Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Belated Christmas Gift

I posted before about how our Christmas was really great and we were so blessed. But we did have one not-so-fun thing happen on Christmas Day.

This:
A 16 year old girl ran into our parked Jeep in front of Brian's parent's house. She then proceeded to swerve and end up in their yard. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt. She was fine, and we weren't even in the car. No, it wasn't snowing, it wasn't icy, and the road was straight. She had just received an Ipod adapter for her car and was trying to learn how to use it, while driving! So stupid.

This is my Jeep:
The left wheel and rim are totally crunched and the axle got pushed forward. You can't see but she pushed the front of our car up onto the curb.
But this is her car:
Not so good. I would say we got the better deal as there seemed to be less damage at first sight, but my Jeep was a 1994. Not worth enough to repair. But it was the most reliable of our vehicles. I've had it for 6 years and had hardly any problems. Sure the air conditioning didn't work anymore, but it's 15 years old! I drove it to and from work every day and it made multiple trips to and from Logan with no problems. I loved my Jeep.
Funny thing is, we didn't even hear anything. The girl's brother came up to the door to let us know what had happened. Then we got to have the fun experience of calling the police and dealing with this girl's half-drunk father (at 2:00 in the afternoon). But we finally got it sorted out and the policeman was very nice and helpful, at least to us. (They almost had to arrest the father because he was arguing with the officer.)
We continued on with our Christmas activities but it was weird to just clean out the Jeep and walk away.
Fortunately, the insurance company we worked with (GEICO) was extremely efficient and helpful. They offered us a little bit more than I thought we would get so that was nice. And last week when we got back from St. George, we were able to go car shopping and find my new car!

A 2004 Subaru Outback:
Brian had put the idea for this car in my head a few months ago, and we were thinking of buying on in a year or two when Brian's done with school, but this even pushed everything up. Because of the insurance money and a nice bonus from my work, we were able to get this wonderful car. I totally love it! Brian loves it too and keeps trying to think of excuses so he can drive it. :)
So this was my late Christmas present this year. Not what I had asked for or expected, but much appreciated nonetheless.

7 comments:

Barlow Fam said...

YEAH!!!!!!! Love it. That's how we got our first "nice" car when we got married. Someone ran us off the road. Congrats on a great Crash Prize. :)

Shae said...

sweet! nice car! too bad for your jeep, though! at least they had the decency to come and tell you what happened! we've had 2 hit and runs with different cars where we had to deal with our own insurance to be able to repair them. :(

Cottam Family said...

LOVE IT!! And might I just add that I love our Subaru Outback? I'm glad that you made a great choice on cars :)I'm also very thankful that you were not in said Jeep when it was hit.

Brian and Tonya said...

Aaah, I would cry if that happened. But I love your replacement. I hope it proves to be as good as your Jeep.

Marzipan said...

So when are you going to take me for a ride in your cool ride??? jk. But I really do love the Outback. Good choice!

Laurita Nielsen said...

My goodness, that must have been so shocking...
I do LOVE Subarus, and I love the color you guys picked! I guess the only reason we didn't get one when we were car shopping was that Doug didn't like the idea of driving something he envisioned a soccer mom driving, LOL! But, then again, he wants to get a hummer when we graduate, so we can see he has some interesting tastes in vehicles :) Congratulations and enjoy your new ride!

Tiffany said...

Just think of it as a blessing in disguise.

My car had a seal break for the transmission fluid right after Christmas and it only cost $105 to fix! AKA the price of the book I am checking out for homework at the library, actually a little less.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to drive it again and we would have to get rid of it, but luckily we were blessed and could afford to fix it.

Mine is a Subaru too, although I'm sure it's a lot more "mature" in age than yours. So, I can relate to why you chose that one. They are really good cars. :)