What’s Your Plan B? I Mucked.

A few days ago, we went to the car to go shopping, and I was surprised when the doors wouldn’t open with the remote key. I pressed a few times to make sure, and it really wasn’t working. I then opened the doors, and was surprised when the power unlock wasn’t working, either.

I then began to suspect that the battery was dead. I turned the keys all the way, and the motor didn’t crank. I opened one of the interior lights, and it turned on but only very faintly, like a flashlight whose battery is almost out of juice. Yep, the battery was dead!

I didn’t get how that could happen. I had just had the car inspected a couple of weeks ago, and they said that the battery and cables were fine. I checked to see if I had left any of the lights on: nope, my headlights were off, and the interior lights were all off. What could have happened?

I began to worry that maybe the battery was finished, or the alternator was no longer charging the battery. I wouldn’t expect a battery to just die like that, and if the power system was failing surely the inspection would have noticed.

Well, I went upstairs, Googled about batteries for a few minutes, noticed somebody saying something along the lines of “even if you think there was no battery drain, maybe a trunk light was open.” I go back downstairs, and sure enough, the trunk was not completely closed. :S I usually only drive on the weekends, so a few days of that was enough to drain the battery.

So, I was happy that my battery and alternator were probably fine, but I was disappointed that I was stranded. Unfortunately, neither of my neighbours had a cable and neither did a friend. I was planning to take a long bus or subway trip to the department store the next day to buy a booster pack when I found out that my girlfriend’s parents had a booster pack that they weren’t using, and yes, I could borrow it. 😉

Things didn’t end up too badly, but I was inconvenienced and embarrassed because I didn’t have a plan B. What if I had something important to attend and I was stuck? I could have avoided this mess by closing the trunk, but I also could have been prepared by having jumper cables or a battery boost handy.

This kind of thing applies a lot in life, and in personal finance:

• What if I lose my job and my main source if income dries up?
• What if I have a sudden unexpected bill of $1,000 tomorrow?
• What if mortgate rates jump up 3%?

Do you have a plan B in place? Are you prepared if things don’t quite work out as expected?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, as well as any embarrassing stories of your own. 😉

P.S. Happy winter solstice tomorrow!