...I did manage to diagnose my problem accurately. Yesterday afternoon, I was going over in my head the symptoms of my car's distress--a sudden, violent shaking of the engine and the inability to get it into park that all happened at the moment of impact. Kitchen Hand alluded to a possible driveline misalignment, but I got to thinking and it suddenly dawned on me--engine mounts! Or a transmission mount. Or all of the above.
Just got a call from Martin over at Royal. They found a huge amount of problems, but there were some that were present before, such as a general weepiness of oil from the rear main seal. But the ones causing the problems?
Both motor mounts sheared, and the trans mount. So I get a prize for guessing correctly!
That being, this:
Trans mount = $60
Two engine mounts = $160
Shifter bushing set = $30
Labor and towing = $450
Getting hit by ["someone who seems to act an awful lot like" --Ed.] an uninsured, unlicensed motorist?
Priceless.
I feel so special.
[Edited on 6-20-07 to note that my perceptions are clouded by assumptions, and that this nice person could be on the up-and-up and I'm making too big a deal out of things.]
Posted by Terry Oglesby at June 19, 2007 09:03 AMI know you said you don't have full coverage, but do you have uninsured motorist?
Yes, and it would cover me if I was injured, but I still have to have collision coverage on my insurance to be covered for collision damage caused by an uninsured driver.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 19, 2007 09:33 AMTrade you my trouble -- double the money and double the fun!
And no I won't go into it. It's not health, home, marriage or automobile.
Posted by: Janis Gore at June 19, 2007 09:47 AMOuch, Miss Janis. Sorry to hear that you've got something hanging over you like that--as always, I'll keep you in my prayers.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 19, 2007 10:04 AMThank you, dear.
Posted by: Janis Gore at June 19, 2007 10:06 AMI'll add my prayers for Janis as well.
I just had to pay a repair bill for my old ('94) truck at a shade under $500 last week, so I can somewhat empathize with your pain. Somewhat. I don't mind so much paying for mine, as the truck is near 200k, payments for it ended in '98 and the engine is still strong. Your expense was due to someone else's mistakes, and unfortunately it's coming out of your pocket.
I didn't mean to say in a previous comment that you did something wrong, or that you were "duped", but that we can all be reminded of getting the best information we can if we're involved in a fender-bender. It can be a stressful situation where it's easy to let some things fall through the cracks. We typically expect people to be as honest as we are, and it's frustrating when we encounter those who are not.
Posted by: Marc V at June 19, 2007 10:41 AMOh, I know you meant no harm, Marc. Just adding on a word of caution that sometimes even being careful isn't quite enough--as you say, not everyone turns out to be as honest as we think we are.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 19, 2007 10:55 AMAren't there laws against, I dunno, LYING TO COPS? I would think that would be a bigger deal than anything else that went on.
Posted by: skillzy at June 19, 2007 12:24 PMWell, one would think so, Skillzy. But apparently Homewood has more important things to do than verify basic information.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 19, 2007 12:41 PMIn the policemen's defense, I'd say that has more to do with a lazy database than the boys on the thin blue line.
Posted by: Janis Gore at June 19, 2007 12:47 PMIt's hard to say why more isn't done to do basic checks--departmental policy, general disinterest, simple inability to quickly check such things. Still seems like it would be awfully easy nowadays to check such things to see that everyone is giving accurate information.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at June 19, 2007 12:55 PM