Five years ago, I met and married this guy (thanks to Match.com) and we’ve now been married five years. It’s been quite an adventure, and a wild ride, and a lot of fun. As I told him on our wedding in January 2007, “You are the very specific answer to many years of faithful and persistent prayers.”

It was true then, and it’s still true today.

When I first met him, he was wearing a green flannel shirt and old blue jeans, and I could hardly believe this down-to-earth average fellow was a smarty-pants lawyer who had a good job and an impressive career. In fact, I was quite relieved when I saw his law degree hanging on the wall in his office. It provided some proof that he really had attended law school, and even graduated (second in his class!).

Wayne at his office in downtown Norfolk.

To learn more about the kit homes I’ve found since I moved to Norfolk, click here.

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My husband loves his little truck. He purchased it brand new in 2001, and has enjoyed it ever  since. He takes good care of it, too.

Imagine our surprise when a well-known Ford dealership here in Hampton Roads told us that they refused to even give a bid on repairing the vehicle. Their reason - Hubby’s truck had more than 75,000 miles. The service writer explained that they don’t do major mechanical work on vehicles with more than 75,000 miles.

That tells me a LOT about what they think of their Ford products.

When a Ford product hits 75,000 miles, apparently that’s the end of its usable life, and we’re supposed to just park it on the street and call for the tow truck to haul it off to the junk yard.

My Toyota Camry sits in the garage as I’m writing this, with 165,900 miles. Last time I had it serviced, the mechanic explained, “I’d be surprised if you don’t get 225,000 miles out of this car. It’s in excellent condition.”

So there we have a tale of two cars, with similar care and similar attention, and yet one will last for years, and the other - according to a representative of Ford Motor Company (which is what a dealership is), it’s not worthy of major repairs after 75,000 miles.

And people wonder why the Japanese have cleaned our clock in the automotive industry?

Our Ford F150 sits in our driveway with a piece of cardboard to catch the dripping oil.

According to the Ford representative (the dealership), they won't perform any major mechanical repairs on these vehicles after 75,000 miles.

We live in a nice area, and we're really not pleased with the prospect of having to use cardboard to deal with our Ford's leaking issues. It's the rear seal that's gone bad, and needs to be replaced. Ultimately, we'll probably get a local mechanic to repair this problem, but I am very disappointed in Ford. How can they expect the consumer to believe in their products, if *THEY* don't believe in them?

Please leave a comment for Rose, or you can email her directly at thorntonrose@hotmail.com.

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