in the state of virgina by law you have to get a safety inspection every 12 months, this puts you back about $16 and can be done at practically every other petrol station. my experience with this has never been a pleasant one, seeing i drive an older car ('95) than most other people in this area. my first year having an inspection cost me $90 extra dollars; the second, $260 something to pass as i needed to put in 2 new whole headlight fixtures (and that was the discounted price cause i did it myself). my last inspection i passed no worries cause i foresaw the need for new tires and i got those replaced before the inspector told me i needed to. additionally, since having the car for 3 years i have avoided replacing my frayed seatbelt, by strategically placing the buckle over the frayed portion of the belt so they never see it (shame on them for not putting on their seatbelt when they get in and drive my car into their garage).
now i am married and i have 2 old cars to get through inspection ('93 Sonoma) which makes me feel sick knowing some garage is about to get more money outta me for things that really aren't "too bad". the month of august marks the month that holly's truck (ute) needs to pass safety inspection, so i took the drive thursday knowing a few things were wrong but nothing too bad...right. i was informed by mr. inspector that our reverse lights would flash on when the vehicle was put in 'R' but wouldn't stay on...hmm, "how much sir" i asked "hey victor how much to fix this reverse light thing" he yells across to a guy with his head under another car", "$60 and i can't do it today". needless to say i said i'd bring the truck back later this month after i'd taken a look at it myself, perhaps i could fix it with some duct tape or something. feeling down i pulled the truck into a garage where we've recently spent a small fortune fixing both our cars to get them working again and i know this guy might respect that and give us a discount...might.
i told about the few minor things wrong with the car and he said he would fix it up for me and even take it to a garage and get it through inspection for me for a total of $50, wow what a nice guy, so we left the car with him.
9:37 Friday morning the phone rings, half asleep i let it ring out and listen to the message. yep, it was the mechanic asking me to call him back, i did. "ahh yes you have a broken muffler, i can get the reverse lights to pass but they're going to notice that and fail it, we need to fix it". "ok, can you tell me how much?" "yes we can do it here for $250 plus the original $50 to get it through inspection". knowing i couldn't fix it myself and having had the muffler done on my car last year i knew the price was about the same, "ahh crap, sure go ahead and take care of it for me", "ok, it be ready by 1" he said in his broken english.
the truth is God is in control and we've been blessed to have our old cars run as long as they have, we've been blessed to be able to do some of the work ourselves to relieve some of the cost. and even though it seems we broke the bank in car repairs in the last 3 months we were blessed to find $200 in an envelope for us labeled " hope this helps with the cars" no name.
God is good even though sometimes it's hard to see it.
