Total Loss

A regular Friday afternoon gone wrong.

One minute, I'm zippin down the highway without a care in the world.

The next, my dashboard is lit up like a Christmas tree, a dozen warning messages flash across the screen, and the sound from the back of the car is... CALAMITOUS.

And the next after that, I'm in a parking lot trying to pull iron rebar out of my wheel well.

This does NOT belong here.

Trying and failing by the way. Because it's not just in the wheel well. This stuff cut a channel about 18 inches long through the entire back end of the car! And it ain't moving. It's pretty much just part of the car now.

STUCK: I mean, I could put the spare tire on. But with the rebar still wedged in there, the wheel wouldn't be able to turn normally.

So there it goes. My super fun, and still relatively new-to-me Jeep Renegade. Off to the service center, and out of commission for a couple weeks. Bummer.

Get Well Soon, Rene ❤

Except, no.

From the title of this post, the rest is prolly obvious.

A week after she was dropped off, USAA finally called with the repair estimate: $14,682. WHAT?!?!?

Unbelievable. The damage is mostly cosmetic, along with a bunch of wiring for all those sensors back there. (hence the Christmas lights) That's it. Functionally, it is completely drivable. Seems like a pretty straight forward fix, and then I drive it another 100,000 miles. Right?

Nope.

"USAA has determined your vehicle is a total loss."

Totalled.

And with a full tank of gas!

I begged. I bargained. I pleaded. All to no avail. The party's over. No more clutch. No more shifting. No more vroom vroom. They're taking it and sending me a check. <sigh>

A stick shift? In 2023?
Irreplaceable?

Gone too soon.

Have I mentioned how much I hate car shopping?