There is a big push going on right now between, State Farm, Progressive, Geico, Allstate and Nationwide Insurance. The TV is flooded by their wacky and unusual commercials for home, auto and life insurance. Geico almost always gets me going, but some of them are totally off the wall! Let the insurance wars begin…..
My wife had accepted a mystery shopping assignment to do a mystery shop at our local Jiffy Lube last weekend. She had her misgivings about doing it; the last time she had her oil changed there they had tried to convince her to buy a new battery and she didn’t need one. But she accepted the assignment because they DID pay for the entire oil change (which after all is around $40!) They advised her that she needed new windshield wipers, so I went ahead and replaced them yesterday for her. The wipers we bought were the Rain-X brand. Today my wife was driving the car in the rain and she tells me that for the very first time ever she was actually able to see through the windshield during the rain without a lot of streaking!
Go figure, it finally rains and I had to leave the windows down in my truck last night. At least they were not all the way down and we didn’t get a huge down pour, but my butt was on the damp side when I showed up for work this morning.
The last twenty four hours have not been good ones for my wife. On her way home from work last night she got a flat tire. She called AAA and they came out and changed the tire for her. Thank goodness for AAA! It was late at night and I sure didn’t want to have to deal with it! So this morning I dealt with getting a new tire for the car (the old tire was ruined) and she took our other car to work today. But on the way to work, THAT car had a flat tire! One thing is for sure – I’m not letting her near my truck anytime soon!
When my kids first got their driver’s licenses, my wife immediately bought for them a membership in our roadside assistance club. We feel that it is a good idea to do that because the membership covers the driver no matter what vehicle the driver is using – even if the vehicle does not belong to the driver! We’ve had the need to have a jump start or a tow often enough to pay for the membership, so it is worth the expense.
I’ve always preferred Chevrolet and GMC over a Ford product. I think it was probably because my father used to tell me that Chevrolet and GMC were built better than a Ford, and that only poor people drove a Ford. But I have to admit that the commercials that I see on television for the Ford F-150 really do make that truck sound very appealing! I was talking to Ray last week about his opinion of what he thinks the best made truck is. Ray is my “go to guy” when I can’t fix a vehicle myself. He’s owned and operated his own auto shop behind his house ever since we were in our early 20′s.
In my opinion, there isn’t much that Ray can’t fix. So when I gave up trying to get the check engine light to stop coming on in my wife’s Lumina I brought it to Ray. He says I need to put in a new oxygen sensor soon, but it’s nothing urgent. I’m really glad that I’ve been buddies with Ray since we were kids; we barter a lot of our work with each other. Ray told me that he’s listed on the repairpal.com website’s now, and is getting a lot of business from that listing. Ray says that the repairpal website helps people locate mechanics and auto shops anywhere in the country; if you need to find a San Diego auto repair or an Augusta Maine auto repair, that is the website to go to!
I have to say that I’m always surprised when I go out on the road and see a luxury car like the Rolls-Royce Phantom out on the road! In fact, in this economy, I’m even surprised to see a Jeep Patriot out on the road.
I hear so many people complain about how bad the economy is, but they seem to find the money to go and buy (and gas up) the cars they love just the same! For example, my nephew was asking me what I thought a fair Toyota 4runner price is because he thinks that he wants to buy one! I hear that car sales are slumping, but you couldn’t prove it by me!
And just last week my next door neighbor was telling me that he was looking into the toyota yaris price. He wants to buy one for his wife sometime this summer. He’s expecting a pay raise and a bonus and he hopes to use it to buy her a new car.
I admire the sentiment, but right now I think that counting your chickens before they hatch can be a big mistake! I hope he doesn’t put a down payment on the car before he gets that raise and bonus in his hands! After all, a car is to get you from Point A to Point B. A new car IS a luxury that many of us can’t afford right now.
One of the things that I’ve always worried about when traveling, is having a car break-down while on the road. Although I’m always careful to make sure that the car is in the best possible shape before taking a trip, making sure to give it a fresh oil change and making sure that it won’t need a brake job during the trip, there simply are times that unforeseen things happen. And before you know it, you find yourself in need of finding a reputable Houston auto repair shop to take your Acura TL for emergency repairs!
I’ve seen too many stories on television about repair shops taking advantage of the out-of-towner who needs something done quickly while on a vacation to want to be in that kind of a helpless situation – being at the mercy of someone who might be well-known locally for being disreputable, but completely unknown to me. That’s why I think that the Internet makes it easier to find good help in situations like that. For example, the repairpal.com website will help the consumer to find reputable repair shops around the country, and even give you an idea of how much the repair should cost. Armed with this information, it should make it harder for the disreputable folks to take advantage of the traveler in need.
A couple of months ago Mark was involved in a car accident. The accident wasn’t his fault, but his insurance company decided to drop him anyway! I thought that was completely outrageous! So I’ve been trying to help him find a new cheap auto insurance policy. In this day and age you really need to have good coverage on your car! The state requires everyone to have their vehicles insured in order to get their cars registered. Once an insurance company drops you though, it gets a lot more difficult to get any kind of auto insurance, let alone cheap auto insurance. One of the first things the agents ask you is you have been dropped by another company! What a nightmare that can be!
Whenever I have some free time I like to go online and read up on what’s new in the world of cars, trucks, and motorcycles. These are things that I have had a keen interest in ever since I was a young boy. As a teenager I spent many hours under the hood, of a car – either my own car, my father’s ford mustang, or a friend’s jeep. I was always so excited whenever my father let me help him change the oil on his mustang – afterwards he’d take me for a spin in it down to the local ice cream parlor for a sweet treat.
I’ve been thinking about the chevy avalanche specs I was reading – I’m hoping to buy a new pick-up in the near future, and my heart has always belonged to Chevy or GMC trucks. If I were in the market for a car, though, I’d want to give the honda crosstour a test drive. I’ve heard that it handles well and gets good mileage, too. There are so many great sounding cars out there it’s hard to make a decision!
