SpannerOkay, so I managed to locate a car service place to come and tow in and patch up the Jetta for me on Monday morning, a fairly difficult task considering I don’t know any places situated out here in our area nor do I have anyone’s recommendations to go by. So I fell back on the good old Yellow Pages and after numerous attempts at trying to reach a service center, someone at Disa Auto Services out in Strand finally answered my call.

After hearing that they do handle call outs, I immediately gave them the job and it wasn’t too much later before two mechanics were knocking at my door, bakkie and towrope ready at hand. They quickly hitched it up and before I could blink, my baby was gone, taken right before my very eyes by two complete strangers in blue overalls.

I never did teach her not to hoot to strangers you know.

Anyway, the hours passed and I didn’t hear back from them, leading me to worry until at last the telephone ran and it was Donnie, the main mechanic who was working on my car. Turns out that it was in fact not the clutch cable that had snapped (as what I had originally thought – and hoped) but rather the clutch release arm, and while the part itself wasn’t too expensive, the actual labour in replacing it was. And to compound matters, they discovered the source of my water leak that has been plaguing me for a while, a ‘water flange front cylinder head’ that had cracked and had to replaced as well.

Bringing the total expenses for the day up to a whopping R1,265.86, a whole lot more than what I had imagined it to be back when I still suspected a broken clutch cable.

Oh well, apart from the not clearing repairs with me first part, I must say that I was thoroughly impressed by the professionalism and efficiency of Disa Auto Services. They keep very neat and tidy offices, are very professional over the phone and the actual repair work seems pretty well done, so I reckon I’ve found my new car service partner for the duration of my stay out here in Gordon’s Bay.

Ah, except for the big ass white sticker they placed on my rear window (which was quickly removed). I didn’t like that. But they did clean my car, both inside and out, a particularly heroic feat considering I haven’t cleaned my car for well over four or five months! So I’ll forgive them this time then.

Oh, and the other bad news which I didn’t like hearing was all the other problems that they picked up while inspecting the underside of the car. I know it is an old tactic to scare up more business, but what they said I am aware of and taking into consideration that the car is now 11 years old and has just passed the 200 000km mark means that I had better take the thing in for a major service sooner than later – guess I had better start saving the big bucks now already. Somewhere out there’s a new cam belt and water pipes calling my name… :(