Backed into a pole
Posted 12-04-2008 at 05:17 AM by abaya
Literally, that's what I did on Sunday, on our way to see some glaciers in the south of Iceland. It was one of the stupidest things I have done with a car, even a used old beater car that we bought specificially so that we could beat it up more... I should have been more careful. I really hate making totally preventable mistakes like that, especially when they end up costing a lot of money.
I was backing up with sufficient speed (I was parked on a large grassy area, with no other poles in sight--did not look carefully enough around me, as a result) that when we hit the pole, it gave us a good hard jolt. It also fucked up the right rear tail light (cracked it open, and shoved the bumper up hard underneath the light, so that now I have to get body work done on it first, before replacing the whole light/casing itself).
Keep in mind, we bought the car for what was then around $3000 USD (now it would be $1500 USD, given the exchange rate). We've already put about $1500 of repairs/maintenance into the car, in the last 18 months. And now I just got the quote for this repair, since we're hoping to sell the thing before we leave in 2 weeks, and it will be just under $300 (which isn't that bad really, but I'm still annoyed). I just had the left door lock replaced for $150 last week, since it fell out a few months ago, grrr!!
None of these things affect the way the car runs. It's all aesthetics/comfort, etc. So I'm annoyed that we have to shell out the money to get it back up to "looking/feeling good" before selling it, even though it's a beater car and isn't supposed to look that good, anyway. We're hoping to get at least $1500 for the car when we sell it, if we're lucky.
Overall though, I'm still glad we got it originally as a piece of junk. In the end, we're out a couple of thousand dollars, but we got a great car for 18 months of touring around Iceland. It would have been far more expensive to rent a brand-new car for all of those trips (and imagine if I had beat up one of those rentals!). So I'm trying to look at it that way. Just wish I hadn't backed it into that damn pole.
I was backing up with sufficient speed (I was parked on a large grassy area, with no other poles in sight--did not look carefully enough around me, as a result) that when we hit the pole, it gave us a good hard jolt. It also fucked up the right rear tail light (cracked it open, and shoved the bumper up hard underneath the light, so that now I have to get body work done on it first, before replacing the whole light/casing itself).
Keep in mind, we bought the car for what was then around $3000 USD (now it would be $1500 USD, given the exchange rate). We've already put about $1500 of repairs/maintenance into the car, in the last 18 months. And now I just got the quote for this repair, since we're hoping to sell the thing before we leave in 2 weeks, and it will be just under $300 (which isn't that bad really, but I'm still annoyed). I just had the left door lock replaced for $150 last week, since it fell out a few months ago, grrr!!
None of these things affect the way the car runs. It's all aesthetics/comfort, etc. So I'm annoyed that we have to shell out the money to get it back up to "looking/feeling good" before selling it, even though it's a beater car and isn't supposed to look that good, anyway. We're hoping to get at least $1500 for the car when we sell it, if we're lucky.
Overall though, I'm still glad we got it originally as a piece of junk. In the end, we're out a couple of thousand dollars, but we got a great car for 18 months of touring around Iceland. It would have been far more expensive to rent a brand-new car for all of those trips (and imagine if I had beat up one of those rentals!). So I'm trying to look at it that way. Just wish I hadn't backed it into that damn pole.
Total Comments 4
Comments
-
geez... there are so few poles around iceland... (oh that could be a pun in some fashion i'm sure to those anthropologist types)Posted 12-04-2008 at 11:18 AM by Cynthetiq
-
Indeed there are fewer Poles these days than there used to be, due to the economic crisis ("kreppa," they call it). Whole planes packed full going to Poland, coming back empty... many Icelanders got their wish, since so many foreigners are leaving the country. Now it remains to be seen if they can deal with the loss... and take up the fish-cleaning knives to do the work that they thought they were too good for.Posted 12-04-2008 at 11:54 AM by abaya
-
I had a 97 Jetta GL that was the bane of my existance for several years. Cost me a ton in the long run and I was excited for the $500 trade in I got for it. Because when I went back to the dealer the next day, they couldn't get it started. I had to point out the box of baking soda, the tooth brush and the bottle of coke under the seat for that reason. Good luck.Posted 12-04-2008 at 03:09 PM by noodle 
-
Yeah, see I wonder if it isn't just better to drop the price (for the cost of the repair) and sell it "as is" and be done with it... just to get it off my hands, like you did with the dealer. But I'd like for it to pass inspection before I sell it, too... so uggh.Posted 12-04-2008 at 04:07 PM by abaya
Total Trackbacks 0
