Changing of the Gear

   I begin my story with the precursor of why I needed to buy a car. In 2021, I was driving a used white Nissan Versa. I have bought the car with cash for around $7,500. When I bought it in 2019, it had around 125,000 miles on the speedometer. It was a good car for me, with the only problem being an absent sun visor on the driver’s side. 

   It was a warm night in June and I was planning to meet a friend to get drinks. For some reason, he wanted to meet me at my apartment in Sherman Oaks and have me drive him there instead of meeting me there. I believe it was a Thursday night when I met my friend outside my apartment and got in my car to drive to a bar in Studio City. I met my friend from a meetup ground earlier that year, and didn’t know him too well. He was in his 40s and retired from working in the IT industry. There were probably better people out there, but he was good to talk to. At the bar, I had a few beers and he ate tacos. He never drank alcohol.

   We left this bar that served food late at around 11PM. I was feeling good but not inebriated. My cognitive abilities had not been affected by the alcohol. He told me that he wanted to go to another place, and I agreed.

   The next bar was located on Riverside Drive in the Valley Village neighborhood. I remembered wondering why I was driving to another bar so late at night as it was a weeknight and I would need to go to work the next day. Traffic made my forty-five minute commuter a living hell.

   I parked on a side street and got out of my car. As my friend got out of the car, I noticed a large dent on the rear quarter panel of my car on the driver’s side. As I walked over to examine the extreme dent, I noticed that it also went into the left side of the rear bumper. I was extremely frustrated. “Oh, man!” I whined.

   My friend walked over to me. “Look at what happened to my car.” I said to him. “How did this happen?” I asked, knowing perfectly well that no one there was going to give me an answer anyway.

   “I have a few dings on my car. I just keep driving. It doesn’t matter to me.” Yeah, but I didn’t want my car to look like that. 

   Flustered and bemuddled, I responded, “I have to go home now, I have to take you back.” H shrugged his shoulders and went back into my car. I couldn’t believe it. How could this happen? My mind raced back to the beginning of the night. When we left my apartment, I definitely remembered not noticing any dents in the rear of my car. So, it must have happened when we were at the bar in Studio City.

   I remembered parking along Ventura Boulevard. The street was relatively quiet and only a few bars nearby were open at the time. It must have been an inebriated driver, I though disdainfully.

   I parked on the street in front of the apartment, and my friend waved goodbye as he got into his car and left, acting like nothing bad had happened. I let him go as a friend in the same way that a boss fires an inadequate employee, and this night helped me see the light.

   I looked at the white Nissan Versa under the streetlight. While the body was in poor condition, the vehicle was still operable. I wished that I didn’t’ go out that night.

   The next morning, I woke up and headed off to work, the car’s violent, round dent reminding me of the travesty of the night before. All I could think about was how much that was going to cost to fix.

   After work, I took out my cell phone and called Mercury Insurance. Over the phone, I found out what I needed to submit a claim for the accident. It was considered a hit and run since the other driver who caused the damage fled the scene.

   I provided the necessary proof of the incident and was told by my car insurance that the car was deemed a total loss. The only way it could be fixed was out of pocket. The quotes for fixing the car were all in the ballpark of 4,000 to 5,000 dollars.

   As the weeks passed in July, the left rear quarter panel began to come undone where part of it was detached from the car, and the automobile thus became undriveable. For those who don’t know, there is a law in California stating that no person can operate any motor vehicle that is deemed unsafe to drive, and with the rear quarted panel nearly dislodged and hanging onto the back of the car with only wo bolts, it fit the description. So, the car had to go.

   Mercury Insurance did a fair market evaluation of the car and determined a cash value of $5,600 for the automobile. This wasn’t to bad when the car originally cost me $7,500 at the used auto dealership two years ago. I decided to declare the Nissan Versa a total loss and gave it up to Mercury.

   After the tow truck took away my car, it took two weeks to see my settlement check in the mail. Time went by slower that molasses. As I waited for the check I had to take the bus to get around. At the end of the two weeks, my legs were thoroughly sore when to my joyful surprise my patience paid off, literally. I received the check, and used it to buy a 2009 silver Mazda 3 for $6,500, with my parent’s help.

   The Mazda 3 I bought from the dealership caused me nothing but trouble. In the following year, I had to fix the sensors relating to the transmission, replace the alternator and was frequently getting new tires for the car. But the real cost of purchasing this car was yet to come until the following year.

   In the beginning of 2023, I was hired by the structural engineer to work as a CAD drafter to create drawings for construction of residential and commercial buildings. The company was located in Palmdale and I was in the San Fernando Valley at the time. The drive was horrendous, even without traffic, so in March of that year I moved to Santa Clarita.

   It was somewhere around the middle of April, after the cold streak that hit Palmdale had worn off, that my automobile became unable to function in a high gear, making it work like a vegetable. The car was literally stuck on third gear, and was unable to get up to 40 mph, so I had to take the windy road up the grade that wrapped around the mountains. Just driving to work became a quest.

   I called my parents one night. “Hello, I am having difficulties with the transmission of my car.”

   “What’s happening with the car?” my dad asked.

"Well, my car can't change gears, and I am unable to get my car onto the freeway as it wont go any faster that 30 mph."

"I would say, get it checked." was his answer.

That week, I took my car to AAMCO and was told that it was a problem with the transmission, and to get started, I had to put down a one thousand dollar deposit. My parents helped me with the cost, and they started diagnosing the transmission.

The following week, I was called by the mechanic working on my car. To my horror, the transmission was beyond repair. My choices were to get a new transmission, or get a used transmission. I chose the cheaper, used transmission, but didn't have the four thousand dollars more needed to do the job. I desperately needed the car, as I was driving a rental car on weekdays, and using a bus to get around on weekends. I had given up on the bus to get to work, as I was unable to get there on time.

The car finally received the used transmission, and I was able to resume my travels throughout my life, but I will never forget the troubles that my car has given me, or the help from family during these hard times.