Goddam Car Fucking Shit

[Hardrock69]

I was forcibly reminded yesterday morning, NEVER EVER FOREVER believe that if some fucking idiot has his turn signal on, he is actually going to turn.

Getting ready to turn left from a left turn lane to get on the freeway. Motherfucker is coming from the opposite direction, with his right-turn signal on. I was stupid enough to believe he was going to turn right onto the on-ramp. Peoples coming from the other direction have to yield to people who are in the left turn lane at this particular place.

Made my left turn, almost all the way onto the on-ramp when suddenly I heard squealing rubber and BAM! dude runs right into my passenger side rear wheel.

Partly my fault for believing he was going to turn. If the bastard had not had his turn signal on, I would not have turned left. :mad:

No injuries, front end of his car was fucked up. No body damage at all on my vehicle. At first glance anyway. Then I noticed the rear axle had been shoved over about 4 inches to the driver's side. Oh, and for some odd reason I now had a leak in my radiator.

Due the paperwork routine. Other cat gets a ticket for "No proof of insurance". I am fine with that, as A) I have coverage for non-insured motorists, and B) I got no citation, though the cop said he could have given me one for failure to yield. Cool cop!

Thank heavens for being smart enough to have AAA.

Towed my vehicle back to my place. Get in the backup vehicle. The one with the rear end that whines when you get up to about 40. Drove to work and back, then this morning drove to work again.

I knew for a fact that rear end was going to go out one of these days, and was hoping it would last me for at least another month, but it was not to be. Driving back from work this afternoon, rear end starts really REALLY grinding loudly all of a sudden, then.......dead silence. Right at the same time I noticed that even if I floored the accelerator, the car would not go any faster. In fact, I was slowing down.

So pulled over to the side of the fucking road. Got out, looked under the car, man that differential was SMOKING! :biggrin:

Shit.

I had locked it up, and was getting ready for a 2-mile walk to the nearest gas station (no cell phone). Chick pulls over and offers me a ride. Gave me a ride to a pay phone (man, she made my day by helping me like that). Got AAA on the phone, and repeated the same fucking routine I did yesterday morning.

All 3 of my vehicles have died now within the past 10 months.

I have nothing but 2 fucking candidates for the scrap heap (literally) in front of my house now.
Renting a car for the coming week so I can still get to work while figuring out how the fuck I am going to be able to afford to pay for a car. :umm:

All this rubbish because I was stupid enough to believe the motherfucker had a turn signal on because he was going to turn.

And I was looking forward to this year being a great year. Well, there is still 11 months to go, so I may be able to salvage the year yet.

Sure starting off in a fucked up way....
:mad:

[Nitro Express]

Man. You are having one of those shitty weeks. I saw some guy in Vietnam going around on a bike pushed by an engine. If you want cheap transportation, it doesn't get any cheaper.

[Hardrock69]

LMAO! No kidding. We all have moments in our lives when things turn to shit. I am living in that moment right now. :umm:

[sadaist]

[Diamondjimi]

Ahh, the Eventual Left Turn Syndrome. Motherfuckers......

The price of scrap is $500 a ton (up here) right now. I'd scrap the 3 and pick something up to get me through 'till I found a new one...

Good to hear that you weren't hurt. ;)

[Nitro Express]

LMAO! No kidding. We all have moments in our lives when things turn to shit. I am living in that moment right now. :umm:

Well hang in there. Sounds like you still have a sense of humor.

[Nitro Express]

When I was in Grenada some dude was driving a VW pan around the island. The floor pans were rusted out so he just put plywood over them. The seats were all rotted and he just has a blanket over the springs. LOL! It was the altimate stripped down ride. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

Ahh, the Eventual Left Turn Syndrome. Motherfuckers......

The price of scrap is $500 a ton (up here) right now. I'd scrap the 3 and pick something up to get me through 'till I found a new one...

Good to hear that you weren't hurt. ;)

A scrap yard in Idaho is advertising on the radio they will come out and tow your scrap free of charge. The prices must be up if they are doing that.

[Nitro Express]

With the current rat rod craze going, any rusted piece of shit can become cool if you put some pinstripes and flames on it. Maybe spray some gang graffiti on it and call it rolling art. Get some fake leopard skin seat covers and cruise for the ladies in it.

[Kristy]

No injuries, front end of his car was fucked up. No body damage at all on my vehicle. At first glance anyway...Due the paperwork routine. Other cat gets a ticket for "No proof of insurance". I am fine with that, as A) I have coverage for non-insured motorists, and B) I got no citation, though the cop said he could have given me one for failure to yield. Cool cop!

Well that's good news that no one was hurt. As far as dealing with an uninsured driver even if you have coverage may be a bit more of a pain. I drive a 2005 Mercedes SLK (yeah I know, pretentious) when I was rear-ended by a driver back in 2008 who spoke little English and surprise, had no insurance. The damage to my car (since it is a Merc) was valued over $3,600 which was insane; my insurance company refused to write the car off as totaled (which it wasn't) but stalled on paying in order to go after the driver who hit me. He not only didn't have a pot to piss in he wasn't even in the country! Anyhoo, my insurance took 11 months to fix my car offering me a loaner - a 2007 Altima that broke down every 100 miles or so. T'was the biggest pain in the ass.

[Nitro Express]

Keep the car that rolls the best, sell the others for scrap and buy a horse with the money and pull the car with the horse.:biggrin:

[Nitro Express]

Insurance is a joke. It's the smart people who don't buy any. :biggrin:

[Hardrock69]

Insurance agent turned my claim in. He says it will be 50-50 whether I will get anything.

So....this afernoon, even though I had $250 on my credit card, $200 cash, a fairly clean driving record, and the rental rate for a car for a week was only $162, Hertz Rent-A-Car refused to rent me a car.

I will avoid Hertz Rent-A-Car like the plague from now on.

It is a sad day when cash is no longer accepted as valid money in the United States Of America.

It is a sad day when a car rental company will not rent you a car when you have plenty of room on your credit card as well.

I have alternatives going on that will not require me to rent a car. But buying another car is going to be damn near impossible.

[Hardrock69]

Oh and yes, I can get at least $125 for my Isuzu. Blue book on the Jeep Grand Cherokee was $2,500 pre-crash. The body is almost perfect, interior is as well, with power everything, CD changer, etc.

If I could get the rear end fixed for under $1,000, I would go for that.

But, I don't think that is in the ballpark of reality. So I figure I can get 400-500 bucks for it tops.

Tax refund is coming up the end of February. Am just going to have to figure something out after this upcoming week.

[Kristy]

Insurance agent turned my claim in. He says it will be 50-50 whether I will get anything.

Good luck with that. Insurance companies love to pay haggling games ad nauseaum. Mine drove me up the wall.

[Terry]

Auto insurance companies have us by the balls because one can't legally drive without having insurance.

[Nitro Express]

Put all the money into the wheels. Fuck body work, windows, and paint jobs. You just need cool wheels man.

[Nitro Express]

Insurance agent turned my claim in. He says it will be 50-50 whether I will get anything.

So....this afernoon, even though I had $250 on my credit card, $200 cash, a fairly clean driving record, and the rental rate for a car for a week was only $162, Hertz Rent-A-Car refused to rent me a car.

I will avoid Hertz Rent-A-Car like the plague from now on.

It is a sad day when cash is no longer accepted as valid money in the United States Of America.

It is a sad day when a car rental company will not rent you a car when you have plenty of room on your credit card as well.

I have alternatives going on that will not require me to rent a car. But buying another car is going to be damn near impossible.

years ago I worked for Hertz and people would get pissed when I wouldn't rent them a car for cash. They would go ballistic. I had to point out that if they wreaked the car, cash wouldn't cover the cost of the car and the company wanted credit cards only so they could charge you for damages. Hertz has been that way for a long time. What I never could figure out is if they bought the optional insurance they could walk away from a totaled car and be covered but the company still would not take cash. The insurance was a a good deal, people got into accidents and just walked away. The people who wreaked the rental cars with their own insurance had lots of fun dealing with the shit.

[Nitro Express]

I tried to rent a car when I was 19 years old and got turned down. You had to be 21. At 21 I rented all the cars I wanted to no problem. Now I guess some companies have jacked the age up to 23 now. Hell, at age 18 the military will let your fly bombers and drive tanks.

[twonabomber]

Blue book on the Jeep Grand Cherokee was $2,500 pre-crash. The body is almost perfect, interior is as well, with power everything, CD changer, etc.

If I could get the rear end fixed for under $1,000, I would go for that.

But, I don't think that is in the ballpark of reality. So I figure I can get 400-500 bucks for it tops.


don't give up on the Jeep that quickly. swap the whole rear axle out. those things are all over in junkyards. or, if you really want to get rid of it, put it on Craig's or something and at least try to get more than what the scrap value is. someone will buy it to fix and flip, or buy it to make an off-roader out of. or is it just 2WD?

[Hardrock69]

Oh I can understand the no cash angle. But when I have the credit to pay for the week's rental up front, and I am covered six ways from Sunday on rental vehicles by my own insurance, and my credit card, and AAA even without the optional insurance, they have no reason to refuse me. But that is ok. They are out of my picture permanently now, so I am not wasting my time worrying about them.

And yes, fixing the Grand Cherokee is still on the table if it can be done inexpensively enough. Have to see what happens next. If the insurance company refuses to help, then I just have to figure out what my cheapest and best option is. I know for a fact I can get the rear end of the Isuzu fixed for 1000, but it is a piece of shit and not worth it (no resale value).

If I can get the Jeep fixed for around the same amount, then I may go for that. My own mechanic cannot touch it, as it falls under the category of "Body Work" and HIS insurance company will not allow him to do anything but mechanical work at his shop. I have a lot of options to consider in the coming week. At the very least I had planned on trying for more than scrap value for it, as it is too nice. I figure 500-1000 bucks.

Will post an update in a few days. Thanks for the advice guys. :)

[ace diamond]

man, you just have really shitty luck with cars, don't you?

[Hardrock69]

Sure seems that way at this point.

[ace diamond]

that really fucking blows, man.
sorry to hear that.
i hope things start getting much better for you really soon.

[Guitar Shark]

Sorry if this is an obvious question you have already considered, but do you have car rental coverage either through your auto insurer or AAA? Something that pays for a rental car in the event of a wreck? It's a pretty common thing that many people overlook.

[Nitro Express]

don't give up on the Jeep that quickly. swap the whole rear axle out. those things are all over in junkyards. or, if you really want to get rid of it, put it on Craig's or something and at least try to get more than what the scrap value is. someone will buy it to fix and flip, or buy it to make an off-roader out of. or is it just 2WD?

That's a common car. It seems like you could get a rear end pretty reasonable at a junkyard. If the rest of the car is that good, it's worth keeping.

[Hardrock69]

Yeah. Discussed stuff with the parents. Consensus is try to have the Jeep fixed. There are 4 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokees at the salvage yard.

If insurance pays for the damage, I won't have to bother. Tow it to the body shop, leave it with them until they fix. Pick up and "oh happy daze are here again...".

If they won't pay, I think I have enough resources to pay for the repairs myself, as long as it does not get beyond $1500-2000. No body work. No painting or anything like that. Hell, none of my tail light lenses on that side were even cracked. Nor were the windows. The body is still in perfect shape. Totally bizarre.

It will work out. Just not going to be a happy camper until about March or so.

I appreciate the suggestions/support more than you guys know.

Thanks very much. Though we are scattered all over the planet, I dig having net friends. :D

Makes life a bit more bearable when going through the inevitable rough spots.

As I say, other people have it worse than I do. Some of them people I know. Who have it WAY worse.

Joe Walsh said once "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do, life's been good to me so far....".

[hideyoursheep]

<a href="http://photobucket.com/images/2004%20crown%20vic" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/conwi1wd/1990s%20and%20Later/2004_Tuscola_County_Crown_Vic.jpg" border="0" alt="2004 Ford Crown Victoria Pictures, Images and Photos"/></a>


No one will ever get in your way. EVER.

[hideyoursheep]

I drive a 2005 Mercedes SLK (yeah I know, pretentious) when I was rear-ended by a driver back in 2008 who spoke little Anyhoo, my insurance took 11 months to fix my car offering me a loaner - a 2007 Altima that broke down every 100 miles or so. T'was the biggest pain in the ass.

What about the Lexus?
2006 Lexus GS 300

I'll post pics of it soon enough.

[Hardrock69]

In 1981 I had a 1976 Torino that used to be a cop car.

It was a taxi, as that was what I did for a living for a couple of years.

Taxi colors were black and white. So when I retired it from taxi service, it resembled the Bluesmobile featured in the film the Blues Brothers.
And that is what I called it. Man I loved that car. Leather seats. Power windows. 351 Modified engine. Always loved 351s. Easy to work on. Lotta power when you put your foot into it. Good gas mileage when you didn't.

Those were the days.

Any Torinos you find now are either junk, or overpriced collector cars.

[Nitro Express]

I used to own a checker cab. A funeral home had black ones they used as funeral procession cars and they sold them off. It was in perfect condition and a real tank of a car.

[Hardrock69]

Roomy as hell too!

Sorta like London cabs. Those things are so roomy in back you could put in furniture, satellite TV and a bathroom and have room to spare! :D

[Nitro Express]

Yeah the funeral home owner liked them for that reason plus they were reliable cars. I wish I still had it. It was like a new car. Nice back seat too, it would have been great for a date in high school. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

Mine was a 1982 Marathon but it was black instead of the taxi paint scheme.

[Hardrock69]

One thing I do miss.....cars these days are not roomy at all. No leg room up front. And if you have to sit in back, definitely no leg room in back.
Fucking stupid. Major concern of mine, being a tall person.

Interesting about those Checkers. They so resemble a 56 Chevy.

[Hardrock69]

Dupe post.