James and I both have long, trusting relationships with our cars. He had his Toyota and I had my Honda, each of us for much longer than we've known each other. I took really good care of my car before I got married, and then James has taken care of it since then. We have, however, had a series of significant (and some unfortunate) car events in the last 6 months. Here they are:
September - We bought a new car. Against our inner Dave Ramsey's we took out a loan for the vehicle. We paid a good portion down and are quickly paying it off, but nonetheless, we don't exactly "own" it yet. It fits us better, is much more comfortable, and is a great family car. In the event of an emergency, however, it means that we refuse to take out a loan on anything else (except our houses, of course).
January - We sold the Toyota to Jarrell and Whytnee. They needed a car. We had an extra. It worked out well.
End of February - During one of the last super icy snow storms, James got rear-ended in the Honda (along with a Granite District Police Officer) by an uninsured teenage driver, driving his Grandma's car. Molly, Jack, and I drove past the accident on the way to school that morning. The kids mother misled police that she DID have insurance and then stopped answering calls from the insurance company all together.
March - It's been a long month of trying to figure out what to do with the Honda. Because it was an uninsured motorist and we had liability only on our trusty car with 220,000 miles, it was just been slow. For a couple of weeks afterwards, it still ran fine. James duct taped the rear end and pounded it out a little. (It looked great . . . um no.) He continued driving it, even in it's terrible state.
Finally, we heard word from the insurance company that the car was officially totaled. We had a few options, but after weighing them all we decided to get rid of the Honda. Sniff. Sniff.
If we kept it, the estimate for the rear end repair was quite high, plus it is going to need a new clutch soon. Both of those items would add up. In addition, as much as we hated to admit that it was totaled, the insurance company's amount they would give us was actually more than we figured we'd be able to get by selling it (pre-accident).
It took us a few days, lots of time on the internet, the help of both sets of grandparents tending kids, and some major evaluation and then re-evaluation of the family finances to see exactly what we could spend . . . but James found a new car he liked and we bought it.
It is a 2002 Hyundai Sonata. It is a little older, but in excellent condition. The previous owner had taken it to the dealership we bought it from for years and there were accurate service records of all of its maintenance. We saw it before it had been detailed and it was exceptionally clean. That was a plus! It also has brand new tires and relatively low miles for an older car.
We filled out all the paper work on Saturday, but it still needed to be cleaned and have new brakes put on. We went back on Monday to give them a check and pick it up.
The Honda is still sitting in the garage. The insurance company sent us the wrong paperwork to fill out and we're waiting on that, I guess, before they come pick it up. James has driven the Honda a few more times int the last week or so and said it it starting to make super loud noises. This morning he drove it to Lowes and said that that the heater wouldn't work. I guess it is time to pull the plug on it. It has led a good life.
