Get this, in Jamaica, gas was around $26 Jamaican for 1 liter. That's ~48¢ per liter (in US$).

If I calculate correctly, that's $1.82 USD / gallon. Here in South Carolina we only pay around $1.40 USD / gallon or ~37¢ per liter (~ 24p / liter). And it's really high right now.

i just got the call from USAA... they are making everything WAY easier than it could be. The only problem might be from the SJPD and the towing company if they require me to physically be present to release the vehicle... which Mark the claims guy said is a tossup... some do some don't. So i'm calling them at 8am to figure that shit out... but then the claims guy will go there, inspect it, have it towed to a salvage yard for a full inspection, then fax me the report and let me know what needs to be repaired and have it towed to a repair shop. So far all i know about it's condition is that the Sheriff's report said "stripped", but i think i heard that biatch say it was driveable... i dunno, i was barely listening at that point.

It's going to take forever... that's the shitty part. There's still the chance that they will write it off as a total loss, but that's looking less and less likely. So, i'll have to wait like 3 weeks with no car, then get it back and still try and sell it.

I'm feeling a lot better than last night, but the shityness of the whole thing is looming over my brain like a fog. The fact that i've consistently had to pay in cash and extreme inconvenience for other assholes mistakes or outright immoral acts of theft or destruction is killing me. The whole retarded "why me" question keeps swimming around... futile and aimless as it may be.

So, now it's a waiting game. I've gotta get out this weekend in a major way... i guess i'll rent a car, fuck it.

Have they said whether or not they are investigating this further? It seems that at this point the only good that can come of all this is that the car will be written off as a loss, or the bastard who stole it will get caught. Both would be great, but neither would be a cosmic "screw you" of the highest caliber. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen. Good luck.

I just broke down at the amount of new stress this has added.

Sorry to hear that, Loren. I understand how stressful something like this can be.

Funny, though, I was just commenting to someone that you were quite the optimist, being able to make a post like this in the face of personal tragedy like the car theft.

Still, I understand the stress of the situation, and it can make anyone really messed up. Hope things get sorted out for you soon.

Thanks Tony,

Yeah... i was optimistic and actually not too pissed it was stolen since it would have helped me out in the long run from having to sell the car and deal with everything... but that all came crashing down real quick. I'm now close to back to where i was before since the insurance agency is handling everything for me quite nicely.

I think i just didn't wanna get over the high i had from the buggy blast ... I wasn't ready to come back.

thinking about those moments racing across the playa now.... ahhhh... =]

Oh, and I love the new avatar: "Mad Loren, the Playa Warrior"

i guess i'll rent a car, [censored] it.

Your insurance probably has some kind of rental coverage even my crappy insurance did.

i just got the call from USAA... they are making everything WAY easier than it could be.

I was going to say this earlier, but I have USAA and they really do work with you. Anytime I've had any problems at all they've made the process as painless as possible, something I've not found with other insurance companies. I generally hate the insurance process, as these companies usually take an already bad situation and make it worse, but not USAA

I'll second the pro-USAA sentiment. The one time I needed them, it worked out pretty well. I even managed to talk them up $600 on a 'totaled' settlement check by doing some cherry picking of regional ads for cars similar to my (wrecked) one.
-Zeke

You guys need to cut it out. I'm getting ants in my pants for my new car, I can't even order it yet (well, I could, but then I wouldn't have the money to pay for it when it came in), and you guys are making it worse.

I could get USAA because my Grandfather was in the military. They tell me that he also has to be a USAA member for me to be able to get a polity with them. He doesn't want to switch.

Does anyone know if there is a way to get around that requirement? I called them only a couple months ago and that was their stance.

Join the Army?

Seriously, I don't know.

-Zeke

As I understand, the requirements are to be in the Armed forces or immediatly related to a USAA member. Thus a person could marry someone who's father is in the military, get USAA, get divorced, and then marry again so that the new spouse could get USAA even though he or she never had anything to do with the military. In fact, this couple could get divorced again and the new spouse could still retain the policy and add a new wife or husband and so on. It's kind of strange, but I'm glad, as I'm nowhere near being in the military (I got it through my grandfather, my wife has it because of me).

!yvan eht nioJ

LOL... niiiice reference.

In reply to:

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but i think i heard that biatch say it was driveable...

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My g/f's mum had her car stolen, it turned up a week later, when she asked wether it was drivable or not the guy said yes. So she went to pick it up, only to find there was no steering wheel. Police eh?

LOL... Driveable, sure. Oh, you want STEERABLE too?

okay, quick update.

They took the rims and tires and slapped on some crap ones, gutted the stereo and speakers and i'm assuming the amps under the seats, punched the passenger lock and ignition lock, removed all the paneling to access the speakers... and left most of it in the trunk, damaged the mounts to the front bumper so it is sorta hanging off (which they did backing it off the driveway curb i'd assume), and that's about it. Only other damage was a large "dent" in the drivers door. He said the headers and exhaust were still there, so i'd imagine the intake and pulleys are still there too. Not sure about the suspension, but it'd be a hell of a lot of work to get that off and put others on, so that's probably still there.

Blech. This is going to take forever to get taken care of and sell. I'll see if they can just put everything that was taken back to stock and give me the difference in cash. If they don't i'm going to have to UNinstall everything they do and sell it seperately... which would suck.

I can't believe they took those rims... those things were beyond repair they were curbed so many times. They did me a favor on that one. The stock rims are worth more than those suckers. hah.

I should get to see the damage up close in a couple of days. happy happy joy joy.

i just want this to be over with and have my new Rex!

Duuuude, you should hear about what happened to me the other day... I was at work, walking from one building to another. I was about 4 steps from crossing the street between 2 buildings when I heard a car gun the engine and race towards me. It ran over a raised sidewalk, taking out a parking sign, crossed the street and hit a white car, bounced off that car and hit a dog-catcher truck, bounced off that and crossed the street again, acclelerating all the way, hit the curb, bounced up into a crepe myrtle, flew about 10 feet at an altitude of 4 feet, and landed on two cars parked next to the building. After about 2 seconds, I collected my wits, ran over, and tried to see if the driver was OK. Turns out it was an 89 year old woman, she was OK, but she had missed the brake pedal and hit the gas instead. When she jumped the sidewalk, she got scared and tried to stomp on the brake. This, of course, meant that she instead stomped on the gas. She was doing at least 45 mph when she hit the curb. It was really wild, there are skid marks in the street, but they're from her accelerating, rather than trying to stop. I'll try to locate a picture and upload it in a few. I have to vpn to work to grab the pictures. In the end, I was standing about 15 feet or so from where she landed. Poor thing. They're going to take her license for sure, but at 89 I guess that's probably a good thing.

holy crap! that's insane. glad you were out of the line of fire!!

Me too... here come the pics. I'll only send up 2. The guy in the first one that's NOT a fireman is me.

and number 2:



The guy on the cell in the red tie is the proud owner of the black car.

I remember a big stink about this, I think it was 10 years back. Certain cars were being accused of "sudden unintended acceleration" and it turned out to be just people accidentally mashing the gas pedal instead of the brake. Car and Driver did a big series of articles on it. Certain cars got a bad reputation, I think Audi was among them, and they had a photo of a sign at a valet station saying they wouldn't park Audis with automatic transmissions.

And to think people say that sort of thing only ever happens in movies!

And Audi got shafted in the states for a while - there were some successful lawsuits against them. VAG then started pushing VW as their top marque in the states. Took ages to get Audi reputation back up.

That would be this incident, then?

Sicard [the old woman] was not cited in the accident.

WTF!?!

She damages four other vehicles, probably totalling two of them, drives over a sidewalk, we'll assume, definitely endangering pedestrians, according to the report above, and she doesn't even get a moving violation? If I did that, you can bet I'd get my license revoked, at least for a while. But since she's old....

Yep.... That's it.... I was the only witness. I gotta ask. How the hell did you find that?! Oh, and as to her not getting a ticket, here's a good tip for you. If you're going to get into an accident, do it on private property. As such, the police cannot issue traffic violations. So next time you go to City Hall, park where you damn well please (except handicapped). They can't tow you or ticket you. At least, not in this state. What they CAN do is park directly behind you so you can't leave until close of business. And before you ask, yes, the parking lot at City Hall is considered private. (the state does not pay for the paving).

I gotta ask. How the hell did you find that?!

Jim Romenesko's Obscure Store and Reading Room. Particularly, he seems to have a knack of finding "old woman crashes car into diner" -type stories.

So next time you go to City Hall, park where you damn well please (except handicapped). They can't tow you or ticket you

Normally then can tow you at the request of the owner of the property. You *will* end up paying the bill for the towing costs, which can end up being quite steep. (at least that's how it is over here)