Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

So I've decided we're cursed when it comes to cars. I think we've used up all 6 of our annual free tow truck calls from AAA every year since we got a membership (I highly recommend it, by the way). It's not like we have P.O.S. cars, either. I wouldn't call a '99 Escort and an '01 Maxima anything to be ashamed of. I mean, we could definitely do better, but these aren't cars that should be breaking down constantly! I just looked it up and we spent $1,603.88 in car repairs in 2007 alone (that also included a '93 Rodeo that was something to be ashamed of)! Guess how many times we've replaced the fuel pump in the Escort in the last 3 years... thrice!
It's not like we don't take care of our cars, either. We get the oil changed every 3,000 miles. The tires get rotated every 5,000 miles. We let them both warm up in the mornings when it's cold outside. We don't drive them hard (well, Meg does occasionally when she gets road rage... but I'll save that for another posting sometime).
What provoked this rant? We came out of Border's tonight to find that the Maxima wouldn't start. The lights, radio, door locks, and everything else electric work fine, but for some reason you turn the key and nothing happens. No clicking, no turning of the engine, nothing. We've had this happen before this winter. The solution? Wait until the afternoon when it gets a little warmer and it fires right up. Make sense to you? Me neither. We had it towed once before but ironically they called us and said that they'd started it 40 times no problem and gave it back to us. We'll see what happens tomorrow when they go to look at it again. Maybe I'll just have them replace the fuel pump when they tell me nothing is wrong with it so it makes me feel like it was worth the effort. :)