Patience is Wearing Thin...

It's been a little while since I did a legitimate post (aside from that one about the American car companies, which I actually wrote last week). However, that's not to say that things haven't been happening. This past Friday, Blue started to really have some problems and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I was set to drive up to my hometown of Hayward Wisconsin for an event called The Lumberjack World Championships for a small business opportunity right after I got off of work. However, Ol' Blue had other plans.

I left my house a few minutes early and had got no more than 2 blocks from my driveway when I heard the metal against pavement and I knew it was time to stop. I hopped out onto the rain-soaked street and saw that the rearmost two-thirds of my exhaust and muffler system were no longer attached. Balancing myself by hanging onto the passenger side door handle in attempts to stay off the wet road, I grabbed the loose pipe and jammed it back onto its proper seating and optimistically drove off again to work.

One block later, my optimism vanished. The pipe came off again, grinding against the pavement, and I returned home in hopes of making a temporary repair. I again returned the pipe to it's intended position and used a length of baling wire to fasten it to the undercarriage. This worked pretty well but I knew it wasn't going to be enough. As suspected, the pipe came off again but it fortunately didn't meet the pavement as the wire was keeping it suspended above the ground. Noise, however was a factor.

When I got to my office, I waited to run to the hardware store across the street and came back with a muffler clamp that has since been pretty effective. However, upon installing the clamp, I decided to fire up Blue and let the battery charge for a bit. Ol' Blue wasn't having any of it as the starter finally gave up the ghost. Needless to say, my language at that point became a little vulgar.

Long story short, I got Blue fixed over the weekend for about $200. I figure it's worth it as the damn thing has to be running in order for it to qualify for the CARS program. Spend $200 to get $4500, makes pretty good sense to me.

However, this brings up an interesting wrinkle to the CARS initiative. How many people like me (I know of at least one other for sure) have had to make last minute repairs to their vehicles to just keep them running long enough to get onto the dealership lot? One thing I've read is that you can negotiate the scrap value of your car with the dealer in terms of what your bottom line will be when purchasing the new vehicle. Dealers can sell off certain, usable parts of the cars before they're destroyed and I'm sure a lot of "new" parts are being installed in these clunkers at the moment. Be sure to ask about that when you trade in yours, I know that at the very least, Ol' Blue is worth a good starter. Read more!

The American Car Companies Finally Enter the Ring

I'd made mention before that in my search for the ultimate Ol' Blue replacement, the Asian car manufacturers were coming out waaaay ahead of the American companies that are in so much trouble. Well, Chrysler appears to finally be getting message that they better do something to compete. I just caught wind that they're willing to offer ANOTHER $4,500 in cash allowances to people buying Chrysler products. Simply put, this means I could get a $9,000 trade in value for a truck that is worth barely $1,500 on the street. God Bless America!

I called my local Chrysler/Dodge dealer and asked which cars they have that qualify for the C4C program and he rattled off a list that included the Dodge Caliber, Dodge Avenger, Chrysler Sebring, and something called the "Patriot". Of these, I'm probably most interested in the Caliber as it's the most cheaply priced and has some legit cargo space being a hatchback type vehicle. It's tough to say whether or not buying a lower rated vehicle will be worth it in the long run, but we'll see. Read more!

Damn You, Joe Mazan

You have made a fool of me for the first and last time.

/slowly clenches fist in a dramatic fashion.

In actuality, those guys were pretty good sports and I was willing to act the fool a bit. But seriously, they did edit that shit to make it sound like I'm not one smoothed out player who knows how to get his, and that's just not true. What I did say was that, when you drive around a heap like Ol' Blue, you're game has to be even sharper, and I'm not hurting in that department. Fuckers. He who laughs last, has his foot in yo' ass. That'll be me.

On the car-search front, I'm making some strides with the local dealers about a few different models. I wont get into the hairy details, but I really want to make them bend over backwards to get my business. Perhaps that could be best done with an American car dealer, but from what I've seen so far, they're more expensive and rate out shitty in comparison to the Japanese and Korean cars. I guess that's why they're all up shit creek now.


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The Ol' Blue Publicity Machine Rolls On

Most of you readers (if there are in fact any readers) already know that Minnesota Public Radio did a story on my taking part in the government CARS program. That aired this morning apparently (here's the link, audio hopefully forthcoming, don't look at my belly)and on the heels of that piece, I got contacted by the local ABC affiliate, KSTP. They're doing a similar story for the evening news and caught my name on the MPR website. This is getting kind of crazy.


I never would have guessed that I would have been singled out for this kind of thing, but now that it's happening, I'm loving every second of it. Joe and KSTP were a little more light-hearted than Marty from MPR which was to be expected. This was far from the first time I'd been on TV, but usually those appearances came as a result of Lumberjack stuff, but I digress. Read more!

The Lady is Compliant

After some thought, I finally gave the other party a call regarding the accident and what ought to take place from here on out. The conversation was extremely amicable and I think we're well on our way to a resolution. Maybe I'm a little too forgiving, but based on what she told me, she doesn't have a ton of money to throw around to make this problem go away and really I just want to cover my hardship for now having to find a new car.

I should probably refrain from going into specifics on a public weblog, so I wont talk numbers, but i think when it's all said and done, I can almost get a new car for free. If that's the case, I don't give a rats ass what I get, so long as it's free.

So far, I think the Hyundai Accent is the cheapest new car available. It starts at just under $10k. As stripped down as it may be, if it's free, it's for me.


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The Numbers Are In: Damage Estimate Entering Ri-donk-ulous Proportions

The reality of my collision-mate not having insurance has necessitated that I take matters into my own hands. Step one was getting an estimate on repairs for Ol' Blue. Step two will be contacting Ms. Inattentive Driver and seeing just what she's prepared to pay out to make this matter go away. Step three will be either cashing her check, or giving her some hell in small claims court. That last one depends on what happens in step two of course.


As far as step one goes, I took Blue down to Lehman's Garage in Bloomington today and have them size up the situation. Jim, the gentleman that gave me the quote was a pretty nice guy. He looked Blue over while I finished my lunch and when he came back, he had kind of a funny look on his face. He handed me the estimate sheet and simultaneously said, "It's pretty high".

Ok now, prepare yourselves.

Seven thousand three hundred seventy four dollars and ninety two cents, or $7374.92

I love Blue, I really do. But he is not worth seven thousand dollars even in prison. Just not so.

So what this does, at least from what I can tell, is give me a big number to leverage against her for payment. I paid less than $2,000 for the vehicle and probably put in another $600 over the course of the year for repairs and maintenance. Needless to say, were I to get what I paid for the car and then some after driving it for a year, I'd be elated.

Time to put the ball in her court.






And here is the rest of it.


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Uninsured Motorists Can Suck It.

I fully realize that this situation may be interesting only to me, but I must say it does get more complicated seemingly by the day. When I filed my claim with Geico (my insurance company) they told me they would contact her insurance company (State Farm) and they would likely be getting in touch with me to get my story. Geico also told me that if I didn't hear from State Farm in a day or so, to give them a call.

Which brings us to today.
There was a specific reason they weren't calling and it was because whatserface is no longer one of their policy holders. Simply put, this ain't their problem. I called them and they told me that at one point she did have a policy, but thanks to non-payments, it was terminated. Great.

So I called Geico and they pretty much told me the same thing. I only have liability coverage for Ol' Blue so there's really no claim I can make for anything whatsoever. Kind of a sack of downers because I think there really could be some necessary repairs in order to keep Blue going for the next few weeks, but in light of my original plan this doesn't change very much.

So now, my only course of action is to get an appraisal on what it would take to make the repairs and then send her that estimate. If it's not dealt with, then we sick the dogs on her, and by dogs I mean the law.

What makes it so weird is that it was she, not I, that called the police immediately and brought them into the equation. I would have happily settled this away from all insurance and/or authoritative agencies, but that's not what's happening now and so be it.

Either way, I'm going to get mine.

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Things Do Not Look (or Sound...or Smell) Good

So a couple of days removed from the accident and Blue is still running. However, it's not a matter of "if" he's going to give up the ghost, it's "when".

Since the accident I've noticed some serious issues. First, the alignment was knocked all kittywampus so much so that when I want to go straight, I'm basically turning the wheel to the right about a whole quarter-turn.

Secondly, I've noticed that at stop lights the refreshing aroma of exhaust fumes are creeping up into the cab. Not a huge deal as I'm usually moving fast enough to keep them out but I can see where that may be dangerous. My dad recommended just crawling under there and inspecting for leaks along the exhaust line, and then patching it with a beer can. I really like this idea but I doubt that I'll carry it out.

Third, the impact from the other lady's car mashed up my rear gas cap (there's two tanks) pretty good. I don't think I'll be able to fill it with a normal fuel-nozzle and perhaps more importantly I noticed some seepage coming from around the cap area. I'm not expert, but I'm pretty sure when you have liquid fuel escaping from the car, that's not a good thing.

So, it would seem that the money coming for Ol' Blue couldn't come at a better time. He's on his last legs for sure and I'm going to need reliable transportation very soon.
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Possible Interview with Minnesota Public Radio Forthcoming

About a week or so ago, I posted a picture of Ol' Blue to a website www.cashforclunkersfacts.com. They have something called the "National Clunker Memorial Gallery" where people can post pictures of their trade-in or intended trade-in. I thought this to be a fitting tribute for my clunker and decided to submit the photo you'll undoubtedly see on this page.

Shortly after my aforementioned accident, I received an email on my Blackberry notifying me that a gentleman, Martin Moylan from Minnesota Public Radio, was interested in talking to me about the truck and my intended participation in the Cash for Clunkers program. This, of course came as no surprise to me as Blue's star-quality is undeniable. Not too much more to say about it, but Marty is coming to my office (Shameless Plug #3 for http://thebeanbagstore.com/)later today to record some audio. I'll let you know how it turns out. Read more!

UPDATE: OL' BLUE INVOLVED IN HIGHWAY ACCIDENT!!!

Ok, everybody just take a deep breath and try to calm down. I'm fine, Blue still runs (thank God)and I think everything will work out for the best. Allow me to explain what happened and what it could mean for my Cash 4 Clunkers experience.

I spent the weekend over in my hometown of Hayward Wisconsin, also the hometown of Ol' Blue. Coming back early on Monday morning, I got into an accident that really could have been bad, but thankfully didn't end up causing a whole lot of damage to either me or him. I attached a picture of him right there, it's kind of grainy and you can't really see too much damage, but suffice to say, he's seen better days.

I was traveling south on Highway 63 and a lady driving a Blazer was coming from the other direction. She made an abrupt turn in front of me without signaling and using my cat-like reflexes and uncanny speed, I braked and swerved to evade her. She had other ideas though and actually COMPLETED HER TURN right into my left-rear quarter panel and sent me rocketing into a cornfield, taking out a highway sign on my way. I came to a stop and tried to exit my vehicle, but because the frame had bent slightly, the door was a little sticky. I muscled my way out and checked to see that the other driver was ok, and she was. She called the police and we made the necessary reports and so forth.

Ultimately, I was able to drive Ol' Blue out of that corn field and back onto the highway, a true testament to the older vehicles and their high consistency of steel. He's looking a little worse for wear now though and I can't help but feel like he just wants to be put to sleep. I'm hoping that's still possible through the C4C program.

See, if he had got knocked out of commission permanently, I don't think he'd qualify for the program and there's no way I'd get any kind of insurance payout equal to what the U.S. Government is willing to pay. In short, I'd be uber-pissed.

So, now claims have been filed, reports have been made, and it's kind of up to State Farm and Geico to figure out what happens next. I certainly don't want to make any repairs on a truck that's going to get squashed after I turn it in, so if I can squeeze just a few more weeks out of him, I should be gravy.

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What I'm Doing and Why I'm Doing It

My name is Jesse and I own a government certified "clunker". More specifically its an electric blue 1994 Ford F150 (right) that I've affectionately named "Ol' Blue". I bought this monster just about a year ago when I made a move from the island of Oahu (Hawaii) back to the mainland United States, or "the real United States" and have been driving it since. Although a bit rusty, kind of bent up, and rides like hell, it's been a pretty solid vehicle. "Good enough for who it's for" I like to say and at the time of my purchase, a solid pickup was all my needs required for transportation.

Now, however, Blue really isn't fitting into my lifestyle. I commute 5 times a week to my office (Shameless business plug #1: Totally Kids fun furniture & toys located in Bloomington, MN right by the Mall of America)which is about 18 miles away from where I currently stay. So, on average I'm driving a minimum of 180-200 miles a week. Ol' Blue gets about 14 miles per gallon on his best day and it doesn't take long to figure out that this is not my best transportation option.

Enter: "Cash For Clunkers:


In case you don't already know, "Cash For Clunkers" is a law that is designed to get gas guzzlers off the road and promote the sale of new, more fuel efficient cars. A person driving, say, a rusty old pickup truck, can trade that in and get up to $4,500 towards the purchase of the new car. There's a number of requirements that must be met in order to qualify, and if you do, then it could be a great opportunity(the official site of this program is cars.gov and all the info you should need is there).

When I first caught wind of this being a possibility, I was skeptical that it would ever come to fruition. But as time went by and the bill gained momentum, I started to look towards the future in which this might actually happen. I still have to wait another month until I've owned Ol' Blue for a full year (one of the stipulations of qualifying) so right now I'm in full investigation mode. I'm certain there will be wrinkles and unforeseen challenges in actually making this happen and my intent is to share them all here as they happen. If there are any other people out there considering taking part in this program, it's my hope that this can be a resource and a forum for people to share some info.

So, in closing, I'm not completely sure that after its all said and done, that trading in my old truck for a new car is going to be financially reasonable (a problem that could be facing a lot of people eligible for the CARS program) and I hope to map out that situation as well. In the end, I do hope to send Blue's rusty old ass down the river and on to the big parking lot in the sky, but if not, we'll learn some things along the way.

I'm going to give a shout-out one more time to my employer, they are somewhat funding this.
http://thebeanbagstore.com/


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