Of late I've felt a bit like Joe Btfsplk, who for you young ones is a character in the Lil Abner comic strip drawn by Al Capp. Poor Joe was forever the victim of various misfortunes thus the black cloud that was ever present above his head. My feeling like Joe got it's start about two years ago. One day I was at the office (Donut Stop) drinking coffee and trading lies with those assembled that day. A lull in the conversation found me mentioning that I'd been thinking about getting a new vehicle. My bud, Rick G. asked what I was going to get. I said I wasn't sure but I'd really like a truck. That prompted Rick G. to opine that if a truck was what I wanted then a truck is what I should get. And on those fated words two years of one unfortunate happenstance after the other had it's beginning. I took Rick's words to heart and thus began a week or so of midnight dealership visits. Having grown up in a barely subsistence circumstance, my needs are not that lavish. On one of those midnight runs I fell in love with a 2007 Nissan Frontier XE. Now the XE is the Frontier base model, still it had everything my simple tastes might require. It was/is sexy in my minds eye. Black with a light gray/silver pin striping. It sports an economical 4 cylinder engine, (not a problem because I wouldn't be towing anything) a 5 speed manual transmission, power windows and locks, am/fm radio with a single CD player, cruise control and an alarm system. What more could a simple man of simple tastes require. So in January 2008 I signed papers on the truck of my modest dreams. And on that same night the trouble, the ever so tortuous slide toward feeling like Joe Btspflk began. It started on that night, that very same night I took ownership. On the way home with my new prize I stopped to wash the dealership dust off it. I had to have it that night. There would be no leaving it overnight to be prepped for me, no not for me. And so it was with chest swollen with the pride of new ownership that I pulled into the drive at home. Now understand I'd been driving a Nissan for 10 years, but a Sentra which is considerably smaller than the Frontier. So as I pulled into the drive at the angle I'd taken for years when entering the garage in the Sentra. I quickly realized that angle wouldn't do for the Frontier. Into reverse and as I backed up for another try I bumped the dumpster with my brand new toy. Jumping out of the truck, hoping against hope that all would be well, that it would only be the bumper I'd hit. But there would be no such luck for me and the Frontier on that night. It's now less than 2 hours since I signed papers and already I've dinged up the tailgate. A half-dollar sized blemish now graced the tailgate of my new truck. I was sick, sick I say, sick. It was with heavy heart that I finally screwed up the courage to go inside and say to my wife "you're never gonna believe this". And within the next week there was another mishap in the garage resulting in a dented front fender. Paul, at Harvey's Precision Body Shop, ironed out the wrinkle in the fender and did what he could with the bulls eye zit in the tailgate. Sometime later there was the incident with the shelf in the garage bearing 12 one gallon paint cans on the top shelf that mysteriously decided to tip forward depositing 12 paint cans in perfect formation onto the hood of the Frontier. The result of that-- 12 + linear dents into the hood. Luckily, none of the cans lost a lid in the crash. So for some months I procrastinated about taking the truck in to see Paul again. I talked to him about how much this latest fiasco might cost to correct but hadn't yet taken it in to be fixed. It's just as well, he took care of the hood when he fixed the damage inflicted by a lady who turned in front of me, rearranging my front bumper somewhat and setting off the airbag for good measure. Those folks at Harvey's are magicians I tell you, my baby emerged looking good as new yet again. Have you heard it said that no good deed goes unpunished. I have, and I believe it with all my heart. Just a week or so later, after having done what I thought was a good deed, another little old lady backed into the truck in a parking lot requiring yet another trip to Harvey's. Again it exited the shop looking good as new. I mentioned to Paul that since the visit for the front end repairs the truck had run hot a time or two and I had added two gallons of antifreeze to the radiator in the interim. Looking back at his records he saw that they had replaced the radiator due to a broken part that attached the radiator to the frame. He asked I bring it in to test for a coolant system leak. There was no leak found. That prompted a second trip to the dealership, on the first visit they told me the coolant system caps had been reversed at Harvey's. This time they diagnosed what they thought to be a blown head gasket. I left wondering why they didn't find it on the first visit but... The good folks at Nissan denied coverage under the warranty because the engine "got hot". One bit of good luck in that Harvey's is covering the work under their shopkeepers insurance. But it's all this that has left me feeling like Joe Btfsplk, black cloud or not. Hopefully, I'll be reunited with my Frontier tomorrow. I have only ten payments left. Should I hang on to the truck and 3 years of residual warranty or should I trade it and any further mishaps for a new truck. Comments are welcome.
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