About 7 months ago I got in a bad car accident on the way to the airport, and it took about a month for the guy’s insurance to fix it. I wrote how my mechanic said it was a total loss because it would cost more to fix it than my car was worth, but his insurance preferred to fix the car rather than pay me its value.
I soon learned why. They did a really shoddy job fixing the car, and I needed to pay my mechanic money to fix what they didn’t. However, it was still worth it for me because it was cheaper than the difference I’d have to pay between what insurance would pay for a car like mine and what buying another would cost.
Time passed and my car was on the road, working beautifully.
And then I realized that there was a yearly inspection that I had to do in order to renew the license. And I remembered the inspection a whole 6 months too late, having remembered the month incorrectly (my old car needed its inspection each May and my current car in January). Once I realized this, I freaked out because this happened to a friend as well, and they got a $285 fine and were threatened with having their car impounded if they didn’t get the test done within a week. Additionally, I found out that the insurance wasn’t valid unless the license was up to date.
So I tried to pay for the license immediately online so I could do the test. (The fine scared me, but having no insurance was far worse.) However, the system wouldn’t allow me to pay because there was a recall on a part of my car that needed to be taken care of before I could renew my license.
This recall could only be done at a licensed Kia garage, of which there were only 3 in my city. I called up all 3 places, which were nearly impossible to get a hold of. We kept getting put on hold and then disconnected, getting error messages, or dealing with other things like that. Then, when we finally got through to them, we were told that the next available appointments were anywhere from 3 weeks to a month away.
We tried begging them to squeeze us in since I was 6 months behind on my license, but they said there was no option. Finally, one helpful worker at one of the garages suggested trying a Kia garage in another city and recommended an area to check out. The first place we called there had an available appointment that day; we drove over and had them take care of the issue before the garage closed. They said it would take at least until the next morning for the system to be updated to show that the recalled part had been fixed, so I should call them then. But the system was down. It ended up being two days later before we finally got the all-clear, and I was able to renew my license and take my car for the test.
First I needed to take the car to the mechanic to fix some last-minute things before the test. My mechanic had told me previously that while he fixed everything he could then and there, there were two big issues with my car that might cause me to fail the inspection. They might even insist on taking my car off the road because of the first issue, and the second one he could fix, but it would cost me more money. Why? Both were because of the shoddy repair job after the accident.
In my accident, they hit the back of my car really hard, and apparently they didn’t attach what fell off properly. He said they just used silicon to attach part of it, which isn’t proper, and if they noticed that during the test they would fail me. He painted over the silicon to make it less obvious that they had done that. I asked him if I could pay to have it fixed properly, and he said it would cost a lot of money, more than I’d want to pay. He said it isn’t a matter of safety, though, fortunately. (I’m not sure which part is siliconed. Maybe it’s something stronger than silicon and he was using “silicon” as colloquial speech so I would understand.)
He said they also never attached a light above the license plate that is supposed to be there. If they checked for that, it was entirely missing. He’d have to order a new light fixture to put there, and he didn’t yet know how much it would cost.
So obviously, when I went for the test, I was nervous.
I then went to wait in line for my turn for the car to be inspected. I was praying so hard before the test and asked friends to pray for me. As the inspection was taking place, I was literally saying quietly, “Please God, please God, please God,” and as I got to the end of the inspection line I got the verdict:
The front wheels needed to be aligned.
That’s it.
I needed to take my car to a repair shop that did wheel alignments, so I did that. When I was there, I found out that I needed to get one of the front control arms replaced before the front right wheel could be aligned. So then I went to my mechanic, who pointed out that that was just a small part of the issue, and that a lot of the area under my car was banged up from when I park on the sidewalk. However, my mechanic spoke with the wheel alignment place and they said they could take care of that for more money.
So then I got the control arm replaced, went back to the alignment garage, and got that taken care of.
And finally, finally, I went back to the test center with my paperwork. I didn’t need to get inspected again. I just needed to show proof that I had gotten the wheel issue taken care of, and now officially my car is allowed to be on the road.
Whew.
All’s good that ends good.
Now I can breathe. At least until my next inspection in January, where I hope they again don’t notice the issues from the car accident. And the inspection after that. And the one after that.
But for now, I have a working car that I can legally drive, and that is what matters.
