Honda

I like freebies.

My near-decade old Honda got emissions warranty extension and free service notice in January of this year. I did not have a chance to take the car in since I was busy flying to California (San Jose), Japan (Tokyo), California (San Jose) for work. And then I got "busy" with sabbatical and went out of town for another 2 weeks in California visiting mom and sis. Needless to say, I almost forgot about the freebie until wife reminded me to take the car in... she even scheduled the appointment so I wouldn't forget!

I don't enjoy waking up early for freebies. It must be due to that one bad Black Friday experience where I got up early for excellent deals and ended up not getting anything -- since I didn't wake up as early as those that lined up at the store the previous night.

We had to get to car dealer before 9am according to our scheduled appointment. Shortly before 9am, we grabbed little RyanC and drove in separate cars to the local Honda dealership, Markley Honda. The waiting line was non-existent and we were told that they'll call us back when it's ready, which was fine since I didn't plan on doing much today anyways.

At 4pm the dealer finally called and said my car is ready. Again, we grabbed RyanC to go to the dealership. Sometimes I wonder if we will just forget and leave him at home by himself -- though after yesterday's experience, we probably should keep an eye on him.

The dealer replaced the spark plugs, ignition wires, distributor cap and rotor, and change oil and oil filter -- FREE! The included estimate shows this costs $500+.

It's nice to get freebies.