a car's tale

did i tell you my car overheated again? this was the 2nd time it happened to me. also happened once while my parents borrowed my car.

i got my car on July 28th, 2006. i still remember the date because that was the day i missed my team dinner at Jogoya just to pick up the car at the dealer before it closed for the day. barely 5 years old. already dying out on me? T_T. i can't afford a new car. not so soon. but i do wish my car was 4-door. 2-door is annoying like hell. especially if the car door keeps swinging shut on its own. konon Proton fixed the door weight glitch with Neos, but apparently it's doing too much of a good job to the point that it swings itself shut even when i don't want it to. bencik.

anyyyway, i was on the way to pick up Significant Other from the airport after work. i woke up at 4.30am just for him to be able to catch the 7.10am flight bound to Sarawak, so i ended up being a zombie most of the day at office (i now understand why coffee is a very important tool in keeping one awake).

so there i was stuck in the jam on the road from MV spilling into Sungai Besi (i was heading for the MEX, fastest way to get to LCCT) when my car suddenly died. no kidding. at a non-strategic place too where i can't even get out of the car, where it was only two-lanes with no space for an emergency lane. summore it was raining heavily, and it was a Friday evening. what luck. didn't even realize the temperature was rising until the engine died out. tried to start the engine again, but it died 5 seconds later. managed to steer it closer to the side of the road.

ok, so i think this is the third mishap i've experienced with my car. first being the car overheated at Ikano, but i had my brother to help me out. the second was when my car ran out of gas when i was driving on MEX, but MEX had their own peronda that i could call for help. this was the third mishap with my car. but this time i wasn't so fortunate, 1) the combination of rain + jam was superb, 2) the location of where my car died was really 'strategic' (why couldn't my car wait until i was on the MEX before it gave out??), 3) who was i supposed to call to help me out? even Ghostbusters couldn't help me out of this predicament haha.

luckily i had my trusted WA-mates to teman me. Significant Other wasn't around (he had to get home by taxi), my brother was at the other side of the world, and even if someone did come to rescue me, what about my car?

i had Etiqa Assist's number i got the first time my car overheated, decided to give it a try. the assist on the line was really helpful, although at first he did mention that help would only arrive 1 hour later (my car died around 7.30ish) and i really really wanted to go to the toilet at the time (there weren't any bushes around!!! ahhahahahaha). the closest tow truck was currently at Sunway, so i had no choice but to wait lo.

i was also very very grateful my iPhone battery was charged to 100%.

i think it was almost 9pm when the tow truck arrived. by that time traffic had eased and cars were zooming by rather dangerously @_@. i was lucky the tow truck arrived when it did. and boy was it big. it's not the small tacky ones where they tow your car with the wheels rolling on the road, no. this is the one where the car gets loaded onto the tow truck. and it had flashing lights too! hehe. sorry, abit of jakunness here. i've never been towed before, let alone rode in one!

wish i had taken photos. the current location i was at didn't allow me to lepak at the roadside, the technician shooed me into the truck while he loaded my car. and he was really nice too. he told me a bunch of stuff about towing. apparently when it rains, confirm got accidents, and confirm his services will be needed haha. i asked him what he thought about Etiqa, and he said it was not bad (he has to say that, he works for them lol). but he also said for the best vehicle insurance, Hong Leong was not a bad choice.

for Etiqa's towing service, the first 50km is free, then charges applies. i had to pay absolutely nothing save for the toll. i requested to have my car towed to Proton direct so i could send it directly the next day. the technician even had the guards to allow me to park inside the compound for the weekend haha.

best service ever. in my book lah. nothing to compare to though.

since it was a Friday and Proton didn't entertain complaints on Saturday i had to wait until Monday to file a complaint. apparently most of the people at Glenmarie were all new, most of them resigned or moved on. i got this very enthusistic lady as my service advisor. they managed to get my number wrong, and my plate number wrong when i made an apoointment T_T.

i got charged about rm30ish to retighten the wires, which was supposed to be the cause of my car overheating (but each time i send my car for repairs they said the same thing, my dad even replaced the fan when it overheated). alang2 since i was already there i had them replace three blown lightbulbs for my car. lol. so kene la rm50 for repairs. sigh. i'm out of ideas on what i should actually do if it happens again.

anyone wanna sponsor me a new car? LOL.

so make sure you choose a good insurer for your car. you know, just in case stupid things like this happens to you.