What's a girl gotta do to register her car in this town?
First, she's gotta pass Maryland state inspection. Easier said than done, I found. In Maryland, vehicle inspection is contracted out to a network of garages -- private businessmen whose main objective is not necessarily the safety of Maryland roads, but to make a buck. Needless to say, the little car failed.
I wasn't totally surprised -- I've had a stone chip in my windshield for some time, and was expecting the mechanic to tell me that I'd have to get it fixed before he'd pass me. I was surprised, however, when he told me that I'd need two tires, one rotor, one brake disc, one wheel bearing, and one license plate light. Oh, yeah, and that crack in my windshield... Smiling at the new girl in her Tennessee-licensed car, he told me that he could fix everything -- depending on how good a deal he could find on my non-standard sized tires -- for about $800.
He was not expecting me to answer that my insurance company would take care of the window, and that I'd order the tires from the Internet and take the car to my long-time mechanic in DC for the rest of the repairs. Phillip, who is the most meticulous of men, had put new brakes on the car in November and surely would have told me if there was anything amiss with the wheels. Sure enough, my "bad" rotor was bad by .003 of an inch. Hardly unsafe, but technically under the industry standard. "Fix it," I told him, "along with everything else so the car passes inspection."
So $425 later -- plus $96 for the tires from Discount Tire Direct (gotta love that free shipping) -- the little car was ready to go.... Or so I thought.
I made an appointment with Safelight Glass, an auto glass company affiliated with my insurance company. The guy came out on Saturday, prepared to fix my stone chip at no cost -- not even my deductible -- to me. Except it turned out that the stone chip was masking a hairline crack that ran the length of the windshield. The glass guy told me, "You can't see it because there's no air in it." Aaaaugh!
So this Monday morning, I'm working from home while I wait for the another glass guy to come out with a new windshield. This will cost $100, the amount of my deductible, for the replacement. They told me to expect them between 8:00 a.m. and noon. I'm betting that they arrive closer to noon. At least it's a sunny day!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that by the end of the morning, I'll have a car that will pass muster with even the most picky of inspectors and that I can FINALLY get my Maryland tags.
Dianne
