Friday 1 April 2011

It Wasn't Me!

I'm thinking about trading the humungous minivan (people carrier) in. We got it just before the Little Guy was born almost 8 years ago because not only did I need a vehicle that would accommodate the baby buggy and kids' bikes, but there was no way I was risking my back trying to get a baby in a car seat into the middle of the back seat of a regular, low car. (I was an "older" mother at this point remember.)

I quite like the minivan now; we haul a lot of stuff in it and the Ball & Chain drives it to Colorado with all our stuff in it every Xmas. Even with 6,000 miles of driving there, it's only got 29,000 miles on it in total. City living - I walk everywhere.

You'd think I'd get a great trade-in price for it wouldn't you?



I suspect that this might affect the price though.

It had a few dings in it anyway (city living again) but this beauty was the work of the Queenager who took a very tight turn into the entrance to a car park/parking lot - and didn't quite make it.

Mind you, this might also have something to do with it -

Yes, that's duct  tape holding the wing mirror together. This one was inflicted by the Ball & Chain over the Xmas break when he backed out of the teeny garage and forgot to pull the mirror in. I've been driving around with the plastic smashed to see when he would offer to take it in for me. (Well, if I'd bashed someone's car I would at least make that offer.) Not happening. Then two days ago, I got into the car and the whole mirror was hanging by a wire. Sigh.

I am slightly embarrassed to be seen driving this thing around now. I mean how bad a driver does it make me look? I have half a mind to put little post-it notes one each side with an explanation.



25 comments:

  1. I have the same scratches on my car from going into a parking garage... why do they make these slots so small!! Happens everywhere to everybody, so don't be too hard on your teen ;-)

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  2. Battle scars! The more you have, the less likely some other driver is to mess with you, an important factor in city driving. With such low mileage you should keep it anyway, and drive it until the wheels fall off!

    Besides, do you really want the "Queenager" (love that term!) driving a new car??? Just get the mirror fixed.....

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  3. How lovely that your husband, like mine, is a fan of duct tape! Mine does remarkable things with it.

    Tell the Queenager I did exactly the same with our car a year or so ago - turned into the surgery car park too tightly, knocked over the little wall at the entrance, burst the back tyre and gouged the side of the car in just the same place as she did.

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  4. gah, I did the exact same thing one of the first times I took my mum's car out. I still cringe and my heart speeds up thinking about it to this day (well over a decade ago now :-)

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  5. Funny! My car looks a bit dinged up too as I have a great deal of trouble reversing into small spaces.

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  6. Love the post-it note explanation!

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  7. ANd just so we're all clear - I did the duct-taping. The B&C just laughed when I told him about the latest problem.
    I was going to use my bright pink duct tape but I thought I would probably end up getting pulled over for some violation.

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  8. You'd fit in well in New York then....virtually all the cars round here look like that!

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  9. As NVG says - same old same old around here. apart from all the expat (no pun intended) sparkly 4x4's. Lucky for us, our basic car looks local - funny how we get pulled over less than most of our friends, isn't it?

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  10. I think you should hang on to it until Queenager has her own car!! Then again, you have two more waiting in the wings to borrow the car!! I still remember having my one and only ever accident when learning in my Mum's mini in the early 1970's and I still come out in a sweat just thinking about it! Hubby, by the same token, has as many bumps, scratches and potential duct taped things hanging off as you, and he sees them as badges of honour!!

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  11. I call them "foibles". My old car had loads. I kind of miss them since I got my new car last month. Keep the foiblemobile!

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  12. I call them "foibles". My old car had loads. I kind of miss them since I got my new car last month. Keep the foiblemobile!

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  13. Yes..... you definitely need a note on the car to say YOU didn't prang it!
    It is very easy to do your back in trying to put a baby into a car seat, especially if it is in the middle. Thats why many mums have the people carriers that are so much easier to handle but not so eco friendly.
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  14. Love the dings, mine speak of eight years of memories, well that's what I tell the hub. Also inside ours is the most delish smell of rotting food, sour milk (tipped yoghurts) and indefinable ...Oh I think its boy socks. Thanks for this, might also do a post on our wonderful vehicle! Not sensaround though...

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  15. With the low mileage, I think you should get it fixed up as well as possible and drive it a few more years. The Queenager could make a few more dents after all. Would you risk a new car? Who's next to drive in your family? It may pay to have an older more banged up car.

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  16. I had a minor ding over the wheel well on my otherwise beautifully kept '92 Volvo 240. Mechanics used to ooh and ahh when they lifted the hood because I took such good mechanical care of the car. Then our babysitter got in an accident (not her fault). When the adjuster came, he took $800 off the value of the car for that ding and essentially, that's what totaled it. I was peeved.

    So I don't know what my point it, except that if you get in an accident and leave these things unfixed, the damn insurance company will figure out a way to get out of repairing other damages.

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  17. I suppose it hurts more when you can see the dings. I hate to think what the top of our Range Rover looks like after forgetting to lower the suspension before going into a low parking garage!
    I feel for you but really it is the children who are so embarrassed when they have to be seen in the minivan with the mirror hanging off, we as moms have more to worry about really. Don't we?

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  18. I like cars that look, 'lived in', a shambles (though that really i some serious scraping you've got there!)
    We alwasy get funny looks here in Albania cos we're foreigners ('aren't they all supposed to be rich?') who drive a v old, v beat up 4x4 with scrapes, bits hanging off it, no air con etc. The guys at the garage can't understand it! I love it!

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  19. I would steer well clear of you if I saw your car near me on the freeway !

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  20. I have plenty of those too. But mine are from pulling over on country lanes and scratching against hedges.

    warm wishes
    Debbie

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  21. At least as the B&C did the mirror in the Queenager had the excuse that she couldn't see properly. When I had my Learner's Permit I once tried to drive through too small a space (on a big American road mind you) and went too close to parked car, thankfully not denting it but breaking our electric side view mirror to the tune of much dosh! My dad was not impressed and I had no excuse.

    And now I have to drive on small English roads - I still contort my face in fear often navigating the small gaps....

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  22. Ahhhhh. *shrieks* You really drive in THAT??!! I'd plain refuse to do so. I am a bit anal though when it comes to cars. The slightest scratch makes me weep. And I don't stop until my long suffering husbands gets the polish out to fix it. I love my car. Cars deserve to be loved. I think I have to call mobile services and report car abuse.

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  23. I'm just amazed you can afford to insure the Queenager for a car that size! Here my friends can't afford to insure their 18 year old daughter (who has a year's driving experience and no accidents) on their Ford KA (which is one of the tiniest cars out and has about a 1.0 engine - ie next to no power) as it's about £1000.

    I'm planning to downsize to something equally small and gutless when it's time for Son to learn to drive - it would cost thousands to insure him on my car (a 2-litre Renault Laguna - that's like a Ford Mondeo if that helps??? Family car size, anyway)...

    ... I've just checked the US Ford site and Mondeos seemed to called Fusions over there. Which is very confusing as a Fusion here is a kind of 1980s Fiesta-style estate that nobody under 70 would be seen dead driving. Sigh...

    ... and you don't have a Ford KA at all. Which isn't surprising, as it's barely big enough to fit a child in, never mind an adult to actually drive the thing...

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