I’ve left most of my recent car troubles out of the blog as of late, mostly because I didn’t know what would happen next. I’ll provide a brief rundown now because I think it’s just about done.
As you may know, I was rear-ended on Halloween. That was almost three months ago. Fortunately, no major injuries seemed to be sustained. I had some whiplash in my neck which went away, but Monica has had some back troubles since. It comes and goes but she’s been seeing doctors to hopefully make everything OK.
My car was a different matter. The rear end wasn’t demolished by any means. It looked like some minor dents and scratches but I don’t know much about cars. When we were hit, my car was pushed into a pickup truck that was stopped in front of us. There was no noticeable damage to the front end of my car, but when I moved it it sounded weird.
I brought my car in to J & B Bodyworks where I brought my car in when I was in an accident earlier in 2009. Geico went and looked at the car and work began. While the car was in the shop, I was driving a rental car from Enterprise. About a week later I was informed that there was some incremental work being done on the car. This was in addition to the original estimate. From what I understand, when they took the bumper off to start working they found more stuff that needed to be fixed. OK. It’s all covered so let’s get this done.
Then weeks went by. All the while I’m driving this rental car that I’m not really a fan of. Thanksgiving comes and goes and then finally after a full month, I get my car back. I was so excited to get it back and I get in and start it up and it still doesn’t sound right. Sure, the whole rear end looks fantastic but there’s still a noise or a vibration in the front right side of the car. I don’t know how else to explain it.
A few days go by and I bring the car back to J&B. I explain the issue and they look at it that day. They say that it was an issue with the tire balance and they re-balanced them for me. Great. I pick up the car and the noise is still there.
Dave took a look under the hood while he and Jess were up here and he suggested it might be the engine mounts. So, that weekend I bring my car into my regular mechanic for an oil change. While the car is there, I ask him to look the car over to see if he can find the cause of the vibration. It was determined that the lower ball joint had play and the drive belts were making noise and the engine mounts were OK. Geico wouldn’t cover this as it was seen as normal wear and tear on the vehicle. Fine. I’ll gladly pay for it if it means getting my car back to normal.
Then I get the car back and the vibration is still there. I’m still weirded out by it so I bring it back to the mechanic. I ask him to look at the mounts and they are cracked and lowered by about a half inch or so. I get Geico to look at it and they cover a portion of it. They can’t cover the whole thing because apparently I’m right at the threshold for having to declare the car totaled.
I get my car back this time and the sound is a little less but the vibration is still present. The next morning I clean snow off of the car and lean on the front bumper while doing so. The vibration stops. I let go and the vibration starts up again. How is it that I can make such a discovery and two different car places couldn’t find this?
At this point I don’t know what to do. I don’t think it’s that much of an issue however the vibration is very annoying to me. Do I bring the car back to the mechanic and see if he can fix it? What of the body shop? Do I try to get Geico involved again? Then the car might be declared totaled and the word “Salvaged” will be sprawled across the title of my car which will make it a real pain in the ass when I want to get a new car. I hate that I paid my car off in full at the beginning of 2009 and since then it’s been in two accidents. I just want it to be OK. Is that so much to ask?
Tags: Car, Car Trouble