My car is actually fixed!

But the real test will be if, tomorrow, it starts up for work.

To recap:

I showed up at the dealership this Friday at around mid afternoon sometime. I figured, having a nice lunch with my dad over at Romano's Macaroni Grill would start my day off right. This way, at least the Mercedes people wouldn't ruin a perfectly good lunch.

So, we sashay into the dealership and Andrew is all, "It's done!!" huge smile and reclining back in his chair, further growing his sh!t-eating grin, "It's finished!"

"O RLY? Was there an electrical problem you saw? Was it the radio?"

"Your alternator and the electrical system is a-ok, we checked that out top to bottom. That radio is what's been giving us all the delays though. Since we had to replace your center console piece, we had to take all of that apart. Since the radio's after market... we had to call in a specialist to make sure we took it out and put it back together again properly."

Me, now with a smile, "O RLY??? So you even fixed the radio too?? I am impressed!"

He blinked, "The radio was broken?"

"Well sort of. I was going to take it in to that crappy Roseville place where I got it installed but apparently you people didn't ruin it further to cause me even more heart burn over that."

He blinked again, "Well, I am happy to hear that.. . . ."

And so, our hero and her dad went and paid some more money, because apparently diagnosing an electrical problem that doesn't exist costs money, got the car.. did a walk around... adjusted the seats.. the mirrors... and drove off into the sunset with the soft, serenading sounds of a lecture still echoing in her ears.. "remember -- slow down!!!"




Epilogue:

Yes, they did fix the satellite radio, too. Bliss!