When it happened a month ago, I didn't think it was really blog worthy but now it IS!! Read on and on and on....
Over a month ago actually, we went over to the Dyer's for Sunday dinner. They live about 20 min. away. After a very lovely dinner (which I made myself tonight--Thanks Carrie), we headed for home.
We drove out of their neighborhood and down the road about a mile, putting us on a road between a new uninhabited housing development and a wall surrounding their neighborhood. Just as we approached the stop sign, the Daewoo died. Our kids were tired. It was dark. I wanted to get home. So I picked up the cell phone and called our trusty Roadside Assistance (which is the best investment we've ever made. I keep thinking they're going to tell us we've used it all up but they just keep coming to our rescue for a meesley $5/month or something ridiculous. USAA is the best auto insurance on the planet I'm sure. They write us a check at the end of every year to reimburse us if the company made more than they expected and our rates are cheaper than any I've ever seen!). We also called Jeromy to come pick up me and the kids to take us home while Micah waited for the tow truck. True to form, things got more complicated for us from there.
I'd left Micah with our house key so we had to go through the process of having an RA retrieve our key from the office and let us in. I got the boys ready for bed and thought it was so sweet of Jaden to remember to pray that the tow truck driver got our car and that daddy would come home safely. Later, I found out how timely that prayer was and how helpful it might have been.
Shortly after the kids and I left, Micah got out of the car to go for a little walk to check out the new developments. He was about 30 yards behind the car, up a little dirt hill along the road, when a black SUV passed him, pulled up directly behind the Daewoo and turned it's lights off. He started back towards the car, when he got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he noticed that the car had no license plates and nobody was getting out. Instead he stopped and waited. He waited for what ended up being 45 min. There was no where for him to run safely and why he didn't just call the police, I don't know but he did call and talk to his family who were visiting his brother Dan in Florida. When the tow truck finally arrived, the SUV flipped on its lights and sped away!?! What was it doing?!!!!
The Daewoo still remains in the shop. The timing belt broke and bent the pistons or something so the engine had to be taken out and fixed (or something MAJOR like that) but we figured having it repaired was cheaper than buying a new car or at least we could sell it and get "something" out of it.
So, last weekend we made a trip to Bakersfield for Darron's 3oth Suprise Birthday Party. The quad he received from his awesome wife had nothing to do with us going either. But we had to rent a car get there. I'm thinking now that we should have known renting a car from a place called "Dollar" wasn't the best idea. Five miles down the road, we realize the tank is empty when they marked "Full" on the contract. They agreed to reimburse us for that. However, when we called them again on Sun. to tell them our tire was flat, they told us we didn't purchase that coverage so we'd have to take care of it (we'd put air in it already on Fri). This ended up being an all day affair. We finally resorted to fix-a-flat, borrowing Scott's air compressor for the drive home "just in case," taking the 99 "just in case," and not exceeding 65 mph. We made it home...at 3 O'Clock in the morning!! No complications just lots of little stops to check on it. (It really doesn't seem like "Dollar" inspects or maintains their cars very well. My bro-in-law rented one from them the previous week in which the tires had not been well-maintained either).
The rental had to be returned by 8pm on Mon. We pick up Jaden from school with hopes of returning by 5:30 in time for Micah's class and head to the Dyer's house where we'd parked our working car (a 1990 Toyota Corolla) after we picked up the rental. I'm driving the rental and Micah's following in the Corolla. We drive out of the Dyer's neighborhood and drive down that same road I mentioned previously, approaching that same stop sign I also mentioned previously. I stop and then notice Micah waving at me from behind. At this point you could just cut and paste the previous story from "as we were approaching the stop sign..." including the part where "the car speeds off."
Yes folks, at the same intersection, at the same stop sign, the Corolla, too...died. Luckily, this time we had another car with us because we did not have the cell phone. We return to the Dyer's and call...dun dun dundun...Roadside Assistance!! Micah goes back to wait for the tow truck. No sooner had he pulled up behind the Corolla, than a red truck this time, pulls up directly behind him and sits. No one gets out. Micah was the speeding car in this story. He came back to the Dyer's and returned just as the tow truck was pulling up. The truck was gone!
We kept the rental to get us home. The Corolla was fixed today. We are now rental car free!!
I threatened not to leave the Dyer's house until Micah bought us a new car but alas ONE is fixed once again and according to him is "driving better than it's driven in years." After this, I honestly don't know what it will take for us to get something newer (not NEW, that will probably never happen).
Over a month ago actually, we went over to the Dyer's for Sunday dinner. They live about 20 min. away. After a very lovely dinner (which I made myself tonight--Thanks Carrie), we headed for home.
We drove out of their neighborhood and down the road about a mile, putting us on a road between a new uninhabited housing development and a wall surrounding their neighborhood. Just as we approached the stop sign, the Daewoo died. Our kids were tired. It was dark. I wanted to get home. So I picked up the cell phone and called our trusty Roadside Assistance (which is the best investment we've ever made. I keep thinking they're going to tell us we've used it all up but they just keep coming to our rescue for a meesley $5/month or something ridiculous. USAA is the best auto insurance on the planet I'm sure. They write us a check at the end of every year to reimburse us if the company made more than they expected and our rates are cheaper than any I've ever seen!). We also called Jeromy to come pick up me and the kids to take us home while Micah waited for the tow truck. True to form, things got more complicated for us from there.
I'd left Micah with our house key so we had to go through the process of having an RA retrieve our key from the office and let us in. I got the boys ready for bed and thought it was so sweet of Jaden to remember to pray that the tow truck driver got our car and that daddy would come home safely. Later, I found out how timely that prayer was and how helpful it might have been.
Shortly after the kids and I left, Micah got out of the car to go for a little walk to check out the new developments. He was about 30 yards behind the car, up a little dirt hill along the road, when a black SUV passed him, pulled up directly behind the Daewoo and turned it's lights off. He started back towards the car, when he got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he noticed that the car had no license plates and nobody was getting out. Instead he stopped and waited. He waited for what ended up being 45 min. There was no where for him to run safely and why he didn't just call the police, I don't know but he did call and talk to his family who were visiting his brother Dan in Florida. When the tow truck finally arrived, the SUV flipped on its lights and sped away!?! What was it doing?!!!!
The Daewoo still remains in the shop. The timing belt broke and bent the pistons or something so the engine had to be taken out and fixed (or something MAJOR like that) but we figured having it repaired was cheaper than buying a new car or at least we could sell it and get "something" out of it.
So, last weekend we made a trip to Bakersfield for Darron's 3oth Suprise Birthday Party. The quad he received from his awesome wife had nothing to do with us going either. But we had to rent a car get there. I'm thinking now that we should have known renting a car from a place called "Dollar" wasn't the best idea. Five miles down the road, we realize the tank is empty when they marked "Full" on the contract. They agreed to reimburse us for that. However, when we called them again on Sun. to tell them our tire was flat, they told us we didn't purchase that coverage so we'd have to take care of it (we'd put air in it already on Fri). This ended up being an all day affair. We finally resorted to fix-a-flat, borrowing Scott's air compressor for the drive home "just in case," taking the 99 "just in case," and not exceeding 65 mph. We made it home...at 3 O'Clock in the morning!! No complications just lots of little stops to check on it. (It really doesn't seem like "Dollar" inspects or maintains their cars very well. My bro-in-law rented one from them the previous week in which the tires had not been well-maintained either).
The rental had to be returned by 8pm on Mon. We pick up Jaden from school with hopes of returning by 5:30 in time for Micah's class and head to the Dyer's house where we'd parked our working car (a 1990 Toyota Corolla) after we picked up the rental. I'm driving the rental and Micah's following in the Corolla. We drive out of the Dyer's neighborhood and drive down that same road I mentioned previously, approaching that same stop sign I also mentioned previously. I stop and then notice Micah waving at me from behind. At this point you could just cut and paste the previous story from "as we were approaching the stop sign..." including the part where "the car speeds off."
Yes folks, at the same intersection, at the same stop sign, the Corolla, too...died. Luckily, this time we had another car with us because we did not have the cell phone. We return to the Dyer's and call...dun dun dundun...Roadside Assistance!! Micah goes back to wait for the tow truck. No sooner had he pulled up behind the Corolla, than a red truck this time, pulls up directly behind him and sits. No one gets out. Micah was the speeding car in this story. He came back to the Dyer's and returned just as the tow truck was pulling up. The truck was gone!
OK--WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!!
We kept the rental to get us home. The Corolla was fixed today. We are now rental car free!!
I threatened not to leave the Dyer's house until Micah bought us a new car but alas ONE is fixed once again and according to him is "driving better than it's driven in years." After this, I honestly don't know what it will take for us to get something newer (not NEW, that will probably never happen).
11 comments:
How sad to read that,I'm sorry you have to go thru all that, I'm glad that the corolla at least is fixed,yeap I love toyotas!
Cheryl- That is so scary. Both cars dying is freakish and annoying, but my real concern is why there are people pulling up behind your broken down cars. Please teach Micah to dial 911 next time he sees that suspicious activity. I also noticed that you were in Bako. I know things have been crazy for us, but I would still love to see you sometime. Please let me know when your next trip is scheduled. Thanksgiving???
Skinner Family--
You know how bad I wanted to see you and meet little Blake but alas 2 days is just too short.
Yes, we are coming for a week I think during Jaden's Thanksgiving break. I WILL visit--promise!!
Creepy, those cars stopping. Glad everyone is safe!
I'm so grateful that it has been years since a roadside breakdown of one of our cars! (I better find some wood to knock on now!) Hope the Corolla doesn't give you any problems for a while - and if it does let us know if you need any help! :)
Ahhh the Corolla and the Daewoo.
We have continual experiences with broken down cars when we are driving the Malibu.
But it is almost 40 years old.
I'm glad to see that the can of fix a flat worked, not so glad to hear about the continual saga. It was so great to have you here for the weekend. My advise is to just go buy the car for your husband as a gift, then he can't complain about the price. HA HA. We love you all. See you soon.
Sandee--so HAPPY to see you here!!
Always LOVE seeing you, too! It was so nice of you to host the cousin play date--they had so much fun being together!! LOVE you guys!
We can totally relate to the car problems...We had such bad car trouble this summer...first the montero...$3000 to fix...then the altima...$350 to fix...It was really hard not to feel sorry for myself. Especially because I new something was wrong with the montero and I took it in to this dealership twice to get checked because I knew that the water pump was going out. I told them that and they said no it isn't...the noise got worse and I took it back (my mistake, should have gone somewhere else) and they still said no. So I asked, what happens if we just wait and let it go out on its own. They said it wouldn't be a problem doing that(of course they didn't believe that there was a problem). So sure enough, it went out but our water pump in ran by the timing belt (or is it the other way around?) and so the timing belt broke (or more like melted) and that DESTROYED the engine. Anyway, it was sooo awful. And, it took 2 months to get it all fixed and working again. I hate dealing with cars. Someday I am going to own a new car!! :)
what in the freak? that is insane about the breakdowns at the same intersection, and then more thugs? let's hope it's one or two of the 3 Nephites just checking on him to make sure he's okay until roadside gets there. otherwise.....something fishy's going on in the sactown. (fyi, i think the latter is probably true.) :) hang out, please?
That was you?! Next time I pull up behind an old Corolla or Daewoo, I'll check to make sure it's not you. LOL. If I was pay'n better attention I could have given you a ride.
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