The Wheels on the car go up and down...

The other day, I took my car to get it's annual inspection as required by state law (I also got an oil change but that sounds a lot less grand, ya know?).  Apparently the inspection was fine and dandy.  My car Parry (short for paranoid since it likes to keep the re-lock the doors regardless of how many times I click my unlock button) didn't put out any more emissions than it should.  And the oil change apparently was butter too.  Total with tax for these things?  $69.

However, while they were doing the inspection and oil change guess what else they found?  $500 worth of repairs that should be done.

Well technically it is only like $330 or some such number.  But the labor is somewhere near the $168 department.

Fan- freaking- tastic.  Because, you know, that is what I totally wanted to hear.  Apparently the belts on my car for AC and some other such things, have tiny cracks in them, and they are a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode.  The guy's words?

"They could last for two months, or last for two days.  I just can't really give you a timeline of how long they will keep up."

Really?  In all your experience you can't even provide a better estimate than somewhere between two days and two months?  I understand from a liability standpoint that since the car is a complicated piece of machinery and that you aren't a human calculator and can't run all the variables to give me a date specific countdown.  But maybe some sort of guidance to know if I should be changing to Top Ramen for the next couple of weeks if that will get me the money or if I can just set a little more aside on my credit cards the next couple months till I have enough to cover it.

Something just a little more helpful than: "You might die today, you might die 60 years from now, I don't know I'm not a psychic, sir.  But please stop writhing on the floor, you are scaring the other customers."

$500.  Just great.