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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Why is it always something?



This is a photo of our darling car Marley being loaded onto a tow truck after being hit hard from both ends. Mr. C who was driving to work yesterday morning suffered a minor bump on the head but other than that he's in perfect shape :-) and the doctors gave him a thorough examination to confirm it too.
Marley however is a different story, our mechanic confirmed his worst suspicions. Apart from the broken and bent exterior the inner axis has been severely bent and broken in places. Such a severe damage to the car's core integrity components are impossible to repair without having to deal with great costs and a residual effect on the passangers' safety since the structural integrity will never be the same as before the crash.
So we made the heavy yet the only logical conclusion to buy a new car. It will be another Opel Corsa since we like the brand and the model and it's the perfect car for our needs, small, easy maintenance, low fuel consumption... it's another logical choice. But the untimely car switch (Marley was only 4 years old and our plan was to keep it for another 8, basically until the end of the car's lifespan) makes for a hefty chunk of money that we'll somehow have to come up with and will completely hack up our 2013 budget plans. And aside from dealing with the emotional aftermath this is probably going to be one of the most uninspiring car shopping experiences ever.
Focusing on the happy things in life: we are all healty, I'm still drinking the icky tea though and Rufus is in fine spirits ever so excited with the abundance of snow which he loves to play with.

14 comments:

  1. Oh dear! I'm so sorry about your car but relieved to hear everyone is OK. I was rear-ended in 2011, and the insurance company decided that my old reliable Honda was worth less than the cost of repairs. We ended up selling to a friend who was eventually able to repair it, and now his wife drives and loves it. Sorry you have to go through this!

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    1. Susan, that's right! I remember you posted about it on your blog. I'm just happy your Honda went to someone who loves it and takes good care of it. Our situation is similar too, the insurance company decided to pay us a fixed sum because it wasn't worth repairing it :-(

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  2. The most important thing MrC was not hurt or others.Things could have been much worse.

    Life goes happily on than wham a spoke is thrown into the wheels.Hopefully your insurance
    will help.

    Do hope you will soon feel better helped on by the 'icky'tea.It seems to have been a long
    Winter,it is snowing here today. Ida

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    1. First day without icky tea! Mr. C is on sick leave for the rest of the week, he came home yesterday with a headache. The doctors established it was only a case of pulled neck strings but still I am a bit worried and will feel relieved once this is behind us.

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  3. Oh wow....so happy that Mr C is safe. That is the most important thing. Mr Little Jeans got rear-ended a few years ago resulting in us having to buy a car when we did not plan to. The good outcome was that we switched to a hybrid that soon became a favorite. I hope the new Opel takes you through many years of happy driving. xx

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    1. We contemplated upgrading too but after considering all angles we decided to stick with this model. And like you said, as long as the people involved are all right, the rest can be taken care of easily.

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  4. Oh Ana, I'm glad Mr. C is okay but so sorry to hear about poor Marley and the budget setback. You are so right that it always seems like there *something* that messes everything up!

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    1. Susan, here's hoping it will go more smoothly for a while now :-) and may the new car bring us more luck!

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  5. These car accidents cause so much worry. The best thing now is, that your husband is ok.
    What about the car insurances, what do your insurances cover?
    Over here - if you bump, your insurances cover the other car´s damage, and your own bonuses sink. If it can be proved, that the bumping was not your fault, no payments out of your insurances.
    If some car bumps into your´s, the other cars´s owner / insurance pays.

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    1. Mette, it's the same here, the basic insurance covers the other person's damages to the car as well as personal injuries and the bonuses are gone. We also had the upgraded insurance which covers our own damages in case the accident was caused by anyone driving our car as well as insurance for parking accidents, wild game,... we had this car insured from every angle ;-) since it was the other driver's fault the damages don't go from our policy but similar to Susan's case, if the cost of the repairs exceed the value of the car, all you are left with is a fixed amount of money which isn't much and the car wreckage.

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  6. The old Murphy's Law says if something can happen it will. Sorry for this setback, not only for the expense but the time required to deal with such. Glad your husband is ok and hope you'll be well soon and no longer have to drink that icky tea

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    1. Good ol' reliable Murphy ;-) just couldn't give it a rest, huh?

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  7. Replies
    1. We sold Marley to our mechanic who will repair it and re-sell it to another loving couple, I hope! I'm pleased we sold it to our mechanic who knows the car well and is also a licenced Opel mechanic so no doubt they have the original spare parts and the knowledge and the tools to do a good job.
      So Marley will be saved :-)
      Thanks for visiting my blog!

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