(originally published June 5th, 2005)

About three weeks ago now my car stopped on a bridge on the way back home from an out of town assignment. As of this past Wednesday, the warranty company has decided that they’re not going to cover the cost of the repairs, and this means a big chunk of cash coming out of my pocket, not only for my own car, but for the rental I’ve been driving. By the time it’s all over, because I’m having my car repaired, there will be an out of pocket expense of close to $8,000 total, including the rental.

On first thought, I believe I would have every right to complain. I still have miles under my warranty, this is a big expense and will be the biggest out of pocket payment I’ve made since I purchased my house, and it’s something I feel could have been prevented four weeks before my car tanked because I’d heard a noise and taken it to the dealership, and they told me they couldn’t find anything wrong with it.

On second thought, however, I’ve decided that it’s much better to attack this event with clarity of thought and positive purpose. After all, when I first wrote about this incident some weeks ago, I told of how thankful I was that no one got hurt, and how, within 45 minutes to an hour, I was on my way home. I’ve had fairly reliable transportation for the past 3 1/2 weeks, and except for this bump in the road, so to speak, things haven’t gone badly overall. I’m very lucky to have the money to pay for these repairs, as well as the rental, and I credit having an open spirit and not dwelling on the bad things that can happen in one’s life. There are much worse things in this world that happens to other people, and I know there are much worse things that could come into my own life.

Of course, there are some lessons to be learned here. One, make sure to always keep every single receipt for every single thing you ever do to your car! Two, planning ahead for the possibility of bad things eases the pressure when bad things possibly come up. Three, it’s much easier on your psyche if you can remain calm, and let things that don’t physically or emotionally touch your life kind of roll off your shoulder.

Oh, and one more thing; number four, smile and be courteous. By being courteous to the people who are repairing my car, they’re waiving all early fees and just charging me for a brand new engine, plus the labor for putting it in. They’re helping me because I’ve tried to be gracious, even though I probably have good reason to complain. Grace under fire; seems I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, doesn’t it?