Car saga

As of this afternoon, I'm happy to report that we are once again a two car family. It is kind of a relief to say that. 

So first there was the accident that I told you about where Y. and I were t-boned but thankfully walked away. I can't say that the car was as lucky. (This would be our good car, the newer one, the one we were still paying off.) After much wrangling with the insurance company, it was finally deemed totalled.

In the interim, we were making do with just the van. When you are not within walking distance of anything and your husband works a half an hour drive away, this can be challenging. We were making it work. 

But then... did I tell you about the van brakes? I honestly can't remember. I'll tell you again, just in case because it's part of the saga. I was driving G., L., and Y. somewhere and I stepped on the brake. When I stepped on the brake, it did that horrible thing where your foot goes to the floor but the van doesn't slow down. I released the brake and tried again, and this time they caught. Thank goodness! Two auto mishaps in one month is two too many, and it just about pushed Y. over the edge. There was somewhere I could turn around, and we drive very slowly back home.

Now we were at zero cars. Not good.

A friend offered us the temporary use of one of his cars which we greatfully accepted. J. driving the borrowed car and the van in the shop (again... remember this was the vehicle where we had to replace the entire fuel line earlier in the spring) was how things were when I left for England. While I was in England, J. heard the news about the van. It needed new brakes, which wasn't a huge surprise. Cars really do need brakes, so we had them repaired and said goodbye to the tax refund which had just arrived. 

After I returned home, the insurance agency finally gave us the numbers for the totalled car. The good news was it would pay off the car loan and leave us some. The bad news is that "some" was really hardly anything. Not really even enough to be a decent down payment on a used car. 

J. kept looking around and found a used car being sold privately that the small amount would cover. It is older and has quite a few miles on it, but it runs. It also means we don't have a car loan to pay and we can go back to both of us being able to go places. There were a couple of times this past week where it would have been really nice to take the children who were at very loose ends somewhere, anywhere. I'm glad we have another car, but boy, I really dislike having to need cars. 

Here's the new vehicle.