02/01/2026
Good morning and Happy New Year to my wonderful Pawlished family!
I hope your Holidays were filled with love and joy with family and friends! My little family had a wonderful Holiday Season!
Unfortunately, the van had some check engine codes come on early in December. Mercedes was backed up and could not get me in. Thankfully, the van held out through Christmas and I was able to get everyone in before Christmas as scheduled! I dropped the van off on Sunday the week of Christmas and Mercedes worked on it for most of that week (they were closed for Christmas Eve and Day) but they were able to work on it and get it back to me the following Monday. (Monday of this week) I was able to work on Monday a bit, Tuesday, and I moved a few from Monday that I didn't get to and got them in on Weds (New Year's Eve). While working Weds, the van threw another fun code at me, and after work I brought it back to Mercedes. It is the same code. Mercedes stated they need to keep the van for at least a week to further (deeper) diagnose. The van was driving fine, other than the code, so I opted to drive it home, work the next two weeks and then work a weekend to get everyone in, then bring it back to them for a week when my schedule wasn't as heavy.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. I got in this morning. (With no check engine light because Mercedes cleared it on Weds) and I could not get up to speed on the Hwy. Even petal to the metal, I was struggling to get up to 50, 60, or 70mph. It is definitely not ideal and I am thankful it rarely happens, but I was forced to cancel appointments today and am going to have to temporarily cancel appointments for all of next week, possibly into the following week too. Nobody is going to be skipped and it will just have to be a chain reaction and everyone will be pushed back a week or so once I get the van back. I will prioritize everyone as they were already scheduled and work evenings when I am able and weekends to get everyone in. I know everyone will be as amazing as you all always are and say don't worry about us! I appreciate that. However, this van doesn't run on hopes and dreams and I still need every bit of income for these fancy shampoos, insurance (almost $800 a month) and fuel! I also run on a full schedule without taking new clients, so I rely on every single appointment to pay these business bills.
Unfortunately the nature of mobile is this van is on the road and operating much more than our personal vehicles and even though I plan maintenance and downtime, vehicles can and will break. Sometimes it is minor, sometimes it is major. I rarely have huge gaps of downtime and try to remain super reliable, but if I push the van harder, that downtime can be even longer.
I really appreciate you all. I will reach out as soon as I have a diagnosis and know how much more time it will be down (if any) past this next week. Hopefully once it is fixed, we can get another full year with zero unexpected trips to Mercedes.
