Baby, you can drive my car

Our burned-up car was finally towed away - it took three visits by Malibu Towing to figure out how to do it. The fire damaged the transmission so badly it was stuck in Park, pointing face-in to the carport. And our  narrow Topanga driveway was too steep for one of the trucks to navigate down. The car disappeared on Friday, and both [The Man I Love] and I were not around to see it, but our neighbor said it took them hours to do whatever they did.

No determination was made as to the cause of the fire, but I suspect rodent damage. With hybrids, its more dangerous because there are high voltage components inside.

 

Everyone now go open your car hood and check to see whether there are droppings or nesting materials inside.

We finally heard on Tuesday that the insurance company deemed it a total loss. No duh. Then we waited for them to tell us what they would pay us for it. We were worried that the payment would only barely - or not at all - pay off our loan.

We began to worry. What kind of car could we get? We hoped we'd get at least enough for a down payment. But what if we didn't even get that? Would we have to get some old beater?

1981 Chevette

As it turned out, the market value for a Ford Fusion hybrid is quite high! They are in demand, and they are also scarce, because production was interrupted by the earthquake in Japan (some important part is made in Japan.) Plus - having never made a claim before on a car, I didn't realize that the insurance company also includes sales tax in the payment. So we actually came out better than even our best hope.

Well, then the thoughts of a new car changed dramatically! We contacted Autoland through our Credit Union.

A brand new Ford Fusion hybrid would be great. Or maybe a Toyota Camry hybrid. Our Autoland guy even proposed a Lexus hybrid. Wow! What about a BMW?

The rental car we got from the insurance company is a Toyota Prius, and we knew we didn't want one of those, because it was so low it had the same problem going down our driveway that the tow truck had. I've been driving the Prius to work, and [The Man I Love] has been driving my pretty little Honda Fit.

And as he thought about it, he realized he was really enjoying the Fit. Zippy little thing, easy to get in and out of. Not only that, it will hold a string bass - which, in our family, is a requirement. Hybrids are nice, but for the same reason we were awarded such a large payment, they are expensive. So why not get something a little less pricey and use the rest of the money to pay off some bills?

So yesterday afternoon, we met at the Credit Union to sign papers and pick up a cute little 2011 Honda Fit.

A bright orange one!

Ain't it purty?