In telling my epic tale of car trouble last month, I skipped past an unimportant detail about trying to jump start my car. Many years ago, I bought this cheap roadside kit with a bare minimum of car trouble essentials -- a couple of road flares, a set of jumper cables, and so forth.
The jumper cables are frankly terrible. They're just too damn short. If I'm in a standard parking space trying to use these cables, the second car is in the space next to me, and the batteries on our cars are on the far opposite sides from one another, these jumper cables aren't long enough to make a connection. Which basically makes them useless in many -- maybe even most -- situations.
But here's the thing. I've still managed to make them work whenever I've needed them. That makes me reluctant to buy a better pair for next time. Plus, of course, the fact that I don't want there to be a next time. I mean, I don't kid myself -- car trouble happens every now and then. And yet, I can't bring myself to spend money on something I hope never to actually use -- especially having done it once already.
Am I being unreasonably cheap here?
1 comment:
Do you keep band-aids or aspirin or whatever in your house? No one hopes to use these common medicines and remedies, but do you avoid buying and keeping some because you hope to not have to use them? It's no different with your car. Spend the few dollars on a decent set of jumper cables. You'll be glad when the time comes to use them.
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