Time for the last of the blogging about car accidents and cars in general.
The next day after the last blog, Ann and I went to a Chevy dealer near here to look at minivans, and found that what they had was mostly Town and Countries. And one Uplander which was the Chevy mini. Nothing new either. I was really not about T&Cs; did not want the extra features and extra complexity. (I have been annoyed about the power sliding door on the Venture - it mostly did not work, and would not operate manually. Also the power locks broke and would not unlock from the door switches. Give me the simpler manual thing!) We did not even take one out for a drive. So that was strike two.
Other things to do so did not get out looking until the following Tuesday. After a routine physical ( I am going to live) and giving blood for testing, I stopped at the Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily) dealer near here. Frustration! Ford made its last minivan in 2007 - the Windstar. He had no new or old Windstars. Strike three. But this is not baseball, and you get as many strikes as you need.
So, Ann and I went back to Saugerties to look and new and old Grand Caravans. We saw nice used ones in red and white. And a nice new blue one. I ended up springing for the new blue one after a lot of soul searching. It is about one model up from the bottom. No power doors. No power seats. Or real fancy radio and electronics. Power locks and windows (hmmm...ugh?). Standard ‘Stow and Go’ seats which fold down into the floor (no need to cart them out of the car). It looks like all of the train stuff will fit into it ok.
So the next day we picked it up and drove it home. It still has less than 100 miles on it and I am still getting used to it. Then we drove the rental car down to the rental place and turned it in. All that is left are some minor things like the additional insurance premium, getting the permanent registration and updating a few places that want to know about the details of the car.
Now what am I going to have to blog about? You will just have to wait and see. Until then, have a good summer!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Car Update
Just thought I would give you an update on the car situation. That is about all that is new around here, and even that is sort of slow moving.
In any case the car was declared totaled. Fortunately I had never dropped collision insurance so was able to put into a claim that resulted in the totaling. We got a check yesterday for the value of the car - a little over $2000 after the deductible. The car was taken away by the car parts people last Friday evening. It was a little emotional seeing it go after 10 year and 90k miles. I am now driving a rental that is partly covered by insurance.
Today Ann and I started the process of getting a replacement. My hopes were for a 2 - 3 year old minivan for around 15K. So we went to a Dodge and Chrysler dealership near here and looked. But it looks like it is going to be more than the 15K. Apparently minivans are popular (although I don’t think I see that many on the road - but anyway). The salesman showed us a number of used minivans and crossovers, and then showed us in more detail a brand new 2011 Grand Caravan. He SAID that it would be about the same amount as some of the used ones. Things to think about. Tomorrow I want to go to a local Chevy dealer and look at their minivans.
We had a nice call this evening with Marilyn and learned how her thumb is coming along. Sounded as good as expected to us. She is getting things done, and is back to work. But read her blog about it when she gets around to talking about it. She says learning to use a mouse left-handed has slowed her down. She has promised to send us some pictures of the thumb sometime. Looking forward to it.
Take care; one of these days I will learn how to put pictures in here!
In any case the car was declared totaled. Fortunately I had never dropped collision insurance so was able to put into a claim that resulted in the totaling. We got a check yesterday for the value of the car - a little over $2000 after the deductible. The car was taken away by the car parts people last Friday evening. It was a little emotional seeing it go after 10 year and 90k miles. I am now driving a rental that is partly covered by insurance.
Today Ann and I started the process of getting a replacement. My hopes were for a 2 - 3 year old minivan for around 15K. So we went to a Dodge and Chrysler dealership near here and looked. But it looks like it is going to be more than the 15K. Apparently minivans are popular (although I don’t think I see that many on the road - but anyway). The salesman showed us a number of used minivans and crossovers, and then showed us in more detail a brand new 2011 Grand Caravan. He SAID that it would be about the same amount as some of the used ones. Things to think about. Tomorrow I want to go to a local Chevy dealer and look at their minivans.
We had a nice call this evening with Marilyn and learned how her thumb is coming along. Sounded as good as expected to us. She is getting things done, and is back to work. But read her blog about it when she gets around to talking about it. She says learning to use a mouse left-handed has slowed her down. She has promised to send us some pictures of the thumb sometime. Looking forward to it.
Take care; one of these days I will learn how to put pictures in here!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
It is Sunday -time to write
Time to add something to this blog, just to keep in practice.
Not much new about the car. It will go to scrap, just when and how is not clear; probably let the insurance company have it and take what they have offered for it. Talked with Will about it today for a while; he says let them have it; take the plates off it and put them on a new car; what ever that turns out to be. I have been looking at edmonds.com per Ed’s suggestion as to what is available and where. It is an interesting site, and says that my car should be worth about 2176; which there is really no way of getting from anybody except maybe letting the insurance company scrap it. My current inclination is to get a two or three year old minivan of some sort for probably around 15K.
I have the house to myself for today and tomorrow. Ann has gone to a meeting up in Albany. She left about 11:30 this morning with papers etc. She should be back about 6PM tomorrow with (its planned) a bucket of KFC for dinner. In the meantime Daisy is going nuts looking and waiting for her. Whenever Ann is out you can find Daisy upstairs on the bed looking out the window for her car. Up to me to let her in and out, feed her, etc. No problem, really.
Marilyn is up and about with her thumb. Apparently she is not as terribly handicapped as I thought she might be for the next day after the operation she put up a big addition to her blog. But is doesn’t say a thing yet about the thumb - just the trip to Florida a while back.
That is about it; I did not go down to the museum today so have no idea how things went for the weekend. It was going to be busy down there with some special events going on including the Half Moon being docked and available for tours.
Not much new about the car. It will go to scrap, just when and how is not clear; probably let the insurance company have it and take what they have offered for it. Talked with Will about it today for a while; he says let them have it; take the plates off it and put them on a new car; what ever that turns out to be. I have been looking at edmonds.com per Ed’s suggestion as to what is available and where. It is an interesting site, and says that my car should be worth about 2176; which there is really no way of getting from anybody except maybe letting the insurance company scrap it. My current inclination is to get a two or three year old minivan of some sort for probably around 15K.
I have the house to myself for today and tomorrow. Ann has gone to a meeting up in Albany. She left about 11:30 this morning with papers etc. She should be back about 6PM tomorrow with (its planned) a bucket of KFC for dinner. In the meantime Daisy is going nuts looking and waiting for her. Whenever Ann is out you can find Daisy upstairs on the bed looking out the window for her car. Up to me to let her in and out, feed her, etc. No problem, really.
Marilyn is up and about with her thumb. Apparently she is not as terribly handicapped as I thought she might be for the next day after the operation she put up a big addition to her blog. But is doesn’t say a thing yet about the thumb - just the trip to Florida a while back.
That is about it; I did not go down to the museum today so have no idea how things went for the weekend. It was going to be busy down there with some special events going on including the Half Moon being docked and available for tours.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Day 2
Trying to add a little more today - still in experimental mode. Did not like the profile, so wrote a different one.
Last blog talked about car troubles. Well, the next day we got the news that our daughter Marilyn tripped and fell and did a real bash up job on a thumb with a SCUBA tank. Today she is have surgery by an orthopod in St Thomas on the finger. Yipes! What a thing to have happen! She will be out of action for a while. We hope to get regular updates on this.
The car: it went to the car repair shop yesterday afternoon, and the news is not good. He did not even get all the parts into the computer when it told him he was reaching a limit. So it looks like it will go to the scrap yard, and we will be in the market for a new car. Yuck! But it is 12 years old and has 125,000 miles on it.
Last blog talked about car troubles. Well, the next day we got the news that our daughter Marilyn tripped and fell and did a real bash up job on a thumb with a SCUBA tank. Today she is have surgery by an orthopod in St Thomas on the finger. Yipes! What a thing to have happen! She will be out of action for a while. We hope to get regular updates on this.
The car: it went to the car repair shop yesterday afternoon, and the news is not good. He did not even get all the parts into the computer when it told him he was reaching a limit. So it looks like it will go to the scrap yard, and we will be in the market for a new car. Yuck! But it is 12 years old and has 125,000 miles on it.
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