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Trek Wreck, 107th Journal
10 years ago
This is my head.
Oh heck, my trek home ended in a wreck but don't fret, it wasn't that much pain in the neck. Yeah, a few weeks ago, an old lady turned in front of me at an intersection that resulted in quite a bother which left both cars in sad state of affairs. Nobody got injured but my '90 Mustang took the blunt of the hit on the front driver side fender, busting up the headlight and bending the radiator support, shoving it back and about a half an inch to the side. The other car's front bumper got sheared off in a shower of plastic parts flying everywhere. We ended up side to side. I don't think she even braked by the way she reved her engine during the hit. I assume her foot was still planted on the accelerator. The cops determined she was at fault as I have the green light and she didn't have the protective green on the turn. Luckily She has insurance so I was hoping they would take care of it.
The insurance adjuster gave an estimate for the damage and it was high enough to total the car. I really didn't want to lose it but the amount they paid out was way over what I expected (a good deal over the repair estimate too). I was afraid I was going to be short changed but pleasantly surprised.
The insurance company provided a rental but by the time I got the payout, I only had a few days left on it and getting the Mustang back on the road would take me time. I could slap it back together over the weekend but I decided to get a newer mode of transportation. I been looking at cars for sale on the net in the meantime and bit the bullet.
I went looking for something with more carrying capacity or at least the same as my Mustang, which has a hatchback, something like a mid-sized SUV or the like. But the prices for a newer model was a bit too high for my taste. The rental from the insurance company was a Ford Focus and it drove well enough with tight steering and good but a bit grabby brakes. The acceleration suck to high hell being a four-banger (I am so used to V8s) but it was adequate for going from point A to B with decent gas mileage. Ford makes a hatchback version (which I liked for the versatility) of it so I looked at those as well.
The prices on those are much closer to my comfort level so I 'focused' my search on them. So on Saturday, I went to a dealership that has a 2013 Gray Focus SE hatchback with 34k miles that pique my interest. It was across town though. Even though the website says it was still available, by the time I got there, it was gone. But they did have another gray hatchback but a 2014 SE model with 14k miles. The price was a little high but the lower miles and year newer made up for it. The CarFax came back stating that vehicle was involved in 2 minor accidents but didn't say what exactly happened and location of the damages. That worried me a bit so I felt it didn't hurt to investigate the lot some more.
They also had a 2012 SEL model with the digger 17" wheels, 4-wheel disk brakes along other upgrades. The problem with it was beaten to hell with over 65k miles. Too bad as it was a little cheaper than the 14k one. The salesman found a racy red model but I am not too hot on that color. He also had a white one with 10k miles. However, it was a rental and was in bad shape though not as bad as the SEL model. So I went back to the 14k and we went back and forth on the pricing. Got them to come down as much as I could. Based on the NADA rates, I did ok, not spectacular. I would have looked some more but time was short (didn't let the sales guy know that) and decided to buy that one.
So I am now a "proud" owner of a metallic gray 2014 Ford Focus SE hatchback with 14k miles. Well, not super proud but that is the newest vehicle I owned, almost new even. My brother used to work at a body shop and he looked to see how bad the damage it suffered. He found that it had been hit in the rear and had the rear bumper area worked on. The work seemed to be well done as he could only tell that anything had happened there is by the looks of one of the spot-welds and slight wrinkling of a sheet metal panel under the car. He felt it might had been a dealership repair as it was good work. The only other visible damage was the the front bumper toward the bottom. It appears the previous owner bumped into a into a post at low speed and pushed it in right on the edge. It was largely cosmetic though. Everything else was clean and it has the factory certification, meaning it has 7-year/100k mile warranty on the drivetrain. I also opted for the extra warranty that covers all mechanical and electrical problems over the same time/miles period with a $50 deductible. If I am going to spend that kind of money on this, might as well go all the way and cover everything.
So there you go, if you see a dragon driving down the street with his head sticking out of the sunroof of a Gray Focus, give a wave as it might be me. Anyway, I wonder who actually finished reading this long sordid tome of woe on the go. Anyone left? *Knocks on the screen.* No one? Humpf. Oh well. At least I wrote something, a rarity these days.
The insurance adjuster gave an estimate for the damage and it was high enough to total the car. I really didn't want to lose it but the amount they paid out was way over what I expected (a good deal over the repair estimate too). I was afraid I was going to be short changed but pleasantly surprised.
The insurance company provided a rental but by the time I got the payout, I only had a few days left on it and getting the Mustang back on the road would take me time. I could slap it back together over the weekend but I decided to get a newer mode of transportation. I been looking at cars for sale on the net in the meantime and bit the bullet.
I went looking for something with more carrying capacity or at least the same as my Mustang, which has a hatchback, something like a mid-sized SUV or the like. But the prices for a newer model was a bit too high for my taste. The rental from the insurance company was a Ford Focus and it drove well enough with tight steering and good but a bit grabby brakes. The acceleration suck to high hell being a four-banger (I am so used to V8s) but it was adequate for going from point A to B with decent gas mileage. Ford makes a hatchback version (which I liked for the versatility) of it so I looked at those as well.
The prices on those are much closer to my comfort level so I 'focused' my search on them. So on Saturday, I went to a dealership that has a 2013 Gray Focus SE hatchback with 34k miles that pique my interest. It was across town though. Even though the website says it was still available, by the time I got there, it was gone. But they did have another gray hatchback but a 2014 SE model with 14k miles. The price was a little high but the lower miles and year newer made up for it. The CarFax came back stating that vehicle was involved in 2 minor accidents but didn't say what exactly happened and location of the damages. That worried me a bit so I felt it didn't hurt to investigate the lot some more.
They also had a 2012 SEL model with the digger 17" wheels, 4-wheel disk brakes along other upgrades. The problem with it was beaten to hell with over 65k miles. Too bad as it was a little cheaper than the 14k one. The salesman found a racy red model but I am not too hot on that color. He also had a white one with 10k miles. However, it was a rental and was in bad shape though not as bad as the SEL model. So I went back to the 14k and we went back and forth on the pricing. Got them to come down as much as I could. Based on the NADA rates, I did ok, not spectacular. I would have looked some more but time was short (didn't let the sales guy know that) and decided to buy that one.
So I am now a "proud" owner of a metallic gray 2014 Ford Focus SE hatchback with 14k miles. Well, not super proud but that is the newest vehicle I owned, almost new even. My brother used to work at a body shop and he looked to see how bad the damage it suffered. He found that it had been hit in the rear and had the rear bumper area worked on. The work seemed to be well done as he could only tell that anything had happened there is by the looks of one of the spot-welds and slight wrinkling of a sheet metal panel under the car. He felt it might had been a dealership repair as it was good work. The only other visible damage was the the front bumper toward the bottom. It appears the previous owner bumped into a into a post at low speed and pushed it in right on the edge. It was largely cosmetic though. Everything else was clean and it has the factory certification, meaning it has 7-year/100k mile warranty on the drivetrain. I also opted for the extra warranty that covers all mechanical and electrical problems over the same time/miles period with a $50 deductible. If I am going to spend that kind of money on this, might as well go all the way and cover everything.
So there you go, if you see a dragon driving down the street with his head sticking out of the sunroof of a Gray Focus, give a wave as it might be me. Anyway, I wonder who actually finished reading this long sordid tome of woe on the go. Anyone left? *Knocks on the screen.* No one? Humpf. Oh well. At least I wrote something, a rarity these days.
I did notice that my car does drive a little differently than the rental I had. Seems to rev a little higher but that could be in my head. One thing I do know is there is that it doesn't have a faint whistling sound of the rental. I guess it had a small air leak or something. I heard rentals get treated badly and maybe something happened to it.
The car I got does have a sunroof, which usually doesn't come standard on the SE model. I probably won't use it much. Nice to have though but I am concerned about potential leaks and all that. At least I can poke my horns out it.
I am used to the hatchback of the Stang and am glad to find another car with that option. I like the utility of it. Besides, much easier to dump bodies back there. Looks like I can get at least two of them if not three if I jam them hard enough. I also like the rear wiper. Seems that area gets dusty quick however. I believe there is a downdraft of air there with quite a bit of turbulence, causing dirt and dust to collect on the back window and hatch. I had been raining a couple of days and the dirt seems to stay there instead of washing off like the rest of the car. That is something I'll have to attend to often I guess. The small, so-called spoiler on the roof rear didn't help.
Overall, I am happy with it. Well, so far anyway.
I can't say that I've driven a new car (as my own) before. Hopefully the newer features do you some good. For me, I just need something that gets me from point A to B that also plays music.
You should hop on IRC more often, by the way!
Having a newer car is certainly nice though I am so used to V8s. But it does get to point A to B and plays my mp3s. The sound system needs a few upgrades like a subwoofer as the low end is week. Maybe some mid-ranges as well. Hopefully it won't be a nightmare interfacing with the stock audio system. Even though I am an electrical engineer, I don't want to chop up the wiring to get into it. It does have a line in but I hope there is a line out signal I can get at somewhere. Factory systems are notorious for being non-standard for no good reason. But that is something for the future.