It hasn’t been a good week for Gina, my Hyundai Getz. Earlier in the week, someone tried to steal her front left tire. No kiddin’. The would-be thieves tried to pry open our little plastic hubcap. Little did they know – amateurs! – that the nuts and bolts keep the hubcap securely fastened to the tire. So they weren’t able to steal my tire. However, they damaged my Hyundai Getz’s hubcap beyond repair. Ugh.

In the course of their robbery, they found – as I did today – that one of the nuts is fused – again!!! – to the bolt. This is ridiculous! It’s the second time this has happened to me in a span of a few months. When the folks at Hyundai Otis said this was the “sakit” of the Getz, they weren’t kidding. I inquired at the Hyundai Fort Bonifacio branch as to how much it would cost to replace the nut and bolt if it was beyond repair, and the initial estimate is Php1,500. (Wowch, right?)

I’ll bet I could pay Php500 at Banawe. But I’m the hardheaded play-by-the-rules stick-in-the-mud who insists having everything done casa-style. lol Suze Orman says we should keep our cars for ten years minimum to get the most mileage out of them, and I tend to agree. If you know everything in my car was done by the folks at Hyundai, and that the checkups were done regularly, wouldn’t you think that Gina would be in better shape than most other Getzes of her age and make?

So here’s what happened. I scheduled an appointment this Thursday with Hyundai Bonifacio Global City for them to check out my tire. I then take my little girl to school. That’s when it happened. A crack in the left rear tire made itself known. ARGH! I took my car over to the Banawe Car Center along Banawe Avenue in Quezon City to buy a tire to replace the tire, and that’s when I was told by Warren, one of Banawe Car Center’s managers, that the size of my tire was difficult to find. Not completely sold out, but hard to find.

“Do you have any other options?” I asked.

Our Getzes’ tires are 165/65/R14. 165 is the diameter, 65 is the profile, R14 is the rim diameter. Most tires of our kind are harder to find, so he recommended an upgrade to 175/65/R14, a mere 10mm increase in diameter. “It’s a stronger tire,” he said, and offers more traction. The tiny difference in wheel size makes little to no difference with our cars’ suspension, too.

The Federal tire (it’s a Taiwan make, my first time to buy Taiwanese, but come on, my Korean tires have been less than satisfactory lately) in the 175 option retails for a little less than Php2500 each, but I needed two (obviously, if I was replacing one tire with a different size, I’d need at least two to balance things out), he offered me a slight discount. I then proceeded to pay with my credit card – they take VISA, Mastercard, and JCB, cool! – and was out of there in ten minutes. Blazing fast, quick service (cold water or juice on the house), and quality tires. If y’all are looking to buy tires and pay with credit card, I wouldn’t mind recommending Banawe Car Center. Look for Warren, really nice guy.

Yesterday, I went to the Land Transportation Office at Sto. Domingo in Quezon City to renew the car registration of my Hyundai Getz. It took me approximately an hour and a half to complete everything – a miracle! – so I was quite pleased. Good job, LTO.

Costs:
Emissions Test – Php420
Compulsory Third Party Liability (CTPL) – Php890
Actual registration – Php1960

Total: Php3270.00

I did not have to pay any fixers. I did not have to pay any tip money. To top it all off, the service was fast and efficient. I was quite surprised and pleased. Good job, LTO!

Did you know you could find the chassis number under your chair??

I felt violated for Gina. It's like someone putting a pipe in your butt and asking you to fart.

I ran into Glenn Ong‘s post here on LTO license plate verification, and I think that this is information you all should know about. Like Glenn says, iIt’s always a good idea to have information on your license plate available in case someone (e.g., some crooked person at the MMDA or city traffic enforcers) pulls you over, or should you wish to verify the status of a second-hand car you wish to purchase.

All you apparently have to do is type the keywords LTO(space)VEHICLE(space) then send it to 2600. I got the following response for my Hyundai Getz:

It works! So the next time you get in a situation where the veracity of your license plate is called into question, you know what to do. Thanks, Glenn!

Two nights ago, I was setting up my kids’ new beds when I realized I needed a wrench to dismantle their existing wooden bedframe. “Aha!” I thought to myself, “the wrench of my Hyundai Getz!”

I went downstairs and to my Getz to getz it (Getz it? Get(z) it? lol), but I couldn’t find it! The whole tool set is missing! There’s a culture of borrowing things without permission (and not returning them) in the compound in which my family lives, but all the likely suspects deny it. I can’t recall using (and losing) it myself; I’m the type of person who will always return things to where I got them (thanks, Dad), so this is a big puzzle for me.

Meanwhile, I’m deathly terrified that I may run a flat and be unable to change the tire. So I guess I’m going to hie my fat ass to Ace Hardware and pick up a new set. I’ll let y’all know how expensive that’ll be so you’ll know how much you’ll need to spend if and when you need to replace your own set of tire tools. *sigh*

Update: I found them! They were underneath my spare tire! How they got there, I’ll never know. *facepalm*

Yesterday, my beautiful wife and I bought two folding sofa-beds for our two children. The salespersons at SM North EDSA, where we bought the sofa-beds at an P800 discount (YES!), asked if we had space for it. I told them I had a Hyundai Getz. The salesperson looked skeptical.

After he put it in, his exact words: “parang sinukatan.” What can I tell you? The Hyundai Getz’s trunk space is HUGE! I just folded the chairs back, and BOOM! Two sofa beds, plus groceries, and my son’s school things.

See? Perfect fit!

Bit of a mess, but hey, I’m not known for impeccable organizing skill.

Hi all! I’m returning my Hyundai Getz website to its original theme for a few days while I try to work on a new look that is easier to update yet still nice-looking. Please bear with me.

Oh, and as an aside, I just thought y’all should know that some kind-hearted driver apparently nicked my Hyundai Getz Gina. Hit and run, apparently. I’ll take a picture tomorrow and pop it in, just as a record, because, well, it’s ugly.