BLUE CAR NEWS (NEW CAR BLUES)

I recently bought a new car. When people ask what kind of car I got, I tell them, "A blue one." I had a yellowish one, but it didn't get the gas mileage I needed to get from whatever point A happens to be to it's corresponding point B and back. It was pretty cool, though. It was a convertible and it was turbo and it was great fun to drive, but I got the blue one because it gives me a lower payment each month and gets better mileage. The yellowish car got about 26 miles to the gallon. The blue one gets 35 and we are all looking at ways to save a buck these days. About 2 weeks after I bought the new, blue car, my wife, while visiting our daughter who lives nearby, inadvertently ran over a curb and the car wouldn't start. It seems the car, in its infinite wisdom, assumed it had been in an accident and the anti-theft feature kicked in and it wouldn't start. I had to have it towed to the dealer who found about $1500 damage to the wheel and surrounding area. That meant I had to rent a car for the 4 days it was in the shop and pay the deductible. I began seeing my gas savings dwindling away. I was thrilled to get the car back, good as new, so I could drive it to work and save money on gas and tolls (I have a toll tag). As I turned right, about a mile from my house, on my way to point A, a 24 year old kid in his moms car seemingly appeared out of thin air doing 40 miles per hour and hit my car. My first thought was, "You have GOT to be kidding me. I haven't even made a second payment on this thing." Then I ran over to the kids now flipped Toyota to see if he was OK. He was. This time it was an accident, and the car, in its infinite wisdom, assumed everything was just fine. It started right up. After the tow truck flipped the kids moms car back right-side up, we traded information and my wife took the car home. The car was a mess. The entire drivers side quarter panel had to be replaced as did the door. The rear view mirror was gone so, the car, while driveable, was illegal. Instead of the dealer, I decided to go with a body shop this time. I have a friend who does body work and I knew I'd get quality work at a good price. This too was about $1500 and, of course, I had to pay the deductible. Now the situation was getting downright ridiculous. This car that was supposed to get great gas mileage and save me all this money……wasn't. You can't get great gas mileage when you can't drive the car. I've been back in the car for about a week now. So far…so good. I'm being ultra careful because I'm about to make the second payment and I'd like to keep the car in one piece for a while. My insurance agent just called. He wanted to make sure I was OK since he hadn't heard from me in a whole week.