Today I found out that my car will live to see another day (and hopefully several more years!).
The assessor says that the water level was 2 inches under what is considered disasterous. It did not quite reach the computer and did not get into the engine. So, after a whole new carpet and new seats (the back ones got wet when the front end was raised for towing) the car should be good to go.
I thought I would be angry about this.
On Sunday I had persuaded myself that an $11,000 payout would be a bonus and that with hubby going away, being minus one car would be no big deal. That was until I got the hire car!!!
See my little Focus (although a magnet of disaster that people seem to like crashing into!!!) is not an automatic.......it is a manual (stick shift). I hate automatic cars....... the only people who drive auto's in England seem to be the elderly or disabled. I like to keep busy while driving and having to change gear keeps my concentration levels up. Also, in a manual, I know that if something happens to the brakes, I can stop the car by changing down through the gears then gently applying the hand brake. How do you do this in an auto???? It just does not seem safe to me, and besides, manuals get much better gas mileage.
So when we discussed the possibility of it being written off, the plan was to bank the cash. Then when he returned from deployment and we moved to the new base, we would trade his car in and buy a hybrid something or other to share. Trouble is, it would have to be an auto as hubby never really learned to drive a manual and I'm sure he would burn out clutches at a rapid rate.
Seemed like a good plan until the hire car firm gave me an auto to drive.
They fixed me up with a Toy Motor Camry (sorry.....Toyota - just can't help myself!) and actually, although a little cheap looking on the interior, it's not a bad car.
But as I have been going about my daily business I have realized that the lurching motion that occurs when the car changes gear makes me feel sea sick........very.....very......very sea sick. So much so that today, when I arrived at work, my staff told me my face looked green and I had to make a mad dash to the bathrooms, just in case!!!
The very thought of having to make another journey in this car petrifies me. I want my Focus back.......NOW!
It may not be the best car on the planet, nor the fastest, or the cutest, but it is mine. It does exactly what I need it to do (at least it does when I don't park it in a flood zone in heavy rain!) and doesn't make me feel ill.
The insurance company says it should be fixed by Monday or Tuesday...........until then the only journeys I will be making will be to and from work!
