Cars....can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em

Haven't written for a while, that's mainly because I'm now sharing this laptop with three of my kids.

Today's subject.....cars and money. First of all let me say that I am beyond thrilled that I owe no money on the vehicle of which I will be speaking. This car was purchased new (something I'll never, EVER do again---see Daveramsey.com--great site if you have any debt) back in 2001. Approximately 2 years later, son#1 was driving son#2 to work and cop#1 arrived on the scene because said car hit another and wound up with nearly $6,000 in damage. Insured car is repaired. Later that year son#2 hits rock at side of road and scrapes door. Minimal damage. Car is not repaired. Son#2 attends gathering at friends house and someone apparently backs into car but doesn't own up. Minimal damage. Car is not repaired. Author takes trip to grocery store in said car and is attacked by wind-propelled grocery carts( I'm not making this up!!!!) Car is not repaired. Approximately one year later, son #1 borrows car #1 to take a quick trip to the bank. Quick trip to bank turns into lengthy trip to collision shop because son #1 decided to back out of said bank without looking, thus ramming the car with the right-of-way. Insured car is repaired. Husband and I pick up car from collision shop and on the way home, car#1 stops running. Completely. Coughed and sputtered and died, 4 miles from home. Had said car towed to the best mechanic in southeastern Michigan ....Norm's in South Lyon. Norm informs us that said car needs a $5,000 -6,000 engine replacement...and that he's seen several of these in his shop with the same sludge problem. Seeing that we still owed tons of money on said vehicle, it stayed on Norm's lot for about 6 months (bless his heart). We finally scraped enough together to pay for the stupid repairs. Car is repaired. We were actually enjoying 2 years of relative car bliss (with THIS car) when son#4 spends the night at someone's house and someone in his friend's family(who will remain nameless) backs into car and says nothing. My son, seeing that the car door was smashed shut, went into the house and asked if anyone had hit it. Finally an admission of guilt. Mother calls author. Mother asks author's son to file false police report saying that some anonymous person in parking lot hit it so it would fall under my insurance so that they don't have to tell the family patriarch about driveway incident and insurance won't increase. Author refuses, knowing that filing a false police report is a felony offense and that what friend's mom should be more concerned with is that OUR family patriarch is unable to get into his car because the door is smushed shut. Friend's mom finally reports accident. Insurance company calls author. Author gets estimate and faxes it to insurance company. "Check is in the mail". Check never shows up. Author calls insurance company. Person handling claim has been canned. "Check is in the mail". Check doesn't show up. Collision shop calls. "Do you want to bring the car in?" "No, I will wait for the check and then I will probably only get the door problem fixed (since it's a good thing to be able to enter your car) and skip repairing all of the cosmetic damage (because I care more about getting soaked on resale than I do about what the car actually looks like right now). Don't order parts." Two weeks later, collision shop calls and same conversation occurs. Author calls insurance company. Repeatedly. Doesn't hear from them. Finally makes trip to collision shop. While asking questions, author discovers that said collision shop has cashed a check made out to him and me.....without my endorsement. Author steams. Collision shop lies. Author calls insurance company. "new check will be in the mail. A month goes by. No check. Author becomes pain the the neck for insurance company by sheer volume of phone calls. Finally, after maybe 10 calls in a single day, author receives assurance that check is, in fact, in the mail. Approximately four months after the driveway incident, the check is received, and deposited. Door still won't open. That will be repaired soon, right? HA!!!!! Fast forward to this Tuesday. Son#3 is driving son#1 to school for his final. Son#3 pulls out of neighborhood into oncoming car. Vehicle is presently sitting in collision shop. Insured car is not repaired. Author calls collision shop. Appears that car will be totalled. No, this cannot be. The car with nine lives has finally met it's waterloo. Moral #1.....don't buy a car that you can't pay cash for. Moral#2.....Have an emergency fund for times such as these., Moral#3....don't ever assume that four teenage boys (as wonderful as they are) can make it to adulthood without destroying your property. Moral #4.... don't insure this family.