No, it’s not just me.

The New Beetle has had a broken fog lamp lens since we bought it. No serious problem, except cosmetically. I bought The Lovely One a new fog lamp (you pretty much have to buy the whole assembly, the lens doesn’t seem to be available on its own from most suppliers).

Joke’s on me: the procedure for replacing the fog lamp involves removing the front fender and at least some part of the bumper assembly. It’s billed as a three-hour job in the standard repair book. And I refuse to pay a shop to do this job, no matter how insane it is. Indeed, this is just body-panel removal monkey-work, the kind of thing that requires no diagnostic skill, no practiced technique, and no special tools. I’d feel incapable if I didn’t do it. But still.

I don’t even have words to express what I’m feeling right now. But I feel like when I try to assess the “total cost of ownership” of this vehicle, this fog light and the previous door-falling-off incident will be large figures in my mental accounting.