I spent over a grand getting the truck repaired yesterday. The drive train was making metal-on-metal noises that were rapidly getting worse, and it was vibrating as well, so that needed to get fixed. While it was at the dealer, I had them do a bunch of other little jobs, all of which turned out to be ridiculously expensive. They replaced the windshield wipers ($25), and the broken third-door latch ($100). The killer was the frelling ABS sensor that failed over a year ago. That was $450. Had I known that going in, I would've never even mentioned it. I actually prefer good old fashioned non-ABS brakes, which is what you have when the sensor isn't working. Scheduled maintenance was another $200. And the busted universal joint that was making all the noise? That was under $200, cheap at the price.

The door latch really bugs, because I probably could've gotten one at a junk yard for ten or twenty bucks. It's just this cheap piece of plastic that appears designed to fail. This is the first American car I've owned since, hmmm, twenty-five years or so, and I'm not at all impressed with the quality of GM's product. It's nice to look at, and usually rides nice, but there's a shoddiness beneath the surface. It's only got 62,000 miles on it. This is the second universal joint I've had to replace. I've already replaced the battery. The door latch snapped off in my hand. The weather stripping along the driver's door leaked like a sieve until I added a second strip. $450 for a frelling sensor?!? My beloved Subaru didn't start needing repairs like this until it was well past 100,000 miles. Next time I'll change my own damn wiper blades.

Anyway, that was yesterday. Tonight is a night for Mexican coffee, and quietly contemplating how nice it will be to see these clowns go out of business because they can't compete.