November is always a busy month for anything car-related in Canada. People are preparing for winter—getting oil changes, putting on winter tires, what have you—and getting a timely appointment at any mechanic is always a challenge and usually entails a 2- to 3-week delay.
No problem—have an appointment booked at my dealership for an oil change, inspection, and winter tire installation in 2 weeks, on the 19th of November. All good.
Last Wednesday evening, what happens? The dreaded “check engine” light comes on my dashboard. According to my car’s FordPass telemetry app, it’s a sensor in the emissions system—no big deal, nothing urgent; it can wait. Problem is, my car had 99,250km on the odometer. Only 750km to warranty expiration!
Unless I lock myself down, there’s almost no way I’m driving less than 750km in 2-3 weeks. I’ve spent enough time at home in the past 20 months, thank you very much, and I want this repair to be covered under warranty. Duh!
So, I called my dealer and explained my predicament. The service manager said he couldn’t schedule the repair soon (they’re super busy—see above) but he could start a work order now, order the parts and get the repair covered by warranty even if the actual repair happens in 2 weeks or later (because the WO started before the odometer turns over 100k).
The only catch? I had to be at the dealer for 0700 this morning so that a technician could take a look and get that work order started.
While I was waiting, I jumped at the opportunity to catch what I could of the sunrise. So here you are, a suburban sunrise outside Sterling Ford on Ogilvie Rd. in Ottawa’s east end.
Photo of the day done & dusted.