When Obvious Meets Procrastination – A Car Trouble Story

I rarely admit it. In fact, I try to avoid admitting it most of the time. But today, I have to stand up, look straight in the mirror and tell myself:”I am the perfect example of a procrastinator”.

I know I am good at a lot of things. One of them is that I am very effective in everything I do. The downside of being so productive is that I have the tendency to procrastinate. For things I don’t like, I always postpone them until later on. And this is what this article is all about.

A month ago, I fell in love

I was looking for a second car. Since I moved one hour further away from work, I needed to get a sound, reliable second car to drive to work each morning. On the other hand, I was also looking for a car that would make me feel good about the additional driving of such a long distance everyday. This is why I opted for a Mazda RX-8 (okay… it’s a 2004 but it still rocks!).

So, I started to shop around and found this great deal: The car was in great condition (I bought it in May and was inspected in February 2010), the guy was trustable (he was the VP of a real estate firm) and he gave me a second set of wheels with brand new winter tires on it. Since I really wanted the car, I decided to buy it right after a test drive with my father. I must say that the car drive smooth and life was perfect back then.

2 weeks ago, I was disappointed

2 weeks after my purchase, driving this car was still awesome but the front brake pads were finished and I scrapped the 2 discs. Along with an oil change, regular maintenance, I splurged another $1,000 during thes weekend to bring my car back  to “new”.

I was disappointed in myself as I should have asked for another inspectionby an independent mechanic on the car just before I bought it. I would have been warned that the brakes were finished and I could have:

#1 bargained a lower price for the car

#2 had the brake pads replaced before I had to pay for brand new disks!

This was, again, the price I had to pay for my procrastination. I knew I should have had an inspection but I thought I would wait until my first oil change to have my car checked over (once it is obviously too late) and have the “little things” fixed at the same time.

This morning; I am pretty darn angry

Once again, I let the procrastinator in me take control of my actions (or should I say lack thereof?). 2 days ago, the check engine light went on but since my car was running smoothly, I didn’t call the garage right away and thought it could wait until next week (since I had more time to go to the garage and take care of it). So I drove my car with the light on for 2 days without any problems. In fact, I didn’t notice anything different and I was still very happy to drive it.

This morning, the darn car didn’t start! So I had to take my main car to go to work, leaving my wife with a broken (but nice looking) sports car in the driveway.

So now I am left with my bad habits and a broken car… How much do you think procrastination will cost me in this situation?

I think I should add “procrastination” to my monthly expenses!

Image source: Mrak75