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Car Forum / Toyota / Prius / December 2004If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
In July, I was driving my partner's Scion xB and hit a road hazard (a tire in the road); the damage to front and back bumpers and part of the radiator came to more than $2,000; it was covered by the comprehensive policy, so I paid only the $100 deductible. In September or October, I hit another road hazard (something flew off a truck bed) with my Prius. The front bumper and the left-front wheel well fairing needed to be replaced. It came to $970; the deductible was another $100, but there were two very minor and almost invisible scratches (on on the driver's door and one at the bottom rear of the left fender); they credited me with $75 for not having them repainted, so my cost was $25. Last week, I hit yet another road hazard in a parking lot; I'm not sure what it was, but it tore the sidewall of the right-front tire. Toyota's road-hazard warranty paid the $89 to replace it. Day before yesterday, I hit another road hazard on the freeway, almost in the same spot (but opposite direction) as the one in October. I don't know what it was; it was dark, and I heard a thump and the car shuddered a bit. It broke the left splash shield and tore part of it from the clips holding it in place. The charge for replacing it is $98.42, which is less than my deductible. However, the body shop simply replaced the clips, and the shield is back in place, although cracked in half. If those clips don't hold, I'll have the shield replaced. I had not had any damage to my previous car, which I had owned for 3 1/2 years. Is my Prius jinxed or something?  SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush. > I had not had any damage to my previous car, which I had owned for 3 1/2 > years. Is my Prius jinxed or something? Well, your bad luck began with the Scion, and wasn't that before you even had the Prius? I believe that what's happened is that the Curse of the Bambino has been transferred from the Red Sox to you. SignatureMike Rosenberg <http://www.macconsult.com> Macintosh consulting services for NE Florida <http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart Toyota Prius fans: Check out alt.autos.toyota.prius > > I had not had any damage to my previous car, which I had owned for > > 3 1/2 years. Is my Prius jinxed or something? > > Well, your bad luck began with the Scion, and wasn't that before you > even had the Prius? True. > I believe that what's happened is that the Curse of the Bambino has > been transferred from the Red Sox to you. Two of those incidents happened before the Sox won the series. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush. > > I believe that what's happened is that the Curse of the Bambino has > > been transferred from the Red Sox to you. > > Two of those incidents happened before the Sox won the series. Ah, but if the curse was transferred to you back then, we'd have no way of knowing about it until the Series. SignatureMike Rosenberg <http://www.macconsult.com> Macintosh consulting services for NE Florida <http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart Toyota Prius fans: Check out alt.autos.toyota.prius > In July, I was driving my partner's Scion xB and hit a road hazard (a > tire in the road); the damage to front and back bumpers and part of the [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > I had not had any damage to my previous car, which I had owned for 3 1/2 > years. Is my Prius jinxed or something? Maybe. There isn't any rational reason for it, but I've found a couple of the cars I've had went through periods of seeming to attract specific sorts of damages. The most memorable was our '84 Dodge, which went through 4 windshields in as many months. The first was mundane enough - two rock chips that cracked into each other. The next month a vandal smashed the nearly new windshield with a rock. That replacement was barely a week old when a large limb fell off our tree and smashed it. A full month went by before a large rock was popped up by somebody's tire on the freeway and.... If it is any comfort, the jinxs wore off (or whatever was happening stopped happening) after 4 - 12 months. Courage, Michelle! Mike > In July, I was driving my partner's Scion xB and hit a road hazard (a > tire in the road); the damage to front and back bumpers and part of the > radiator came to more than $2,000; it was covered by the comprehensive > policy, so I paid only the $100 deductible. Something to be said for plastic body parts on plastic cars. > In September or October, I hit another road hazard (something flew off a > truck bed) with my Prius. The front bumper and the left-front wheel [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > left fender); they credited me with $75 for not having them repainted, > so my cost was $25. Amazing how much these parts cost, huh? I once had to replace an engine at 14000 miles on a Chrysler. Thank God for warrantees! > Last week, I hit yet another road hazard in a parking lot; I'm not sure > what it was, but it tore the sidewall of the right-front tire. Toyota's > road-hazard warranty paid the $89 to replace it. This was the same tire it took toyota four days to get from a regional distribution center? I hope they'll be keeping one or two in stock from now on. As these Prius age, they'll need the frest rubber. > Day before yesterday, I hit another road hazard on the freeway, almost > in the same spot (but opposite direction) as the one in October. I [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > replaced the clips, and the shield is back in place, although cracked in > half. If those clips don't hold, I'll have the shield replaced. As a bit of advice to avoid road hazards, as taken from motorcycle and emergency vehicle operations courses: Don't follow too close. By leaving two to three seconds between you and the vehicle you're following, you give yourself time to dodge Always leave yourself an escape route by knowing where surrounding traffic is located - constantly scan your mirrors At night, don't drive beyond your ability to see and avoid hazards. > I had not had any damage to my previous car, which I had owned for 3 1/2 > years. Is my Prius jinxed or something? George W. for Emperor > This was the same tire it took toyota four days to get from a > regional distribution center? I don't know where they got it from. I brought the car in on a Saturday, and they called two local tire dealers to see whether they had any in stock. None of them had any. They had the car ready for me on Tuesday. So, it did take four calendar days, but nothing was happening on Sunday, and it was in the late afternoon when I took the car in on Saturday, so they may not have been able to order it until Monday. > Don't follow too close. By leaving two to three seconds between you > and the vehicle you're following, you give yourself time to dodge That might have helped with the Scion. Essentially, the car in front of me made a sudden lane change to the right, and there was the hazard right in front of me; car on my right, narrow shoulder on the left, and car too close behind me for me to stop. > Always leave yourself an escape route by knowing where surrounding > traffic is located - constantly scan your mirrors First incident with the Prius, I tried to do that, but when something comes flying off a truck bed and hits you a second later, there's no time to evade, and besides, it was a congested freeway--almost rush-hour congested. > At night, don't drive beyond your ability to see and avoid hazards. If the hazard is visible in the first place. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush. <snip> >As these Prius age, they'll need the frest rubber. <snip> Hey! Did you see that? Kevin used Prius as the plural! Good for you, Kevin! Rod Sounds better than Pruii or Priuses. Kinda like fish, no convenient plurals are available. KK > <snip> >>As these Prius age, they'll need the frest rubber. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Rod Multiples of fish..... SCHOOL! What all the morons who drive gas-guzzling SU-Monsters need to go to teach them what their selfish environment-destroying little penis-extenders that have little to no use except to 'DRIVE IN BIG VEHICLE' need to go to: SCHOOL! (ok, Enviro-school, but WE all live on the same planet, so we should FORCE them!) eh? eh? Sorry, been reading this NG for a long time, just needed to respond to that, since I am a bit of a fish enthusiast... Tropical-fish that is... my excuse :) Alane > Sounds better than Pruii or Priuses. Kinda like fish, no convenient > plurals are available. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >> >> Rod > Multiples of fish..... SCHOOL! A school is a grouping of fish (or "fishes" as my dictionary would have it). Is a grouping of Prius a "convoy"? And if so, is that a convoy of Prius, of Priuses, of Prii...? Dang - full circle again! Mike The wonderful thing about this country is that people can drive whatever they want. Freedom of choice is a perogative, even if you make the "wrong choice." While my wife's Prius is an ideal vehicle for her, my Chrysler LHS (22 MPG Ave) is ideal for me. I am 6'6" tall and when I asked Toyota if they could move the seat rails on both driver and passenger side back three inches they acted like I had grown an extra eyeball in the center of my forehead. I only drive my Chrysler about 3500 miles per year compared to my wife's 18500 miles per year, so it works well for us. I wish everyone would make gas saving choices, but as long as there is free choice in the marketplace, there will be people who choose ten MPG SU-Monsters. > Multiples of fish..... SCHOOL! > [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >>> >>> Rod > I am 6'6" tall and when I asked Toyota if they could move the seat > rails on both driver and passenger side back three inches they acted > like I had grown an extra eyeball in the center of my forehead. With all the electronics in and under the seats, I can understand why they wouldn't/couldn't do that. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush. I just wish the majority of people that I see picking up two bags of groceries in a super-extendo Chevy Mega-Petro-sucker had this kind of vision. I get into this arguement with a lot of people that are trying to 'defend' their choice in vehicles. I usually hear that "Well, I have a trailer for my horses that I need to haul 3-4 times a year" or, "Hey, I have kids that need to be hauled from point A to point B...bla..bla..bla..." (and they don't live in a war zone, only in 'Springfield') My sister's family raised one group with a Toyota Camry as their main vehicle (and a Toyota truck as the hauler...on a side note, one of the 'kids' (he's like 27 now) still has the thing, is approaching 300K miles, and after two accidents too!), and even now raising another kid (long story) with a Sienna Symphony minivan... and gets the job done as SoccerMom, runs stuff with her church, and really does not need a monster anything to get the job done. Sorry for the pissy attitude in the first post. It's just a main pet peeve of mine to see people that have so much disdain (shall I say HATRED?!?!) for their own planet, environment and just common sense in general to drive things like Hummers for no reason more than to say "Hey, I have more money than brains, and I don't give a sh.t about anything but myself!" OK, back to lurk mode.... until I am needed again.:) Alane > The wonderful thing about this country is that people can drive whatever > they want. Freedom of choice is a perogative, even if you make the "wrong [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] >>>> >>>> Rod >I just wish the majority of people that I see picking up two bags of >groceries in a super-extendo Chevy Mega-Petro-sucker had this kind of [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > Alane It's going to be hard to get rid of our full size Volvo wagon. It isn't the sheer capacity that is important, but the ability to hold long or large objects. In the past month, ours has brought home a 35" tv (tight squeeze, there), two furniture boxes that hadn't a prayer of fitting into our Prius, and a Christmas tree. It also carried two loads of trash to the dump. But most of the time I use it for my 3 mile commute - bicycle in summer, 20 mpg wagon in winter. Same applies at work. I don't usually need a 10 mpg 4X4 F350, and I wish I had something more civilized to take down the long highways. A lot of my sites are more than a hundred miles by paved road. But once I get off road, especially to some of the sites where the 4X4 is barely adequate, or carrying large equipment, there is no substitute. My point is that it isn't always practical to use a small car for the normal stuff and have a workhorse for when it is needed. Vehicles are expensive to own and maintain, and they have to be insured whether they are used once a day or once a month. It is presumptious (and uncharitable) of us to judge people when we see an under-utilized vehicle. My neighbor has eight children, and I sure don't begrudge them their Suburban even when they are going to the store alone. Mike On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 08:54:54 -0700, "Michael Pardee" >It's going to be hard to get rid of our full size Volvo wagon. It isn't the >sheer capacity that is important, but the ability to hold long or large >objects. I brought home the Christmas tree in the Prius and closed the hatch completely. I did, of course, have it wrapped in a plastic sheet to not get stickey sap everywhere. It did come up to the front of the car, but it did fit. > On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 08:54:54 -0700, "Michael Pardee" >>It's going to be hard to get rid of our full size Volvo wagon. It isn't [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > not get stickey sap everywhere. It did come up to the front of the > car, but it did fit. That's good to know - we have hopes of being able to get a new Prius in addition to our 2002 a little while after our daughter is out of college and away from home :-) Of course, there won't be any trees carried in our 2002... maybe on top. Or maybe bonsais. Or those little car fresheners. Mike > Of course, there won't be any trees carried in our > 2002... maybe on top. Or maybe bonsais. Or those little car fresheners. How about shoe trees? SignatureMike Rosenberg <http://www.macconsult.com> Macintosh consulting services for NE Florida <http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart Just an oddity, but worth telling... My son was driving his Acura back to Flagstaff from Phoenix earlier this week. Just before sundown he was on the freeway north of Phoenix when he saw something emerging from under the truck in front of him and rolling right at him. He had just enough time to try to straddle whatever it was when it hit with an enormous bang! He got off the road and found something like a brake drum jammed in the front air inlet opening. He couldn't dislodge it, but it stopped a couple inches short of penetrating the A/C condensor so he drove the rest of the way home that way. It took two of us struggling to spread the opening and wrench the debris out. Sometimes I think clean underwear should be part of road emergency kits. Mike > In July, I was driving my partner's Scion xB and hit a road hazard (a > tire in the road); the damage to front and back bumpers and part of the [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > I had not had any damage to my previous car, which I had owned for 3 1/2 > years. Is my Prius jinxed or something? > My son was driving his Acura back to Flagstaff from Phoenix earlier > this week. Just before sundown he was on the freeway north of Phoenix > when he saw something emerging from under the truck in front of him > and rolling right at him. I-17, same freeway where I had my accident, but mine was at about Indian School Road. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush. |
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