Pages

Thursday 7 October 2010

Things That Go Bump..

Into my car! While we away last week i was phoning home every day just to check up everthing was OK, as you do, on the Thursday night my daughter asked me if i wanted the bad news.. as you can imagine everything raced through my head at those words, what i wasn't expecting was "someone's run into your car mum" That would have been bad enough, but i have had this car (a super duper Mini Cooper s, bright yellow in colour and complete with racing stripes!!) for less than a month.
~~~~~~~~~~
This is the best photo i could come up with which resembled my car. The difference being, mine has white wing mirrors and normal alloys, not silver.
(this one i've uploaded though looks more like a dinky car, don't you think?)
Luckily (if you can call it that) it was the fault of a neighbour 2 doors up and she wrote all her insurance details, date and time it happened down a gave them to Stevie.
Now, we live on a very steep hill, so i assumed she had parked behind my car and rolled when she pulled away, but no, she had parked outside her own house, gone in home and when she looked out of the window, no car, she must have forgotten to put the handbrake on and it rolled down the hill colliding with the back end of my car on the way!
The damage is not too bad, the bumper will have to be replaced and the little black grill, but apparently the damage on hers is much worse, i haven't seen.

However, as if that wasn't bad enough, i needed to go and get some food supplies in on Tuesday afternoon after getting back from the airport very early hours Tuesday morning, but my car wouldn't start, after calling the dealer we got the car from, and an AA man being sent out i was told that the starter motor would need replacing and it would have to be towed to the dealer garage the next day. Another AA man arrived the following day and tried it again before loading it on the truck, right away he said it was not the starter motor but the timer chain, much more serious and as far as i can make out is a big job, we are talking getting the engine out and stripping it down job!

I mean, this car is not old, 3 years is all! I've had a right game trying to get the dealer to give me a courtesy car (they were all out, yeah right!) when i asked about a hire care they said yes, you will have to pick it up from Stafford though, a 45 minute drive away..HELLO, I HAVE NO TRANSPORT HOW DO YOU SUGGEST I GET THERE??!!!
no answer came the reply.

Several phone calls later and after me ranting & raving like a woman possessed and telling them that if they didn't sort it out they could keep the car and give me my money back they said they would send someone out to pick me up and take me to Stafford to fetch the hire car.

Goodness knows when I'm going to get my car back, they won't commit themselves to a time yet, but at least i will have some sort of transport while it's in. The damage done to the rear end will have to wait until this episode is over.

Apart from coming back to this we had a lovely week away in the sunshine and i will post some photos next time so you can have a look see, for now though i really can't get in the mood for anything.
A happier update to follow soon i hope, until then take care and have a good weekend.

14 comments:

Chris said...

Maggie,
I am so sorry for your car problems. Your mini sounds fabulous. Have you named it? Mine is named Zippy :)

I am looking forward to seeing pics of your vacation.

aprilmecheelesdulllife said...

Oh My... Car troubles. I hate car troubles. I had a Kia Sorento for years. Nothing ever happened. Husband decided I needed a Chevy Tahoe. Worst mistake we ever made. One problem after another and the thing cost twice as much as the Kia. I call mine The Lemon !!! Hope things look up soon !!!

Karan said...

Oh no, what a lousy homecoming! I know how I'd feel about someone hitting my Baby, so can appreciate how gutted you are. Lots of (((((hugs))))) Shouting "Traing Standards" seems to get most companies jumping through hoops to help too. ;0)

Melanie said...

Oh no! Your poor mini! He never saw it coming, eh? lol
Hope everything sorts itself out soon!

Siobhán said...

Oh my gosh!! I hope things get sorted out with the car. That is a big fear of mine--not setting the hand brake and coming back to finding the car at the bottom of the garden. Hang in there!

Cindy F. said...

Oh wow Maggie!! My heart was beating fast reading this!! LOVE your adorable car....been wanting one exactly like it for a few years now;) So sorry you're having the problems and I hope it's not as bad as AA says! We have a couple of BMW's and can relate about the loaner car stresses...lol! Good luck!!
and thanks for your sweet comments on my blogs re: "European Bistro". I keep saying I'm going to spend less time on Facebook and get back to blogging....ugh...lol!!
Truth be told...the games have me hooked;) Farmville, Frontierville...but I do love the monthly SAL's:)
I've missed your blog and it's nice to see all the beautiful stitching you've been doing!! Wishing you a wonderful weekend:)

Anonymous said...

I just HATE dealing with car people. Hope you get yours fixed up real soon.

Love your little Mini. They are so cute.

LOL --- My security word is FIXORIZE. That's what you need. You need your cars fix-orized!

Julie said...

Oh Maggie, what an awful homecoming you had.

I hope it doesn't take too long to get it repaired, and hopefully the warranty that came with it when you bought it should cover the timing belt and engine repairs.

There are guidelines in your service book (you should have been given one of those when you bought it) that tell you at what interval the belt should be changed and when/if it has ever been done (we have to fill them in when DH services a car for anyone)

Loraine said...

Oh Maggie! So sorry to hear of your troubles with your car. I have MINI too, and just love it, but I can't believe all the troubles your having with it. I'm surprised the dealer is being such a pain to deal with too. They are usually so good over here. Our dealer is an hour away, so getting work done is a real problem too!
Hope you get it back real soon, and that it will be working fine again. So sad!
Hugs to you.

Mylene said...

I hope things get sorted out very soon for you. ((hugs))

Gillie said...

Maggie, I am sorry - too much all at once.

Brigitte said...

OMG, that's not funny. But at least you have a hire car and don't have to stay put.
BTW, I loved the ornaments you showed in your last post.

Kathy said...

I feel for you and your car troubles. They are just the worse. Beleive I know. I do hopre it gets sortted and fixed soon.

MysteryKnitter said...

Oh boy what a case! I hope it will be solved soon.