$$$ Ouch!

So it's August. In our family, that means that both of our cars need to pass the state safety inspections, and coincidentally have the oil changed as well. So we took my car in for an oil change last week. The auto repair shop we always take are cars to pointed out, rightly, that the front two tires were worn down pretty far and should be replaced. However they don't carry tires. They could order them in, but told us that it would be cheaper for us to go a regular tire place to get the job done. (We love this place because they always give us recommendations on where to take the car to get cheaper repairs if they can't do it for a better price).

Anyway, so off to the tire place this morning and while we were there we asked them to do the safety inspection. Well, that's when everything that is wrong with my car was found. This seems to happen every year. There's always something. This year, it's the brake rotors and pads, something with the steering mechanism, and something else (I forget). Matt, who is a negotiation gem, went back and forth between the tire place and the repair shop (that did our oil change for us) and got the tire place to match the repair shop's estimate, which was more than $150 cheaper than the tire place's first estimate. So by this evening my car should be completely taken care of with the inspection and everything. And while I am really happy about that, and the fact that Matt really did a great job of talking the down the price, we're still out some $600, which makes me really sad. What's worse is that this seems to be what we do every August, when it's time to do the state inspections. Oh well. It's still cheaper than buying a new car (believe me, I've done the math!)