Failure

To celebrate her eighth birthday, my car failed her annual inspection. Perhaps it was a passive-aggressive reminder that she's not getting any younger (though who of us is).

I try to take care of her as best as I can. I take her in for regular checkups when she starts making funny noises or running oddly. I get her oil changed more frequently than the recommended 5,000 miles.

I am somewhat remiss with taking care of her outside, though. The hail damage lives on and will never be fixed--not under my watch, anyway. I never get her washed in the winter unless my windows get so salty that I can't see through them. I never wax her exterior, and now there are some sticky-like patches and the occasional small rust spot dotting her exterior. But she's an eight-year-old car, and these things will happen.

Before inspection, we warm her up, and we take her to the place that doesn't seem to look too closely when they perform the inspection. But they still failed her. Her emissions were fine--phew--but the guy said that she was missing a tie rod. I didn't know what a tie rod was but I felt certain that my mechanic would.

And he did. He also said that tie rods can't be missing, or a car won't steer. This particular tie rod was just a bit worn and needed to be replaced, which it was.

And today she passed inspection with flying colors, and the big red R sticker has been replaced with a sticker that indicates she's good to go for another year.

Another interesting note--if your car fails inspection in November and you bring it back for reinspection in December, you still get a sticker for November. I was hoping to skip ahead a month, but I guess that's not how it's done.