More on the Car

Well, they detailed it yesterday and put that super-protector stuff on it. I hate to say it, but I could have done better I think. They left spots all over it that I had to buff out last night and they put that tire shine crap on the tires and it splattered all over the car. I had to wipe that off too. I had serious doubts that they even did the inside of the car, but after watching an infomercial this morning for a similar product, I think they might have done the interior. There was no shiny, greasy appearance in the car and according to this informercial, there are products out there that don't leave a residue on the dashboard and other surfaces. And I think they left some dirt on the body of the car when they put that protection stuff on it. There was some dirt that I couldn't scrape off with my fingernail. The workers apparently rifled through my car looking for stuff to steal - my insurance and temp tag registration were not in the same position I left them in and the glove box hadn't been cleaned so I know they weren't in there to clean it and just moved the paperwork around. And they changed my radio stations and apparently listened to some weird station on the XM radio. I can just see them playing my radio for the four hours it took to do this work. I would rather they just do the work and listen to their own radio. But at least now I'm done with the dealership. Hopefully.

More bad news: I got my new license plate yesterday and it had a 2006 sticker on it. I can't put that on my car - the police will automatically pull me over and give me a ticket. So, I tried looking up phone numbers for local dmv offices in West Virginia so I could call and find out what I need to do to get a new sticker and the only numbers I could find on their website had 'out of the office' recordings. So, I emailed the Commissioner of the DMV. It goes to a generic inbox, so I'm sure one of his aides or assistants will get the email instead of the Commissioner but as long as I find out what I need to do before driving 30 miles to the nearest DMV office, I don't care who answers me. I do think it's irresponsible and pretty incompetent for them to send me a plate/sticker that's two years old.

This morning I bought all kinds of stuff for my car. I bought chrome polish, aluminim wheel cleaner, car wash and wax, drying towels and washing mitt, and a sprayer for the garden hose. I did have two sprayers but one split open and won't work now. So, I needed another one. If we ever get into a drought, I'll need to put the one I have been using back on the garden hose for the garden. And I filled the car up with mid-grade gas. I'm going to try to put mid-grade in the car every so often. The book that come with the car says you can use mid-grade if you tow things with your car, so I figure about once a month putting mid-grade in it for just regular driving use won't be too bad for the car. I put 10.3 gallons in the car and it cost me $43.25. That kind of hurt, but I did deliberately avoid putting gas in it this week because I didn't want to fill it up and then have the detailers get the car. They might have siphoned some of the gas out. According to the onboard computer I can drive 313 miles on a full tank of gas. I'm calculating the gas mileage the old way - by hand to see exactly what's going on. I don't think the computer will give me good information. And my new goal is to try to let the car warm up for at least two minutes before starting out. My Lumina book said I should let the car idle for something like 5 minutes to get all of the fluids throughout the car before driving off. I didn't see anything like that in my LaCrosse book, but I figure if it's good for the Lumina, it shouldn't hurt the LaCrosse. While I'm letting it idle I can scan the radio stations. I actually used my Onstar last night. I checked to see how many minutes of hands free calling I had to use.

It's nice to be able to move into my car now. I put the plastic milk crate in the trunk - used for holding grocery bags. I put the key and the remote entry device on my old key ring. I hadn't done that yet because I wasn't going to give the detailers my house key, or Mom's for that matter. I have to put my little pink dinosaur in the back dash and some other things into the car that I had in the old one, like my jar of change that I keep for emergencies - but really, I should just have a little bit of change and some dollar bills in there instead. Dad started that jar of change thing years and years ago back when there were payphones everywhere. I don't think I need much change these days.