[TomC]

On the way home from the Town Docks last night my VW Passat started sputtering/running rough and the CEL came on. Its done that before - the coil-on-plug failed, which is a common problem with these cars. I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks and i left my OBDII reader at home, so I couldn't read the trouble code myself. I got the car back to my place in Moult.

First thing this morning I stopped at Cliffords Auto at the top of the Neck road and asked him if he could help me out. Vacation's over this weekend and I have to get back to Mass. I asked if he could fit me in any time before Saturday.

Answer: "no"...

This is 30 min job once the problem is confirmed. I asked if he would read the code, have his parts runner order me the part? I would pay for his time and the part and install the coil myself (its not hard).

Answer: "no"...

I explained that I couldn't drive too far with the car running on 3 cylinders without burning up the catalytic converter and he was the closest garage. would he reconsider and squeeze me in?

Answer: "no... I had to turn a regular customer away earlier for a fuel pump, so I'm not fitting you in"

The good news: I called that foreign car repair place in Holderness across the street from the general store because they always have Audis/VWs out front. I talked to a guy named Pat and he said "if you can get it here, we'll get it done". I nursed the car up there and true to his word, he turned it around in a couple of hours, our vacation resumed, and I'll be able to get home this weekend.

I was rather disappointed that the local "neighborhood" garage basically told me to take a hike. This could have been one of those "good guy garage stories", but instead i'll never be able to recommend them. A shame...

At the same time, I did discover a new place who was willing to help me out of a jam...