safety inspection. Then sometime along the way an emission’s inspection was added. Our present vehicle is relatively new, no longer Uber new, but only recently paid off. This year, I did not need the safety inspection, but I still needed the emissions one. I think that they only check the car’s computer for codes on that one. Anyway, my need to relicense the RAV4 coincided with a call from the dealer on the occasion of the car’s 70K mile checkup. So, I made an appointment. I had paid off its loan, and I want it to last.
It did not begin well. Alex, the clerk that I was assigned could not get his computer to work. He eventually handed me off to another, who got me checked in. On the way up to the waiting room, I walked through the show room and spied a new Toyota Corolla Crossover. Almost as big as the RAV4, but cheaper. The waiting room was packed. It was going to be a while. Fast forward three hours and the room had almost cleared out. It was pretty much empty, except for me and a grandma, who had by then fallen asleep with her knitting. Maybe they had forgotten about me and gone to lunch? Which they had, leaving one lone rather harried clerk. As I was waiting for him to get off the phone a mechanic dropped off my paperwork. I was soon on my way, but when I started the car, the gas engine ran rough and the car shook. It had not been like that. I took it back and the guy who had worked on the car quickly diagnosed the problem and set about remedying it. Part of the 70K checkup included a cleaning of the piston rings and valves. This involves spraying the cleaning fluid into the air intake. Sometimes this liquid pools and that was what was causing the problem. When I left the second time, after $666, everything was running fine. Everything is fine!
But wait there is more. I still needed to get my new license plate tabs, so a trip to the DMV was in order. Here in Misery, that is called the department of revenue, because it is really all about the money. I could have done this online, but it would have been good for one year. Meaning I would have to do this all over again then. An hour’s wait later, I left with my ’27 tabs.
