A Triple A of a Time....

Well, Howdy ….

For those of you that have been following my ‘blog’ know that I had a Ford vehicle parked in my driveway disabled for almost a year. Course ..lol…I became ‘upside down’ when the engine seized and I didn’t have title at that time and with payments still to be made..

Well, I finally received the ‘title’ about a month ago, so I decided today to remove the ‘boat anchor’ and haul it to the ‘scrap yard’ because it just simply wasn’t worth ‘repairing’. Not that the car was in ‘bad shape’, mind you but the cost to replace the engine ( $ 2k+ ) was prohibitive. So time became time to remove the ‘wart’ from my leg ! …..lol
I think I should have had a ‘quadruple bypass’ instead because what transpired to do a rather simple and easy task became a ‘costly’ event that even the ‘brain dead’ would have to ‘scratch ‘ their heads and say…..HUH ! …lol.

It all started about a couple of weeks ago when I checked into the procedure for disposing the vehicle by calling my reputable and local salvage yard. Their normal process seemed rather easy and uncomplicated. “They tow, get nothing for the auto….I tow and they cut me a check for $100.00.” The car according to them was just too old in years despite the terrific body shape for them to consider doing a ‘salvage title’. Course the ‘tires’ must be on the wheels or they won’t accept it. Well there goes my last investment for that vehicle right out the door since tires were just purchased ($ 400.00 ) before the engine (72k miles ) had a massive cardiac arrest and ‘dropped dead’. Ok, ok…so I take a ‘hit’ and consider it not such a big problem as I know exactly what to do . Hmmmm…..or so I thought!

With infinite wisdom, I figured I can at least ‘bail out’ of the cumbersome situation rather effectively with at least the $100.00 in my pocket since I belong to AAA auto club and have been for decades and decades. After all, this is really a very simple tow and not a complicated situation for the tow company or for Triple A….lol. Boy, was I under false assurances, for sure. But what transpired is really for ‘One that flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ !

I called my local AAA office which only took about 6 attempts to be connected to someone that tried to speak English. Strike number one ! ( more than 1 hour had passed since I first dialed )
Once I got a ‘live person’ their ‘check list’ procedure in questioning me to set up the ‘tow’ was totally ridiculous and covered everything from the color of the car to the number of times I ‘flushed ‘ the ‘john’ today, or at least it seemed as such. Since most of the information required was totally of no use to anyone. Despite all that nonsense I ran into a slight problem at the tail end of their inquiries. Did you know that despite the fact that you are paying for a ‘towing service’ , they will not ‘tow’ to a salvage yard ? Neither did I . hmmmm…..
The purpose of the need for AAA to do the towing was very basic to me at least walking away from this fiasco with the $100.00 intact. Since I was previously paying AAA for their services , I thought this was a rather prudent approach to achieve my goal.
Well, with a little ‘tongue and cheek’ misrepresentation on my behalf I finally got the tow lined up with the assurances that the truck will be here in about 1 hrs time. Ok…I thought ‘it’s all down hill from here.’…hmmmm….guess again !
The truck showed up a ‘tad’ later than stated, about 2 hrs instead…still no problem, I‘ve got plenty of daylight left. Better late then never !
As the driver did his thing and ‘hooked up‘ the car and secured it for it’s final journey to it’s resting place, he threw me a ‘curve’. When he was about ready to leave he realized he neglected to write down the ‘license tag’ of the vehicle and quickly jumped out to copy it down for the paper work. Well, that was a ‘mistake’…lol….for me that is ! You see about 8 months ago, the ‘tag’ got stolen and I had filed with the local Sheriffs office stating such. I really didn’t give it any thought in how this would play out for a ‘tow’!
Despite the fact of me having the ‘paper work’ for the stolen plate, the driver in his ‘working for the company attitude’ immediately told me that this vehicle was going for ‘salvage junk ‘ and not as an ‘emergency tow’ as prescribed by AAA. He could not tow this under AAA rulings however, if I wanted the tow under these exact conditions, he can do it for a price as a ‘private tow’ ! What a quandary I was in ! All ‘hooked up’ and no place to go ! …hmmmmm

So for about a half hour or so , I was ‘discussing’ the ‘illogical logic‘ of the predicament with the driver to no avail. After all…a tow is a tow….right ??? Payment was being made to the tow company and they definitely weren’t being ‘out ‘ of anything, so why the ‘hassle’ ? Why should the tow company or AAA care what the end demise of the car is ? Again, it’s a ‘service tow’ that I had been paying for.

Well, after careful deliberation on my behalf, I realized this guy isn’t going to ‘budge’ in his thinking and attitude. I consented for a ‘private tow’ which really wasn’t ‘sitting ‘ very well with me at that moment but I felt as thou I was being held ‘prisoner’ and had no real other negotiable options. I guess ‘one has to do what one has to do’….lol !!

So after another 15 mins and filling out the ‘paper work’ with ‘charge card’ in hand, I get the bad news that this is going to cost me $65.00 for a 7 mile tow. ( actual mileage is really only 5 miles ). So I ‘bite the bullet’ and put on a ‘happy face’ gritting my teeth all the way trying to remain ‘personable’ ! Now this is really starting to ‘irritate me’ .
Again, just as he was finishing up, the drivers stated..’ Oh ….did I forget to mention, there is an additional $5.00 charge for using a credit card?” Duh,…Yah…. ya jackass !
Now, according to my knowledge which I might be mistaken, the policy in this ‘redneck’ state for services and products are not subject to additional fees for payment via credit card. I do believe that is totally ‘illegal’ to charge. However, at this juncture, I was just really ready to tell him to ‘f off’ but I really, really wanted to see my ‘concrete drive’ again, so I submitted rather peaceably to his ‘hijacking mentality’!

Whew, there she goes, finally rolling down the street , even though not under her own power but moving and gone none the less ! So I follow the truck to the salvage yard and all seems to be finally being resolved. Hmmmm…..not so fast kiddo. For what followed next has really taught me a lesson that I will mention at the closing !

Do you remember what the salvage yard policy was/is? I do and complied with it totally. Well, after the tow truck dumped the vehicle in their lot, the representative for the yard told me that ‘they would have done the tow for nothing and still pay me the $100.00.’ Huh ??? I only spoke with them 3 times in total before I put my plan into action via AAA. Hmmmm….is something amiss here ? I think so…but they refused to reimburse me for the tow expense but the $100.00 would remain ! Ok. Fine…let’s get this fiasco done with. I am ‘bushed’ and my mind is spinning about like a scoop of ice cream in a blender.
Well to make a long story shorter than this…lol….it only took about 4 hours to accomplish what could have been in maybe 20 mins. Geesh….but what did come out of this is a valuable lesson.

We ( mankind ) is still in the ‘jungles’ despite the clothes that we wear. Just like the homeowners that were paying insurance for storm damages that got wiped out by the hurricanes of recent years. The insurance companies turned, twisted and squirmed their way out of paying millions of dollars that they have been collecting for years giving ‘false’ hope and information to it’s client base letting them believe that they were ‘covered’ for what they were paying for, when indeed they had no ‘coverage’ at all because of ‘symantics’. Damages from storms such as wind and rain is bound to build up on the ground and cause problems. The insurance companies should be trounced for squirming out of their contracts because the say it was ‘flood’ damage not ‘storm related’ damages thus they don’t have to cover ! That is BS my friend…..just like AAA…..
So you see, there is no value in ‘insurances’. No ‘good faith’ in the words of those that are basically ‘jungle idiots’. As far as this blogger is concerned, they don’t deserve to ‘survive ‘ in what most want in our society. A ‘piece of mind’ that is given for what we ‘think’ we are ‘paying for’ !

So once again, I thank you for your endurance to finish the final chapter of an event that was definitely ‘challenging’ from the start. It only took about 11 months from it’s start to it’s finish and I hope that there are no such things as ‘car ghosts’…lol ….

‘Peace of mind’ be with you all….
Till next time America…..
Smugs,
Steve