Do You Carry Your Service Records With You?

I know you have enough clutter in the car as it is. Even the best organized vehicle seems to need just a little bit more space for stowing the various odds and ends that you require while in the car. If you have kids, forget about it. No amount of storage can handle the supplies needed to keep the machine running smoothly.
I'm here to tell you that you need to carry a few more things in the car! In addition to a properly filled roadside emergency kit (you do have an emergency kit, don't you?), it's a good idea to keep your service records in the car. You don't need to keep all of the records, just the receipts that apply to things that are under warranty. I know this probably seems like overkill, but we just read a story that made us rethink the issue.
It's the story of a lady and a transmission. She had her transmission repaired at one of the national chains of transmission shops. They offer a warranty with their work that is applicable at any of their locations. Somehow, even in the age of electronic documents, one shop was unable to honor her warranty because of what seemed like confusion over the details. I'm sure they would be a little more clear-headed if their records showed that her transmission was out of warranty, but since it was covered, and this meant a shop that didn't do the original work was going to have to cough up some free labor, everybody became an amnesiac.
The good news is she was able to get things worked out, but not before she spent gobs of her free time (and sanity) in her efforts. Check out her story and you'll learn an important lesson that might get you out of trouble if you're caught away from home with warranty issues.

_{photo CC licensed by Jim Frazier}