08 April 2008

Approaching 1000 Euros!

A FEW MONTHS ago in this space I speculated that our inability to speak French (very well) was going to cost our family in the range of 1000 Euros during the first year we are in France. Last week I added about 150 Euros to the tab.

I'm not sure what I hit, but while driving home from work one afternoon I ran over something in the road (or was I driving too close to the side of the road) that popped my front right tire. And I don't mean I got a flat -- I popped a frickin' hold in the wall of the tire! The next day I took the car into our local garage to inquire about what it was going to take to fix the damage. The very nice mechanic did some checking around the car, consulted a couple of catalogues, and informed me that the cost for two front tires that would fit my car was going to be 125 euros. Now, you should know that I know very little about cars, or tires, or labor costs in France, so I wanted to make sure I had it right. I asked if the 125 was for both tires. Or I should say I thought I asked if the 125 was for both tires. When he nodded and said, oui, I thought I had the answer I needed. Add a bit more for labor and little more for tax and I should be out of the garage for about 200 Euros.

Of course, you know where this story is going. The tires I 'chose' were 125 Euros apiece! And we haven't come close to factoring in labor or taxes yet (I underestimated on both). So now I have really expensive tires on my really cheap car and that makes me really feel like I'm in Langley Park (local DC joke there).
CJS

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

so is that 1000 Euros that would not have been spent if you could speak and understand French?

Expensive language lessons...but I'm sure much more rememberable then those you received from Beach!