C- Still Means You Passed

Last week I mentioned that my truck had failed its yearly inspection. Well, after taking it to the family mechanic to have him check it over and make the necessary repairs I brought it back to the original station so they could give me my free re-test. The good news was that there were no other cars in line to be inspected, so they took it right in. However, I started to get this really sinking suspicion in my gut that something was wrong because as I was standing outside waiting it began to feel like things were taking far too long. It is my understanding that when you go in for a re-test they just check the issues you failed for last time so as the minutes ticked away I was concerned I was about to fail for a second time, which would have been incredibly annoying. One of the most frustrating things about car inspections is that you aren't allowed into the bay to watch them take place and just have to take the mechanic's word for how your car did. (I am pretty sure that on more than one of my truck's re-tests the mechanic didn't do anything and was sitting in the back, trying to figure out how long was an appropriate amount of time to wait before coming out with a passing grade.) Fortunately my truck eventually emerged from the bay with a new sticker on it which will allow me to continue driving it for the next few year. Unfortunately, before handing me the keys the mechanic called me over with a hand gesture which also indicated we had some things to discuss first.

Mostly the inspector wanted to ask me a few questions, the first of which was to remind him what he had failed me for last time. I showed him the sheet to let him know it was the emergency brake and one of the ball joints (and a light, but that is kind of an easy thing to double-check). After informing me I was really close to still failing on the emergency brake (apparently this is just a problem on all Mountaineers) he leaned in, lowered his voice and said, "So, you never got the ball joints fixed?" Normally I find it really funny when someone does the "lean in and lower their voice" move because it is something we all see in movies, but is really absurd to do in any real-life situation. He's not Danny Ocean discussing his next heist. I know that mentally everyone is the star of their own movie, but I long ago realized that if I was living in the "Truman Show" it would have been cancelled based on how boring my life is. So despite the recent news about the immense amount of spying the government is doing to its own citizens I remain confident in saying there was literally zero chance anyone was listening in and even if they could overhear us they wouldn't care about this. However, I didn't really have time to find the humor in this moment because two things started to bother me, the first of which was getting my car repaired had cost several hundred dollars and this guy was telling me it barely mattered. That is not exactly what you want to hear in that situation.

Still, the second thing on my mind was actually the far more annoying aspect - if the repairs had been so ineffective that he apparently couldn't tell the difference, why did he fail me for the ball joint issue in the first place if this time he was willing to let them slide a week later? What exactly had changed in the week I had been driving around? Immediately I was reminded of the previous times I had brought my truck in to be inspected and a different garage had failed me for a brake issue, then mentioned I was in luck because they just so happened to be having a brake special going on right then (how convenient). When I brought my truck to a trusted mechanic he told me the brakes were close but should have passed and when I brought the truck back for its re-inspection the guy giving me the test seemed surprised I had actually gotten the brakes done. I'm starting to feel like this is some kind of big network in which mechanics fail cars just to try and get customers to pay for additional repairs at their garage and then if you don't fall for it the first time they let it go. (Unless you bring it to an actual Ford Dealer, in which case they just keep failing you until you pay them or go get inspected at another garage.) There are few things more infuriating than finding out someone has been wasting your time or money trying to screw you, only to decide you weren't worth any more of their time and the fact that I thought I could trust this garage was one of the reasons I had been going to them for the last couple of years. Apparently I will have to find a new place before next year's inspection.

Of course, I kept every single word of this inside my head because I certainly wasn't going to complain about anything since I had passed. After all, there is a time to raise hell about something you find shady but the moments following someone letting you off the hook is not one of those times. The kid may have been trying to screw me the first time I failed but he could have screwed me over even more by failing me a second time. Also, for as much as I love my truck, I know what it is. I feel like with every car there comes a point where you are just trying to keep it running long enough to put down a deposit on a new one and I have probably reached that point with my Mountaineer. When he was looking at it my mechanic had said there was a lot of rust on the frame, which makes perfect sense for a truck which has seen 12 New England winters when the roads are full of salt. Thus, we have likely reached the beginning of the end and passing this inspection means I am on a deadline, but it is a comfortable one that gives me plenty of time to find the truck I want at a price I like. (There is nothing worse than going into a negotiation without the power of being able to walk away.) All of this means I was not about to take this mechanic to task while insisting I was driving a well-oil machine. Instead I took my newly-passed truck and got the hell out of there. I just know I don't want to have to go through this whole process again and, seriously you guys, this time I mean it.