Tag: car troubles

A Tweety Update

Got a call from the insurance adjuster today. According to the initial assessment fixing Tweety will cost R7000 more than we paid for her and R5000 more than the currently insured value, so a write-off appears to be in our future. They’re still looking at alternative quotations, but having found out for myself what the actual parts cost I’m not optimistic (the boot door alone is almost half the car’s total value, unless one can be salvaged from a scrap yard).

As there’s no way we’ll get another car with aircon, CD player and power steering, with Tweety’s mileage and in Tweety’s condition (sans recent damage) for the price we paid for her two years ago, never mind the amount we can expect to be paid out, I’m now hoping the company of the guy who caused the accident will be willing to settle the matter privately as I have no desire to go through the drama of buying back the car form the insurance company and then trying to re-insure a “salvaged” vehicle. Except that all the people at said company are always out of the office when I call and apparently don’t know how to return messages.

I’ll keep you updated.

Tweety tawt he taw a puddytat…

…but in fact it was a big-ass pickup truck with an even bigger ass inside of it who thought he could still make it through the traffic circle before the oncoming traffic. What makes him an ass is the fact that he did not include the car in front of him, the driver of which had already decided to yield to oncoming traffic, as both the law prescribed and a healthy sense of self-preservation dictated, in his calculations. Yellow Ford Ka after accidentOne would think a canary yellow car is easy to spot in traffic. Apparently it is invisible right until the moment you plough into it.

The wife, thankfully, is okay, though she spent most of the morning in tears from the shock and whiplash combined with scoliosis doesn’t help much.

I’ve already submitted a claim to the insurance, and I’m desperately hoping they don’t write it off (a strong possibility as the car is already ten years old and there’s damage to the actual body as well behind the cosmetic damage here) as we simply can’t afford to replace it, what with me still being unemployed and all. If you’re at all into praying, please pray that the insurance pays to fix it. Or the other guy’s company (as it was a company vehicle and apparently they don’t have insurance on their vehicles; I’m still waiting to hear back from them).

Yeah. I’ll stop now, as the rest of what I want to say isn’t suitable for publication…

How to change a light bulb

First you have to remove the wheel.  Make sure the emergency brake is engaged and position the jack under the spot indicated in the owner’s manual to avoid damaging the vehicle.  Loosen the lug nuts slightly.  Then lift up the vehicle until it is high enough from the ground to remove the wheel entirely.

You have a choice: either click here to read on, or assume I’m insane. Your call.

On changing luck and weekend stuff

I’ve decided that the car’s tyre is number three in the trio of bad luck that have apparently invaded my life.

Friday morning I went to a fitment centre and they advised me to rather replace the damaged tyre.  You can’t fit a new tyre on only one side of the car, so I asked them to place the tyre from the spare wheel on the other side, but it turned out to be a different size from the tyres on the mag wheels, so I had to fit new tyres both sides.  Price: R1700 ($170 at the current exchange rate, but if that doesn’t seem like a lot, it’s about 15% of my salary I earned as a teacher).

I sighed in resignation and told them to go ahead – tyres and suspension are two areas of a car where you never skimp on maintenance.  If you value your life and those of your passengers, that is.

But then my luck changed. Continue reading “On changing luck and weekend stuff”