On the weekend I scheduled an oil change for my car since it was due for one. I have a friend that owns a few Midas locations around town, so I go to the closest one for oil changes.
I was expecting it to cost about $100, which was how much it was last time. They also do a quick inspection of my car, mostly simple things like checking my battery, tire pressure, and brakes. I had gone to get some lunch when they texted me their inspection report. It turns out that one of my rear tires had two screws embedded in it and the pressure in that tire was down to 9 psi, when it should be around 32 or so. I didn’t even realize this and admittedly, it’d been months since I checked the tire pressure on each tire. The report also mentioned that my cabin air filter needed replacement, which wasn’t a big deal. They also said my battery probably would need replacement in the fall or winter. I already knew about this as the last time I had a quick inspection, they already mentioned my battery probably had a year or so left before it needed to go. The big surprise though was the busted tire.
I finished up my lunch and hurried back to the shop. I asked if the tire could be repaired but they said the two screws were really close together and because of that, a patch or repair would probably start to leak. I would need to replace the tire and because you can’t really replace just one tire on the same axle, I’d need two new tires. They checked their stock and the most similar tire to the one I had was located at another one of their shops hundreds of kilometres away. I’d have to wait for that tire to get shipped here. In the meantime, I’d either have to drive on this busted tire or use the spare. That wasn’t really appealing to me because I didn’t want to come back and driving on the spare or the bad tire made me nervous.
I asked if they had anything in stock that was compatible with my car and they did have two tires that were slightly more expensive. I kinda did the math in my head and the cost of convenience, time, safety, and peace of mind was worth the extra cost, if that meant everything could be taken care of in a single visit.
In the end, what I expected to be a $100 visit turned out to be a $800 bill for my car. It’s unexpected things like this which demonstrate how car ownership can be a costly endeavour. It also reminded me that I need to check my tires more frequently like I used to.