Breaking Down

So it finally happened... my car broke down... on a highway... at night.

The engine made weird noises as I was driving home. I thought, "Hey, I think I can make it home. I'll deal with it in the morning." The car had other ideas though. It started making screeching noises when i braked. Then some clanking noises. Then vibrations - more than usual. When the vibrations started shaking the whole car and the clanking got more pronounced, I moved to the side of the road, just before a toll plaza. With its last heave, the old girl managed to stop nicely out of the way but would not start again after I stopped the engine.

"Well this sucks... But I am prepared!", thought I.

I fished out my Auto Rescue card that I got with my insurance. I called the 24-hour toll free hotline. And got instantly disconnected. Lovely. A gazillion repeated calls later, I was not a happy camper. Epic fail, Oriental Capital Assurance Auto Rescue, epic fail.

Plan B: I called back to a colleague at my office asking if he knew any tow truck operators. He didn't. Fortunately, someone else who had not gone home did know of one. Thank FSM for life's little miracles.

About half an hour later, the tow truck arrived. The car managed to start again, albeit with a noisy protest, which made it easier to load onto the flatbed truck. You know you're an engineer when you're in the middle of a highway at night with a broken down vehicle and you're admiring the power of the hydraulic systems on the tow truck. I chose to tow the car home as it was late, and the tow truck operator didn't know any late-night mechanics.

The next day, I got the same tow truck to send my car to a workshop recommended by the same colleague nearby my company. As we pulled into the workshop and started to unload my car, I saw a familiar face and a friendly wave as I was about to alight from the truck. Coincidentally, an old friend and ex-colleague worked just opposite the workshop. I'd not seen him in almost a year. Life is funny sometimes.

A preliminary inspection indicated a poor verdict. In the words of the mechanic: condemned. In order to confirm, he had to take apart the engine to look at it, so he told me to come back five hours later. With nothing to do, I decided to go to the office to pass the time even though I was officially on leave. My friend very kindly sent me to my office.

At the office, I endured the jibes about my predicament from my boss and colleagues who knew about it. Ironically, I had been planning to buy a new car and a colleague was just remarking yesterday that my car would break down in the middle of the highway. I blamed him for it of course. Lunch and a few hours later, I left early and walked back to the workshop, The mechanic confirmed that the engine was better off replaced as a piston had broken (hence the clanking) and some other parts of the engine were worn out, no thanks to my poor service record. No use crying over spilt milk, so I asked him to give me a quotation over the weekend.

My friend sent me to the nearest train station and I rode the rails home, carless. We had a good run, old girl.

Moral of the story: Service your old car often, and sell it before it's too late. Procrastination has a high price sometimes, and I guess I'll just have to pay it. I only hope I can sell the car for the price of the repairs at least :)

EDIT 20/08/2011: Got the car back last night and she's purring like a kitten. Nice to have a car that doesn't vibrate violently when idle.