cars, kids, and headaches

My kids have a wonderful set of god-parents.  Their "aunt PJ" as they call her is one of the most giving people I know.  She's been my best friend since I was in high school.  She is also absentminded, loses everything, and would be late to her own funeral if someone didn't get her there.  None of those qualities at all take away from the great person that she is.  Uncle S decided to look for a car for Little Man so that he could drive himself to work, get them back and forth to school, etc.  Well, as Uncle S has a disabling disease that has had him confined to a wheelchair for over 20 years now, LM and Aunt P went car hunting.  This is like sending the blind to find a red dress with no sales person to help.  Remember, the boys have been raised without any type of "dad" and although I know a wee bit about cars, my joint disease keeps me from crawling around on the ground or turning bolts.  My idea of fixing my car is dialing 1-800-call-bub/bob/johnny/whomever.  And Aunt P- well, lets just say that I once caught her driving the handicapped van with over 5,000 miles since an oil change and the inspection sticker had been out for over a year.  She has a lot on her plate and things tend to get lost in the shuffle sometimes.  But, a car mechanic she's not.  So, they go test drive this car and bring it home.  All without discussing it with me or letting me even see the car.  But, LM is happy and he's all excited because he's getting a car.  Can you say HEADACHE?  

P goes to get the car and it over-heats between where they picked it up from and getting to their house.  So, then there's a nice wet spot on the drive from where it's been parked.  So, they get in the car and drive it out to our house which is a 35-40 min drive from P's house.  WITHOUT. ADDING. WATER.  Where it proceeds to over-heat on the drive AGAIN.  How this car didn't end up with cracked heads is way beyond my comprehension.  So, I take it to the cousins who are kind enough to over-haul the car and get it all fixed up.   By the way- the puddle that was on the drive.  BRAKE FLUID.  The car had absolutely NO front breaks at all.  How they got it out here without wrecking?  Again, beyond me.  By the grace of God.....

This morning, it's time for the inspection, plate change, etc, so LM stays home from school (so he can sign the title and get the car in his name) and we head out in his car to go get the inspection done.  It doesn't even make it the mile out of the neighborhood.  It over- heats again.  I'm not a very happy camper at this point, because I know the cousins have gone thru this thing and had it on the computer- everything.  It split a heater hose and is spewing water all over the place.  UGH.  At this point, there are some not very nice things going thru my head about buying cars without having a mechanic look at them, etc.  And a prevalent theme of - I hate dealing with kids and used cars.  So, as of now, it's sitting at the cousins' house again.  He will pull the bad hose, I'll go pick up a new one, and he'll put it back on.  As the fair starts next week, finding time to take it in for inspection will be hard.  And it's more stress on me.  Not to mention, LM is less than happy right now as the "new car" he got has required over $400 in parts and he hasn't gotten to drive it yet.  And me-   I'm thinking:

I TOLD THEM SO 

but I haven't said it.  

yet.