More Car troubles

Well, the car needs an alternator and since I bought it "as is", I have an $1850 lawn ornament. Actually, as soon as I get my tax refund deposited, I'm taking it to be fixed. Going to replace the alternator, get a real battery (it has a Bear Cat battery...never heard of them? Me neither. It's reconditioned), and have them look at the brakes because there's a slight whistle. I'm hoping to get this fixed soon with my income tax refund, otherwise it's a nice little car.

I'm still fighting to get my money back from Enterprise, and I'm thinking I'm probably out what they stole. I got a letter from my bank that confused me, I need to call for clarification. It reads like I'm getting money back, but where there are supposed to be amounts and dates, the spots are still blank. They included a copy of letters received from Enterprise claiming that I gave them the OK by signing the contract...then they included somebody else's contract (which was for what Enterprise claims I had), and the kicker...they included the other person's credit card number! I was shocked! I have this other person's name, address, telephone number, and their credit card number. No, I'm not going to do anything with this information, but not everybody is honest. I'm glad I canceled my debit card and got a new number because who knows who Enterprise is giving my information to!

Work has been the same. Unfortunately this is the time of year when retail sales drop so our part time workers are barely getting any hours. Thankfully my being full time guarantees 40 hours, however with less part timers, it's also meaning I'm doing more work that's not mine so once again, my department is suffering because I'm not there. Oh well, I've told the managers that I need the time in my department, and if I'm not in it, I can't work it.

Insurance, banks, credit ratings, and car dealers

I think I'm close to the end of the car accident nightmare. Finally got the check from my insurance company last week, banked it this past Monday. Went to another car dealer that afternoon. They tried to get financing, but because of my repo last year, nobody's giving me financing..actually according to the letter saying why it's because of a wage garnishment that is 7 years old (it drops from my credit report in September)...which was for my ex-husband's credit card (that he put my name on the account without me knowing). Wednesday I went back to the dealer after work, he was trying another lender trying to get me financing, but that one said "not without a cosigner" but he did have a few "cash buy" cars...older cars that were low-priced and meant as a "cash and go" purchase. He had a 1997 Suzuki Esteem with only 78,000 miles on it (not a roll over, the odometer has 6 digits) and I could have it tax, title, new plates for $1850. I test drove it, bought it and took it home.

The only problems so far hve been a need to replace the wipers (total crap, didn't even hit the windshield), gas cap (previous owner had a locked cap on it, not good in Chicago winters), and possibly the battery. I'm hoping it's not needing an alternator, It needed a jump Wednesday when I bought it, dealer said it was because the car sat in the lot for 3 weeks in the cold, had to charge the battery last night, this morning it started, but I'm taking my parents car to work instead.