Month: May 2012

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I Hate Driving an Automatic Car!

I’ve been tooling around in the rental car for a several days now. It’s a four-door Accent. It doesn’t have the rear wiper blade and power doors and windows, but it’s still very comparable to my poor toad. But driving it is another matter. I experienced the same thing in California in 2007 when I rented the same type of Accent.

First off, what happened to fuel efficiency?! When I got the rental car, it had a quarter tank of fuel. With my Accent, I could drive about 150km on that quarter tank before the gas light would come on, and then I’d be able to do another 30 to 60km without running out. I took the Accent home from Enterprise (about 10KM) then drove it to the hotel (about 85KM). About 10KM out from the hotel, so I’d driven 85KM on that quarter tank of fuel, the gas light came on! I put in half a tank of fuel. In my Accent, I could do 300 to 400KM on that half tank, depending on if I was driving in the city or on the highway. With the automatic Accent, I did just over 200KM and the gas light came on. That’s insane! BTW, that comes out to a fuel efficiency of 24MPG with the automatic Accent, while my manual got 30 to 40.

The automatic Accent doesn’t drive smoothly, something that I’ve experienced with all the automatic vehicles I’ve driven, including Miranda. The transmission just isn’t as smart as is a human in knowing when to shift gears. It is so frustrating to know that I should be in a lower or higher gear, but the transmission refuses to shift, resulting in an unnecessary loss of speed or an inability to slow down, both of which can be dangerous. With this Accent, whenever it’s thinking about changing gears, I literally feel it pull back and then push forward as it tries to decide what it’s going to do. It’s really annoying.

I also hate having to keep my eyes glued to the speedometer because there is no other way of knowing how fast I’m going. In a manual car, until 5th gear, I always have a maximum speed I can reach, so it makes it very easy not to speed. Stuck in a 25MPH zone? Stick to 2nd gear. 45MPH? Don’t shift into 5th. This Accent is so quiet that I have hit 70MPH in a 55MPH zone without intending to.

Which brings to braking. With a manual, I just downshift until I coast to a stop. With the automatic, I have to relearn braking distance and have had quite a few sudden stops because I misgauged my speed and distance from the stop sign or red light. This is the only thing I will admit is DUE (dumb user error) and I know braking would become second nature once I got used to driving an automatic car again. Which I hope happens when pigs fly, the moon turns to cheese, and hens get teeth.

My first car, a 1992 Honda Civic, was an automatic and really didn’t enjoy driving it. I only bought it because it’s what was available in my price range from a trusted source at the time. There was no question my next car would be a manual. When I went for the test drive on my 2004 Accent, I hadn’t driven stick in about six years, but the salesman said he would never have guessed that. This is because I learned how to drive stick. I never learned how to drive automatic. And, frankly, beyond what I need to operate Miranda safely, that’s not a skill I would care to master.

It’s going to be interesting to hear all you automatic fans chime in and tell me what a dolt I am (in kinder words, of course *g*). But do I have any other readers who prefer to drive a manual?

 

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Update on the Repairs to Miranda

I just called to find out how the repairs on Miranda are going. She is being serviced by W.S. Campbell in Petersburg, VA.

I expected to leave a message for my mechanic and was surprised and pleased that the lady who answered had a full status update for me and could answer all my questions. I have never in all my years of owning a vehicle had that happen when I call a repair shop!

The shop has all the parts, but the work is being held up by the welder. He is hoping to be there this afternoon or first thing in the morning, but it could be as late as Monday. But once that’s done, the repairs won’t take any time at all. There is no reason I couldn’t be on the way back to Canada by Wednesday morning.

The appraiser did come by and take a look before the work started, but there is no more information about that. I’m expecting to hear back from my adjuster at Aviva at some point. I just emailed her to ask for an update.

Even though the hotel is paid for tonight, I will be checking out sometime after dinner. I need to be in Richmond for 11 tomorrow morning, so it makes sense to do the bulk of the drive tonight, check up on the cats, who must be traumatized by the repair work, and sleep in my own bed. I still feel that it made sense to have the hotel booked for tonight since that lets me use it all day today. I should be on the road most of tomorrow since I won’t be able to be home if work is being done on Miranda. I can stay home over the weekend and then go back to the hotel next week for a few days if necessary.

My friend is super contagious right now, so all our plans have fallen through. 🙁 I think it’s karma for all the times in the past that I told her I was coming to visit and had to cancel! I’m grateful we had two evenings together and I still think the detour was worthwhile, but we’re both extremely disappointed. Hopefully, she’ll be well enough in a few days for us to see each other one more time before I head north.

I’m hoping to be able to do a few touristy things over the weekend since I’ll still have the car. In case anyone is wondering how my time is being spent this week, let me just say that I have a right to make sure my business is running smoothly while I am on vacation, and let’s leave it at that. 🙂 I really can’t be out gallivanting anyway, not with the number of times the phone has been ringing a day and the huge repair bill that is looming.

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A Trifecta of Oceanic Proportions

Now that my RV has brought me back to the wild and grey Atlantic that I love so much, I feel that I have truly come full circle.

I haven’t been able to go anywhere this week, glued as I am to my phone and a couple of projects, so I was starting to fear that I wouldn’t get to the Atlantic on this trip. I pulled up Google maps, ran a few calculations, and decided that Lighthouse Drive in Hampton was pretty much on the ocean. It’s probably still technically on Chesapeake Bay, but, really, where does an ocean start and end?

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For nostalgia’s sake, here I am in the Pacific Ocean during this great big adventure of mine:

And here I am again, frolicking in the Arctic Ocean:

Now, I just need to get to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico!

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Managed to Reach BMO

I dug through my computer and found enough to call BMO this afternoon. Friday just felt too far away. The first number I tried was the wrong one, but the helpful lady gave me the correct number.

The correct number was answered by an English-speaking computer. WHAT?! I’m not used to dealing with this stuff in English, so I pressed two for French and got an Anglo with a really thick accent. HUH?! It has always been my experience that Anglos are lucky to get a French person who can muddle by in English with an almost incomprehensible accent when they call anything that’s remotely official in Quebec.

But I digress.

I didn’t have my loan account number, but I was found through my name (it helps to be the only person on the planet with your name) and then I breezed through the security questions.

The loan balance was just about where I expected it to be, $4,200. I have a payment over the weekend which may affect the balance unless BMO does a stop payment once they’ve heard from the insurance company. I don’t mind if that payment goes through because it will eventually come back to me, but it would be nice if it doesn’t.

Before we got down to the business, the guy told me he was sorry to hear about the accident and was I okay? Yes, thank you, but I’m pissed off that my nearly paid off car is totaled. He gave me the balance and said he hoped that the insurance payout would cover it. “Yup. And I’ll still have more than $7,000 in my pocket by the time the moron’s insurance pays me back my deductible.” His reply was, “How did you pull that off?!” Apparently, they get a lot of people who have their car totaled and the insurance payment doesn’t cover the loan. It would suck to have to make payments on a car that’s been totaled!

So, now I just have to wait for my total loss adjuster to contact BMO because that’s how BMO wants things done. At least, I’m two days ahead of where I thought I’d be after I hung up with her.

Intact has been absolutely stellar. Big thumbs up!

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Call From the Total Loss Claim Adjuster

The total loss claim adjuster for Intact just called me to confirm the amount that I will be getting for the car (I ignored the number; it was huge, even without my deductible, and I don’t want to get excited until I get confirmation on how much is left on the car loan). She wanted to send me a cheque with BMO as a co-signor, but I found that way too messy and it would mean I wouldn’t be getting paid till I got back to Quebec and able to get to a BMO.

Instead, I will call BMO Friday morning to get a statement of my account sent to the Intact adjuster so that she can pay the loan out directly. Friday because I’m staying at the hotel again tonight and don’t have access to any of that paperwork, dangnabit.

Once the total loss claim adjuster gets the statement, she will send me some paperwork that I will have to somehow print out, sign, then have witnessed, and get it back to her. After that, she will arrange for direct deposit or a cheque to be made out to me for the balance. I really don’t see myself getting the payout before I get to Quebec, but this does seem easier than going the co-party cheque route.

She finished with a bit of great news: they are paying for the car until the 14th! I think that means that if I keep it on the 14th, then I have to pay for that day. So I may end up paying for the car for a couple of days next week, but I’d be looking at less than $60 for a rental when I had thought it would be closer to $250! Bureaucratic red tape has worked in my favour!