A month ago, my car developed some problems and the dreaded engine light went on. Since I had moved to a new neighborhood, my old mechanic was now, further away. Being enterprising, I thought, ‘Let’s try someone new. Those prices are too high anyway!’ I got on Yelp and found a local shop with good reviews. I set an appointment and took it in. After discussion, it was agreed the mechanic would work on the fuel line. A day later I had 4 new spark plugs, rotated coils and a flushed fuel line. I picked up the car. It worked great. For five days. Then the light went on again. Called back to the shop. Had to bring it back in. What now? Well, could be the ignition coils. How much? $200 per coil. Wow!

So, since I had just paid a small fortune to move into my one-bed apartment ($1,600), I was strapped for cash. I had paid $421 for the first repair job and didn’t have the addition $400 for a second repair. Me: “Can I drive this car?” “Oh, no, Ma’am, don’t drive it with the engine light on.” Got it. Can’t drive the car and can’t afford to fix it. Will have to wait for my next payday.

So, for the rest of the month I have a) walked b) ridden the bus and c) taken Lyft here and there. The cost of gas in this area has now risen to $4.25 per gallon. Lyft sends me a message after each ride to tell me the cost (linked to my checking account) and that includes the miles. My father, who was big into math, used to always talk about algorithms. I wish I had paid closer attention.

The Lyft program follows a algorithm (Uber too) and it calculates the prices of the ride based on a) distance b) time to get there and c) the time of day. Therefore, the ride prices can vary wildly and seem to be particularly high in the evenings going to movie and entertainment events. My rides have swung from a very reasonalbe $1.94 per mile ride (DMV) to a whopping $5.73 per mile coming home from the theater. All in all, in one month, I have paid well over $200 for Lyft rides and usually, I am going less that 10 miles in one direction.

Back to the mechanic. Live and learn. After chaatting up a number of Lyft drivers, I found out (!!!!) that by going to O”Reilly Parts or Autoworld, I could get a free diagnosis on the meaning of the engine light. I drove the mechanical beast to the parts shop. In less than 10 minutes, the man had pulled out a little handheld device, attached to the panel on my dash and diagnosed ‘failure of coil #1’. Viola! Job done. In thinking back to my encounter with the shop, I remembered the words ‘diagnosis’ were never mentioned. We were just pulling out parts and sticking in parts and seeing what worked. Sigh.

So, today I am back to the old shop. The mechanic told me up front that ‘diagnosis’ was $200. Before I start screaming, I guess I need to review the last month and see what the whole mess has already cost me.

The last little bit, and this will be a blog for another day, I was able to experience first hand how very less than perfect our city’s bus system in. However, also, before I start bashing them too much, I was able to hear (overhear) a conversation between a driver and a passenger. Apparently, no less than four female bus drivers had been sexually assualted by passengers in the recent days. It is a sign of our times and one that needs to be addressed. cew