NeuroTalk Support Groups - When it rains, it pours.

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When it rains, it pours.

Our van is a jinx!
Theft -- In June, our unlocked van and car were raided as they were parked next to our garage in the back yard. Bag chairs, and things from an overnight camping trip that my daughter took were stolen. We are missing about $250 worth of stuff. None has been recovered, there are no suspects, and our deductible is too high for insurance to cover anything.

Damage -- Last week, someone in the WalMart parking lot opened their car door against our front passenger van door, leaving a huge dent. Our estimate put cost, even with a used door at $800. We are not sure if our 1993 van is currently worth that much; we wonder if it might be totalled.

The situation is complicated because the driver of the van, who lives out-of-county, was not the owner of the van. The owner lives in yet a different county, and we do not have insurance information to file a claim.

I have called the local police department numerous times in the past 6 days, and gone down there once, as instructed, to attempt to pick up their report. Unfortunately, they have not yet completed a report, so we are unable, at this time, to investigate insurance claim options. (I was told last week that the officer has 3 days to complete his report. He has today and tomorrow off, so we are unable to contact him until Wednesday, the day our six 18 year olds are due to drive home.) We, personally, have only liability insurance on our van. I also called the police dept. in the city where the owner lives; they cannot help us to obtain insurance info or any other info, because the accident occurred here.

Fast forward to present -- Transmission problems-- Our 18 y.o. daughter and 5 other just-graduated seniors are currently in Colorado on a "senior trip", almost 600 miles away from home with our van. The front door currently has a semi-repair job done on it by my husband, so that it can be opened and shut). that's the least of our problems. Our daughter indicates that 3rd gear has been having lots of problems, and they think it's the transmission. She has been on the phone frequently with my DH; they currently have an appointment to take it in to a shop to have the transmission looked at.

We may have to borrow a van to drive out to Colorado to get them. They are likely unable to rent a vehicle, because they are all under age 21. We don't know what to do about our van. It is not worth replacing the transmission. Should we sell it for scrap out there? If we do, will we be eligible for any insurance money from the door incident last week?

AAAck!

~ Faith

Hey just a info ..that saying..when it rains it pours..on the morton salt...that was my great uncles idea..with the girl...with umbrella....hehe

Hoping for you to have a better day..and good luck with the van..hugss,sarah

I have no automotive advice, but will pray that you'll be shown the right choices to make...

Van was checked out at a repair shop. They think the transmission is fine. However, there is a steering lock problem; we are getting it fixed. Shop will give kids a ride back to the cabin; van will be ready tomorrow.

We are grateful that the problem wasn't the transmission. It would not have been worth fixing on our van, and that would have created all kinds of additional problems, especially since we are currently in the process of looking into filing a claim for damage done to our van's front passenger door in WalMart's parking lot last week.

The kids' concern about a possible transmission problem alerted us to the steering lock problem, which is a safety issue. It is, perhaps, a blessing in disguise (except for the $400 price tag!).

~ Faith

Phew! I am glad it is all taken care of. I hope DD has a safe and uneventful trip back home.

*holding umbrella for FaithS*

Here, get outta the rain for goodness sakes! :rolleyes:

Glad it wasn't the transmission Faith!! Even though I know the $400 still hurts too.:hug:

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and concern.

They were still able to go white water rafting today, in spite of a 3-4 wait at the auto shop.

Tomorrow, they have hiking on one of the 14-er planned.

Wednesday is home. They're enjoying the $250 per night cabin that they splurged on. Great scenery, hot tub, etc., etc. There are 3 14-ers within walking distance.

~ Faith

Sending you something to help when it pours ::: Faith

http://dl.glitter-graphics.net/pub/4...zyobjjdei0.jpg

Glad things went better than they could have.

Jappy

Faith,
Did your DD and her friends make it home safely and have a good trip?

hope the kids had a good time.
where in colo were they?

sorry about the car problems. those are the worst, and so stressful.
forget about the pocketbook :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by hjmom (Post 320739)

Faith,
Did your DD and her friends make it home safely and have a good trip?

Kathy -- Yes, thanks for asking. The steering got fixed.

The van had some problems with stalling on the way home, so DD phoned DH several times, asking for advice. But, it always kept restarting, so he told them to keep going, and they made it home.

Felt bad for the kids, that they had to mess with our poor, tired van, but no other parents had a van that would seat 7. Actually, only 6 ended up going, but, when they were beginning their planning, they thought they'd have 7.

~ Faith

Quote:

Originally Posted by NurseNancy (Post 320764)

hope the kids had a good time.
where in colo were they?

sorry about the car problems. those are the worst, and so stressful.
forget about the pocketbook :(

http://cabins-in-colorado.com/ Here's a link for the cabin that they rented. They were close to Breckenridge. They found the cabin onine, just by googling. They were very happy with it.

Close to white water rafting, and close to good hiking trails.

~ Faith

Happy Update -- long post

DD and her five 18-y.o. friends arrived home safely, after their Colorado trip at the beginning of this month, and the possible transmission worries. As I said earlier, the transmission was fine -- just didn't like the mountains very much. But, they found a steering problem, that could have potentially been a hazard.

The steering repairs ending costing less than their initial estimate -- $227, instead of $400.

It was difficult to obtain contact information about the owner of the car that wrecked our van door, because the car was driven by someone else. We managed to get an out-of-county address from the police report, that they were able to track down since I wrote down the tag number. The owner had moved, and the letter was forwarded to us, and she was nice enough/honest enough to call us about the accident. The person who'd been driving her car had chosen not to tell her about the damage he'd caused, and the damage of her vehicle was minimal enough that she hadn't noticed it.

When her insurance company contacted the driver, he disputed my claim, and said that his door was already open, and I ran into it. But, insurance ruled in our favor -- said that his story didn't even make sense.

So, to make a short story long, they totalled our van, ad will be sending us a check for $1100. We were planning to sell it anyways. It is still drivable -- just body work. And, we're not sure we would have received that much for it anyways -- it's a 1993. We'd like to replace it with a mid-size car that gets better gas mileage, but is still comfortable for long trips.

So, I think we came out ahead -- expect for some anxious days.

~ Faith