Posts Tagged ‘auto insurance’
Groaning Ice
We made it safely to the lake place in the middle of the afternoon despite Cyndie’s Honda CRV missing its rear spoiler. Some degenerate scofflaw saw fit to liberate the spoiler from her rear hatch while she was at a hair salon in St. Paul. I’m always amazed that people get away with such brazen behavior in broad daylight.
Yeah, it was legitimate behavior to be removing a body part from a vehicle in a parking lot. If I saw someone dismantling parts of an automobile in a car park, I wouldn’t snap a photo of the goofball to show the police, either. Just keep walking and mind my own business. What’s that saying? All it takes to stop one criminal in the act is one good person to pay attention and say something about it.
We are just out $350-400 bucks and the cost of labor by a professional to reattach it. Don’t even think of contacting insurance. We can’t afford the hit and would have to pay the deductible anyway. Gosh, I love paying for insurance that we don’t dare use since it would end up costing us even more for insurance.
Enough groaning about that.
You would not believe how cool it is to hear the whale-like moans and groans coming from the ice on such a big lake. With the cold air temperature and little to no snow cover, water was expanding as it froze, and the more than 3000 acres of surface area were being pushed and pulled with wild auditory reverberations.
I tried recording a short video to capture the sounds, but it only picked up Asher’s and my bumbling rustling around. You definitely had to be present to enjoy the sounds.
The rest of the groaning last night wasn’t from the ice. It came from me watching the Vikings unsuccessfully trying to score a touchdown from the five-yard line over and over again.
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Blasted Grill
For the amount of time I am stuck commuting on Interstate freeways, I should be grateful for the majority of hours I sneak by incident-free. My greatest challenge has been battling fatigue on the drive home in the afternoons. Beyond that, the number of times I have gotten caught in a backup caused by a crash or bad weather in the six years I’ve been commuting from Wisconsin can be counted on one hand.
I’ve rarely even witnessed incidents involving other vehicles occurring around me. I credit much of this good fortune to the off-peak hours I am usually on the road. My early morning departures did lead to a side-impact from a deer that got up close and personal with my driver-side door a year and a half ago, but overall the hazards of early-hours travel are offset by benefits of less actual traffic.
Yesterday morning, my luck ran out in the reduced visibility of early darkness when a pickup truck in front of me ran over a large, flat piece of debris that kicked up into the air so that it slammed into my grill at full freeway speed. In the split second available to consider my situation, I hoped it was mostly harmless light plastic because impact was inevitable.
By the sound it made, I knew it wasn’t light and I was immediately relieved that it had found the grill and not the hood or windshield in front of my face.
There was nowhere convenient to pull over and it was still completely dark outside so I simply continued the drive to work, arriving long after I’d already forgotten the incident had even happened. I walked inside, oblivious.
It wasn’t until I went back outside after the sun had come up, looking for the newspaper that hadn’t been delivered (again), that I suddenly remembered the incident and took time to inspect for damages.
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Aww HECK! The license plate frame (not my real numbers), the grill, and the plastic of the main front cracked and chipped!
On the way home from work, I stopped for a damage estimate and learned the headlight assembly was busted up, too. Do you know how expensive the new-fangled LED headlights that can shine around corners are? This one is almost $900.
I’m glad we saved so much money by fixing the deck ourselves this fall. Some of those savings will now be needed to pay the insurance deductible for auto body repair.
I’m a little ashamed to be whining about such luxury problems. At least I have a new car that will hold value if repairs are maintained. I also have money to afford the expense, even though that is not how I prefer to be spending it. I am able to sacrifice hours from the day-job to deal with the appointment of dropping the car off in 6 weeks and picking up a rental for the 4-days minimum to complete the repairs. I have insurance that includes coverage for rental car expenses.
I am paying attention to being privileged enough that this is what I’m inclined to whine about right now.
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Superb Theme
Seriously, how could I consider any other auto manufacturer when the cars I have been driving for years come from a company that uses “Love” for their marketing theme?
Apparently, I was so smitten on Friday, I completely forgot to contact our insurance company about the lovely purchase. We decided to play it safe and leave the car in the garage until they can be reached on Monday.
It was a little anticlimactic, not driving the new ride right away, but we didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.
I have a fear that my luck for avoiding collisions with deer so far in the time since we moved to the country could run out, now that I’ll be driving a new car. That’s just the way the odds seem to work sometimes.
I’m hoping I can rely on the love to keep deer from doing anything regrettable. I wonder if that could work with other drivers, too.
It’s a Subaru. Feel the love.
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Relative Something 