“You need a new engine.” Mickey said. I needed to sit down. There were no empty chairs. I leaned against the wall of the office. We had been at Junge Ford for a few hours. I was nursing the baby when an employee came to get us. Greg went with the employee into the office alone. I didn’t want to talk to them while I was nursing. Greg came back quickly and told me what he had been told. I couldn’t process what Greg was saying. It’s not that I didn’t believe him, I just hoped that he had misunderstood. A new engine in the truck that we just bought. No, no that can’t be true. This can’t be happening! I finished nursing the baby and handed him off to Greg.
“I’ll go talk to them.” I said as I headed for the office. Greg must have misheard. This can’t really be the situation.
As I leaned against the wall, spluttering about how we just bought this truck less than two weeks ago, Mickey looked at me with sympathy in his eyes. It was true, the truck needed a new engine. It had a cracked cylinder and was unsafe to drive. I felt sick. Minimum of $10,000 for a new engine. I was trying not to cry. I was so angry. How could Barber Ford not know that they were selling us a piece of shit?
We had no warranty on the truck due to its age. We had to buy an older truck because we couldn’t get financing. Why couldn’t we get financing? We couldn’t get financing because we weren’t currently employed. Our excellent credit scores were worthless in this situation. Why didn’t we know that this was going to be an issue? We didn’t know that employment was the key. I did months of research on RV life. Paying cash for the RV and the truck had wiped out more than half of our budget. We still had enough to live off for about six months without jobs. Our $21,000 truck was now going to cost another $10,000 at least. There goes a huge chunk of our remaining budget.
Junge Ford was kind enough to let us leave the fifth wheel sitting on their lot while they worked on the truck. It just so happened that there was a hotel across the street from Junge Ford. We grabbed what we needed from the RV and moved into the hotel. We were able to get a room facing the Ford dealership. This allowed us to look out the window and make sure the fifth wheel was still there. Junge gave us a loaner vehicle by day two, thank God!
We didn’t know exactly how long we were going to be stuck in Iowa City. On the bright side it was nice to have a break from the challenges of RV life. We were stuck in limbo, but at least we didn’t have to worry about the air conditioning acting up and I could take as long as I wanted in the shower. It was hot of course, so we headed to the Mall. Coral Ridge Mall thankfully had a lot to offer. The Iowa Children’s Museum is in the mall. Greg took the kids to the museum while I went to a movie. The Children’s Museum was full of interactive displays. Our daughter had a great time!
I went to a movie, alone. I mean, alone. I was the only person in the theater. It was a weekday morning, but still surprising. That’s the only time I have ever been the only person in the audience at a movie. It was a novel experience. We drowned our sorrows in good cupcakes from Scratch Cupcakery. I love to cook and have a sweet tooth. The cupcakes from Scratch Cupcakery are legit. Sugar of course will not solve our problems and reality came calling on day four.
Junge Ford managed to get our engine replaced in four days. The total bill, $13,367.55! I leaned against the wall again feeling utterly defeated. I had reached some kind of acceptance that we were going to be out another $10,000. An additional $3,000 was just another demoralizing hit. It was time to call Barber Ford. What to say, what to say… I can’t say what I want to say to them. I used Junge’s landline to bolster my credibility. I reached the salesman who sold us the truck. I gave him a quick rundown of the situation and he said, ‘let me get you my manager.” I spoke to the manager and suggested that he speak to Mickey. They spoke on the phone for a several minutes and then the phone was handed back to me. I don’t remember the conversation that followed very well, but it was awkward! I wanted Barber Ford to pay the whole bill, but I knew that was a pipe dream. They were not legally obligated to help us in any way. I did my best to balance ‘please help us because it’s the right thing to do’ with ‘if you don’t help us, I’ll tell everyone’. I do not take kindly to being taken advantage of and that is how I felt. How hard should I push? If I push too hard, I may not get anything. Where is that ‘Midwest nice’? We reached an agreement that Barber Ford would pay $3,000 of the repair bill. I handed the phone back to a Junge Ford employee and he ran Barber Fords payment info. This left us with a bill of $10,367.55. The truck being a crew cab was part of why it cost so much to replace the engine. To access everything, the entire cab of the truck had to be removed. This added hours of labor to the bill. We thanked Junge Ford for their help and kindness. They really were very nice folks.
One more stop for cupcakes and we hit the road again heading west for the 2019 Iowa State Fair. Sioux Falls would now have to wait until after the Fair.
Just Keep Going 