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After our experiences on our Arkansas trip, Melanie and I have been taking it easy at home in California.
Meanwhile, a bit of drama we were not involved in directly happened in New Mexico: the insurance and the body shop managed to lose the car somewhere between the shop where we left it after being towed off the freeway and the body shop where it was to be evaluated for repairs. :)
Yeah, that sounds funny, but yesterday, they managed to find it after a corporate dude in El Paso made calls to all the towing companies in Albaqwerky and located it in one of their holding yards, waiting on one of the body shops to agree to take it. :)
We still don't have a car, and they tell us it may be a month before they start repairs!! Thank goodness for grocery delivery services.
Leasing a car will cost about $275 a week, so we are putting that off for now and evaluating used cars for purchase in the area.
In the meantime, we have been watching a few movies in the evenings. Last night was The Princess Bride, a favorite of both of ours.
Hugs,
Erin
Comments
So they were going to take responsibility for the car?
You know I am always willing to chip in if there is a need.
We'll see what happens
Going to be awhile.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Some insurance policies cover the cost of a rental car.
You might want to check yours, just in case. I discovered it in my policy completely by accident.
Nope
Doesn't cover hotel rooms either.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
This is where Travel Insurance comes in handy
I know that this is after the event but having travel insurance would have covered your getting home and hotels.
I have an annual policy. Had it for well over a decade. So far (touch wood) I have not had to claim but it is there just in case. For a trip like this, if you exclude medical the it can't be that expensive can it?
In six weeks, I'm heading up to North Cape (most notherly point in mainland Europe) and coming back through lapland and finland. If my motorcycle goes phut up there, I know that my travel insurance will help me and the bike get home.
Remember people, disasters can strike even a mile from home.
{I'm writing this sitting in the sun in the garden of a Chateau not far from Bayeux, France}
Samantha
Samantha
Without a car in SoCal?
Inconceivable!
I know, right?
:)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
$275/week
At that rate, you'd be better off to buy a $1000 beater just to get around in. Assuming they do fix your car and get it back to you without losing it again, you could sell the beater for about the same as you paid for it. So rather than be out $1100 you could break even on the deal. Adding minimum insurance coverage on second car would add to the expense, But my car only has minimum coverage as the primary car (only) which currently costs me $94/month and that's not the cheapest insurance I could get. If Hartford would cover manufactured homes for home owners insurance, I'd be with them for $63/month. They have a significant senior discount.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Things
We've thought of those things, but right now, we're just staying home. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Ya know,
Maybe we should have a watch party some night...
Fun idea
Tonight we're going to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Maybe Maddy would
Lend you a bike.
Seriously, when we were first married we got an apartment in San Clemente. Before we got a car we walked up town and bought a TV. Borrowed a cart from the Albertson grocery store and wheeled it home. Then took the cart back. Then we bought a brand new Ford Pinto and financed the $2000 needed. Of course that was a while ago (53 years ago).
Ron
Ha!
I bought a new Pinto about the same time and put about 300,000 miles on it before getting rid of it. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Pinto was much maligned
Its safety was actually typical for small cars of its time, and better than some notable ones like the VW Beetle.
Some years after you had those cars, I had a Ford Escort diesel, which an acquaintance delighted in calling a “diesel Pinto.” It had memorable problems; my least favorite was a roof leak. Icy water collected in the windshield trim when parked; dribbled into my lap as I started to drive.
Pinto
And then there was the Chevette *shudders*
A rust bucket by the time it reaches 100000 miles and the one I got second hand from my brother at 60K lasted till 95K where it unceremonially had its control arm go through the rusted wheel well.
A filler car (also a Chevette) that had 100000 miles on it for 100 dollars (way overpriced) while I looked for another car had so many rusted parts around its engine.
Alternator failed on it every 9 to 12 months or so with a dead spot due to some kind of oxidation.
It could not brake and it could not accelerate and (the engine is supposedly in the front but the acceleration was so slow I wondered if the car was actually joined to it sometimes :) ) topped out at 65mph due to some governor I guess.
As a consequence I have never bought a GM car ever again and only have driven one due to being a rental on some company business or personal travel. The last GM rental was a horrible HHR or something. It was supposedly some kind of PT Cruiser knockoff. Horrible visibility in the cabin. Accelerated like junk too.
The Chevette had a gas pedal,
The Chevette had a gas pedal, not an accelerator...
Accelerator
Was that what it was? I had more than on one occasion confused it with the brake which was understandable.
Considering how weak the brake was I had at times thought I was pressing the accelerator.
Going up a mountain highway
Going up a mountain highway with an American 8 cylinder sedan in convoy taught me that one...
Rented HHR
I too got stuck with one of those HHRs for a rental on a business trip. Worst ergonomics I've ever experienced, and you are absolutely right that the visibility was garbage. Want to look left or right into an intersection? Oh hello there wide pillars of wtf-are-you-doing-there shoved far forward to maximize view impedance! And if you wanted to change the stereo or AC settings, everything was at a really awkward angle.
Ridiculous design. Likely designed for a body-form of something entirely inhuman that had many tentacles with eyeballs on the ends of the stalks.
HHR?
I've seen them occasionally, but never driven or even ridding in one. Everything I have read about the HHR says they are a terrible vehicle. But with reading reviews you have to be careful as those same writers write about the Ford Pinto being a terrible car too, but I haven't met a person that had a pinto that did not swear it was a great little car.
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Our first car was pinto
And it was a POS. We finally traded it in and got only $250 . I know people who had a HHR and absolutely hated it
Ron
Ah yes the Shove-it
My history teacher had one; I remember he missed one Monday and explained on Tuesday that on a weekend trip its shifter fell off.
Shifter
I had an automatic and luckily that was not an issue.
However, to add insult to injury, I had paid my brother 1850 to take it off his hands as this was my first car and one does not want a new car as ones first car. He was (and still is) very anti-Japanese which is understandable given the atrocities they did to China so he did not buy a Toyota or Honda or Mazda. This was way back in the 80s so that is like nearly like 6500 dollars in todays money for that hunk of junk. It was also my entire childhood savings.
dread pirate Roberts
yayyy we've been watching Princess Bride together...sort of :D i watched it too last night for the umpteenth time. Love that movie
Hugs from Denmark
Bouncy
Bouncy of Denmark
Insurance
If your insurance is not covering rental car and extra nights in AZ then you might want to find another company when you finally get a new car.
I would not be surprised if the towing company charges for holding your car and then charge you again for taking it to the body shop
I had that happen once however i had towing insurance so my insurance paid for the storage and towing fees
I swear!
It would be cheaper to rent a cheap motel room and park it there than what they charge to store your car per day!
Diana