I hate that car, Part XXIII

The last tail light bulb I changed was on the Civic, a year or so ago.

I stopped at the store on my way to work, bought a replacement - I'm pretty sure it was 59¢ - reached into the hatch, and changed it in the parking lot, and was on my way. Five minutes, 59¢.

But the MPV uses "European-style" (#7443) bulbs: $2.99, sold only in 2-packs,
and not in a drug store: so, not 59¢, no, a dead tail light now costs me $5.98 and a trip to an auto-supply store. (As I told the guy at the counter: "I hate cars." He agreed.)

And then I had to find a Phillips-head and figure out how to take off the lens. (Today's MPV tip: it's held by two screws, and then by two pins, so the lens pulls off perpendicular to the side, it doesn't pull off to the back.) And now I have to store the second bulb against the day the right-side brake light fails. (I hung the blister-pack on a hook in the shed with the 'car' stuff, maybe I'll actually be able to find in next year.)

Ok, it's literally ten times as expensive, no surprise there.
But it's not just more expensive, it also that they've taken a "nothing" job (take five minutes to jump out and fix it on the way to work) into an actual "get out the toolbox and spend fifteen minutes on it" job.

On the other hand, the Youngest Member got to work the pedal for me, so it was a Teaching Moment, too.