Boredworkers.com

Well, it has finally happened. After years of abuse, my car has broken down big time. Or at least, it has decided to call a timeout. For those who don’t know, I drive a Proton Tiara. Its actually not a bad car. The engine runs great and it handles good. The only downside to the car is its high maintenance and zero (0) resale value.

Anyway, I was on my way home from SS2 after meeting up with some friends for a drink. I stopped at the traffic lights in front of University Malaya (UM)’s Petaling Jaya (PJ) exit. And then it happened. The engine was still running fine but the clutch refused to engage. I tried several more times without success before realising that the shift was slipping in and out of position freely even when the clutch was not depressed.

“Damn! The thing is broken!” The thought rolled through my head as I dialed the Great Eastern emergency number. It wasn’t too long ago that I dialed that same number to rescue WL’s brother. At that time, I didn’t think that I would ever need that number. The irony. The guy on the other end said that they would send a tow truck and that I was covered up to RM300.00 for breakdown service. Good. At least it wasn’t going to cost me anything to get the car to where someone could actually take a look at it.

The tow truck came along 15 minutes later. As it turns out, it was the same guy who towed WL’s car. A small world indeed. During our conversation, I found out that he handles most of the cases at night. It isn’t that long a drive from UM to the workshop where I usually send my car to. My dad picked me up half an hour later and I was home by 1.30am.

I’m still wondering what was broken. There are several possibilities. The most likely one being that the clutch plate was shot to pieces. I have my fingers crossed that it isn’t the gear box. The tow truck driver and I were having a conversation about the possibilities during the ride back. We both agreed that if it was the gear box, then I could probably kiss the car good bye as it was probably cheaper to buy a second hand Tiara than to replace the damned thing. Heck, I could probably buy TWO second hand Tiaras for the price of the gearbox.

I’ll just have to wait and see whether things can be salvaged. If it doesn’t cost too much, I’ll probably get it fixed. But if its going to cost a bomb, then I suppose this is as good a time as any to go shopping. Perhaps this is a sign that I should purchase a new car… Hope not.