Ignition Jam: Jul 11, 2002
Look at the pictures!
My story starts on Wednesday the 10th of July. Wednesday is my
normal hiking day, so I got ready to go hiking. I got out
early because Hinero, my cleaning guy, was scrubbing my apartment.
Having some time to kill, I decided to go to Tucker's Grove Park
for a bit of a snooze. I dozed about 20 minutes
and, having still quite a bit of time until the hike, decided to head
to Big 5 to buy some hiking boots. I tried to start up the car,
but couldn't. The key
jammed in the ACC position. I couldn't
retract it, couldn't move it forward nor backward. I started
making calls to towing companies to consider my options. $80 to $90
to tow me, and I had no idea which garage to go to.
I considered leaving my car overnight, but was worried that
I would get ticketed. There is a ranger house next to the
park, but I wasn't able to contact him/her. So, I left a
note
in my window to alert the ranger why my car was there.
Terri was nice enough to skip the ritualistic hike to pick me up.
She and I decided to see a movie, "The Importance of Being Earnest", at
Plaza De Oro. That calmed me down some.
This morning, JD and I headed over to the car to see if a
bit of WD-40 coupled with extreme violence might loosen the
key. This was to no avail. Fortunately for me, JD is a
member of 
.
He called the 800 number and they sent a
tow truck within 30 minutes. All this for free just because
JD was there!
The car was towed to Mahneke Motors. JD and I then proceeded
to Alfie's for breakfast. It was a fine breakfast, but man was
that some bad coffee.
After two days, I finally got my car back. It cost me $148.50
for a new ignition cylinder (keyed to my original key) and time
to put it in. Oh, I also signed up for .
I talked to a bunch of folks about it, and they all agreed it is
a good service.
See some images
Read correspondence I have received.
Business
Contact