Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fall car maintenance... and zombies at Ricart.

You’re taking a pleasant walk with your dog through the woods at a park. It’s twilight, and the shadows among the trees are starting to take on other-worldly appearances. You aren’t worried though, having walked the trails of this park many times.

As the light fades more noticeably and you start to head back to your car, your dog begins to whine as if sensing something in the surrounding trees and bushes, but you hear or see nothing out of the ordinary, and coax the canine to follow you. After a few more steps, the dog becomes dead weight on the leash as he stops, facing back up the trail with a low rumbling growl. You turn to see what has gotten into the dog, and notice a figure lumbering through the trees. Then you see another figure, then a couple of more. Something must be wrong with those people because they all seem to be stumbling through the growing darkness. It’s time to get back to your car!

You pull the leash hard, and with it the dog, as you begin to walk with greater purpose toward the parking lot. Suddenly the dog passes you, whining loudly, as he begins pulling you hard down the path to where your car is parked. The reassuring sounds of nightfall, the crickets and the fading calls of song birds, are quickly overwhelmed by the growing din of a large group of people now crashing through the underbrush and trees. You move faster and faster, the dog pulling you ahead harder and harder. You look over your shoulder and see many of the dark figures following you now, and notice they don’t seem to move quite right, but you are too scared now to try and figure out why.

With your car just ahead, you are running full speed, the dog still racing ahead of you jerking the leash and your arm hard. When you reach the car, you yank open the door, the dog leaps across the driver’s seat to sit shotgun, you hurl yourself into the car, jam the key into the ignition as you see the first zombies spilling from the woods onto the parking lot and heading toward you! You turn the key in the ignition, and… you guessed it… the car does not start!
Maybe it’s the battery, maybe the starter. Who knows? Had you taken the time to get your vehicle serviced regularly by the Factory trained and certified technicians at Ricart, you would be half way home now, and not a snack for the zombie horde.

Sure, zombies are not real, but rain, ice, and snow storms are. So are dark nights in a lonely parking lot. So to avoid having a bad vehicle experience under any conditions, make sure to follow the vehicle maintenance schedule in your owner’s manual, and call Ricart Service at 614-836-6300 to set up your next appointment.