My Hero...

This morning, after class, Mom and I got in my car to get the tire replaced. Slight problem: the limited-use spare was flat. So we had to call AAA to send a tow truck to take us and the car over to the tire place. The guy who helped us out there went out to check the mileage on the car for their records. He came back and told us he wanted to show us something. He took us out to my car, which was still sitting where the tow truck driver had left it. The right rear tire was turned inward. The left rear tire was not. To anyone with half a brain (including Glitch), this is Not Good. Once they got it up on the lift, the guy offered to let us look so I went to look. There's a pair of struts going to the wheel and one of them was bent so the tire was turned inward. Right at the point where it was bent, the metal was shiny, as if it'd been hit. Mom said to go ahead and put the new tire on and we'd nurse it home.

Once we got on the street to head home afterwards, there was no real steering control at all. It was like I was constantly turning to the left to keep going straight. We didn't get far before I pulled over and we called for a tow truck. The service we use ended up sending us the same driver. We explained about the wheel once he got there and he suggested that maybe the workers at the tire place had done something. However. It was not like that before the car was towed the first time. The only problems I had steering before was from the flat tire. Not the wheel being bent like that. We didn't tell the driver that we think he screwed up when he was securing the car the first time. He got us home and Mom called AAA to make a complaint. They thanked her and asked her to call the towing service (they contract out the towing, I guess) and, if doesn't get resolved, they'll intervene on our behalf.

I went to my afternoon class and got a text from Mom asking me to call home after class. When I did, she said the guy from the towing service who looked at the car wanted to talk to me because I was the one who'd watched the tow truck driver secure my car (both times) and had looked at the strut while the car had been on the lift. I called him and, after a discussion of the situation, he said he'd need to call AAA and probably wouldn't be able to call me back until tomorrow.

So, everything's up in the air right now. My car isn't driveable at the moment and we can't afford the repairs if the towing company doesn't pay for them. I may end up having to use the Escort until we get the Accent fixed. Or I'll drive the van. We might have avoided all this if we'd decided to take the old tire to the place, buy a replacement, and brought it back home to put on the car ourselves. *grumble*