My Pocket Change

Since I had chronicled my last car accident here, I figure I’ll mention this latest one too that happened last December. The quick and dirty summary is that he made a left turn in front of me in a parking lot without either stopping or looking, coming from my right. The details aren’t terribly important, but I am 100% confident it was completely his fault. Damage wasn’t too bad on either car, but even minor damage these days costs $1k+ to fix. After the accident, we exchanged information, and I got him to admit it was his fault. It occurred in my work parking lot, where we both are employed (though I don’t know him — its a very large company). After he admitted fault to me personally, I trusted him to tell his insurance what happened (oh Miller… what were you thinking?) especially since we work for the same company. You can see this one coming a mile away, right? Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

I know I’m not breaking new ground by saying finding a local auto shop is the best way to go when it comes to car maintenance, but I wanted to try to put some numbers to the old saying.  I drive an ‘03 Acura RSX Type S (bought it new).  Just the other week my car hit the 40k mark.  Check up time!  I’m pretty good about maintenance because I want to make sure to not void my extended warranty.

I’ve been going to a local shop (Foreign Auto Experts, for those in the Baltimore area) for a year or so now.  So, I took my car in and had them do their rounds.  Turns out I needed new front brake pads.  My total bill was $155.29.  For kicks I called my local Acura dealer for a price check.  $175.00 for the 40K check up, and $195.00 for new front brake pads.  I’ll do that math for you: I saved ~$215 or 58%.  We’re talking significant money!   Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

A couple weeks ago, I had mentioned how I was rear-ended and had to take my car into the shop while I was in Austria.  I had concluded that the insurance company was low balling me with their estimate of $425 because the original estimate I received was for $720.  Assuming the insurance company would need to fork over the cash for the more expensive estimation if I took the car into to get fixed, I figured the insurance company gave the initial estimate to save themselves money if I decided to simply pocket the cash.  Well, maybe I was a little too quick to judge who the bad guy really was… the real moral is that both the insurance company and the body shop were trying to take advantage of me, and the other victim besides myself is actually the nice girl that hit me.  Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

 So a little a month ago, I got into a car accident (don’t worry, no one was hurt).  I was rear-ended (not my fault!!!).  It really wasn’t a bad accident at all.  The damage to her car was non-existent, and the damage to my car was very minor. 

However, I knew I had the long process of dealing with insurance in front of me.  And then there was the question of what to do with the insurance money: fix my car now or pocket it (and fix it later).  By the end though, I realized that if I ever wanted to fix my car without using my own money, I’d have to fix it now.  The insurance companies make sure of that… Here’s the story. Continue Reading »

4 Comments »