25 dollars

25 dollars is the difference between synthetic oil and common motor oil.  I have been using synthectic oil since the car passed 5000 miles – the last 21,000 miles.  My Caliber has an oil change sensor in it – it optically rates the oil and is very influenced by the kind of driving I do with the car.  The printed oil change interval is 3,000 miles, and if I drove all of that at highway speeds (which heats the oil up and keeps the change inverval longer than the city driving I usually do) the change interval would be much longer.

Synthectic oil is great for winter – it’s "thinner", less viscous. than regular oil, so it was with no great surprise that the car began telling me "Oil change required" three days ago.  25 dollars is a lot of money right now, and I cannot afford the difference, so today, I used a coupon from my dealer to get a $17.95 oil change/tire rotation/25 point inspection.  The service manager tells me that that price is a loss leader – it costs them more to do the work than I am paying.  I felt only slightly guilty for using the coupon – I mean, that’s what it’s for, right?  I always go to the dealer who sold me the car because they know the Caliber far better than some Jiffy Lube or other fast low cost oil change place will.

I’ve been going to the same dealer for three years now, both with the blue Caliber I bought in 08 and the black Caliber I traded up to in 09.  My picture and a description may be on the wall there or something – they know I bought a car and traded up the next year, and every time I go to the dealer, someone tries to convince me to "do it again" – trade my black Caliber in on something else.

Since I didn’t buy a lottery ticket last night (and it wouldn’t have won anything anyway) I couldn’t go to the dealer and buy that "Furious Fuchia" Challenger R/T that sat on the lot for most of last year, no matter how fervently I fantasized about it.

(beides, someone bought it last week.  It’s gone)

(If…IF I won a good lottery, I would pay off the Caliber and continue to drive it, but a Furious Fuchia Challenger R/T will be a collector’s car in the near future.  IF I had won millions, I’d buy one and drive it a little bit, and then put it in storage, along with the other collector grade cars I see on the lots now.)

My car is under warranty for another 15,000 miles and/or 14 months.  Nothing has gone wrong with it, besides the drain lines from the sunroof being pinched and needing replacement (which was done last summer, under warranty)  Katie at the dealers’s told me today that switching back and forth between synthetic oil and regular oil is not good for the engine’s seals and gaskets, so I guess I’m back to regular oil only.

Sigh.  I wanted to take the best care of my Caliber that I possibly can, because I intend it to be the last car I ever buy (unless I win the lottery – but I have to buy tickets to play, and I don’t, so I won’t).

25 bucks is a lot when the bill collectors are calling already, and I couldn’t afford the cash outlay.  Insurance is due soon.  I cannot drive without it – I still owe lots of money on the car.  If things do not improve, soon, I will have to stop driving, and not long after that, give up the car.  That will suck, big time.

The gold ring I made for my wedding ring is up next to sell – just at the time when gold prices are dropping.  In a few weeks, I will need to buy more insulin for my cat.  He has to come before almost everything else, even if it means I’m walking.

25 dollars.  Pocket change for a lot of people, but it might as will be 25 million, for me, cuz I don’t have it.

*****