A perfect surprise break-down!

[faz]

Dropped the wife at work in the morning, then dropped the toddler at her daycare, and went to work. Tonight, went to pick up the toddler, needing to then go pick up the wife and go to airport to pick up mother in-law arriving from Canada. Cool... taxi dad in his trusty X5 to the rescue!

Parked the car at toddler's daycare, went in, picked her up, came out, put her in her child seat... start... click click click... nothing!.... click click click again, nothing. Dead battery, it sounds like... even though the dome lights are pretty bright looking and never had any signs of the battery heading south!

After a few tries... how the F#$% can this be a dead battery case, I am thinking... 4 year and 2 months old car... driven every day about 50 miles??? no lights left on by mistake.... come the F$@# on!

Called AAA who surprisingly showed up in 10 minutes, while my daughter was playing in the grass front yard of the closed day care... eat your heart out, east coast... this is the kind of weather we are paying dearly for in California!

The AAA phone lady had asked already what my problem was, and I said to I need a boost, I think. Somehow this AAA truck that shows up seems much smaller than I had seen before. The AAA dude says he could check my battery, I said go for it... he gets the spare wheel out, gets to the battery and tests it, a bad cell... 10.3 volts output... bad battery.

I had noticed the 'battery replacements' sign on the truck earlier....

- Do you have a battery for this?
- " yes we do... I have 40+ batteries in my truck"
- how much?
- "around $165 all said and done"
- go for it!

10 minutes later, a new battery in the car, he is running a test on alternator and stuff... his hand held unit says all is ok and no problems with alternator and what not... daughter is still happily watching her barney dvd in the costco self-battery-powered $150 DVD player...F@#$ the headrest $800 DVD screen units that rely on car's battery to operate... we are running ghetto self powered DVD player, baby!!!!!!

I am on my way to pick up the wife and her mom from the airport (wife got a ride to the airport from a friend meanwhile) with a new battery in less than half an hour.

I could NOT have asked for a better scenario to have the battery take a dump on me. This was probably the happiest $165 I spent on a battery, ever!

[alpac]

Glad it ended well for you. I have had AAA assistance for more than 10 years now and between my ex wife and I have used them 5 or 6 times including once for the X5 after a coolant hose blown on me on a 110°F hot summer day. I have always been very pleased with their service.

[faz]

Originally Posted by alpac

Glad it ended well for you. I have had AAA assistance for more than 10 years now and between my ex wife and I have used them 5 or 6 times including once for the X5 after a coolant hose blown on me on a 110°F hot summer day. I have always been very pleased with their service.

Yes, I have used them when a used-bike I bought ran out of gas on my way home, even though the gauge showed it had gas in it. It is a worthwhile service, and I just upgraded to the 'Plus' which gives me 100 miles of towing if needed.

In this specific case, it was mostly the convenience of the whole situation that got me thinking how this could have been so much different and how it could have been a pretty shitty situation if it had happened elsewhere.

The fact that there were absolutely NO signs of any problems with the battery at all, and being caught by surprise, was a bit disturbing. However, the guy said that this type of instant battery failure due to a bad cell does happen often as the bad cell sometimes disconnects itself... he even said that sometimes just shaking/moving the battery around might help with connecting the failed cell and get you going temporarily... I didn't know that and don't know how true it is.

[vegasX5]

Glad it worked out so well! I have had AAA since I started driving and have a Plus membership as well. Here's my fav AAA story - I was driving my buddy's 85 Toyota pickup for a while a few years back because I was doing some off road suspension mods for him. I went out to start it one day in a mall parking lot and the key would turn in the cylinder but wouldn't fire up. I call them out and they come figure out that the ignition cylinder was toast and it would need a whole unit with new key and the whole 9. I was like oh no this isn't even my car! The guy winks at me and says you have the Plus membership don't worry. He goes to his van and pulled out a new ignition cylinder, replaces it, rekeys the doors to the ignition, gets it done in about 30 minutes - and turns to me and says have a nice day! NO CHARGE!! I was ecstatic that the membership covered it because that would have easily been several hundred dollars out of pocket I'm sure. I have used it for a few other things and wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone!

[zerochief]

AAA quoted me $300 for battery replacement and install last year. I'm a premier member.

[N S]

Originally Posted by faz

... daughter is still happily watching her barney dvd in the costco self-battery-powered $150 DVD player...F@#$ the headrest $800 DVD screen units that rely on car's battery to operate

Your daughter watches too much TV

[faz]

Originally Posted by vegasX5

He goes to his van and pulled out a new ignition cylinder, replaces it, rekeys the doors to the ignition, gets it done in about 30 minutes - and turns to me and says have a nice day! NO CHARGE!! I was ecstatic that the membership covered it because that would have easily been several hundred dollars out of pocket I'm sure. I have used it for a few other things and wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone!

This is quite a story... nice!

[faz]

Originally Posted by N S

Your daughter watches too much TV

That thing has been a life saver!