And it goes "meep"

On the way home from the immunizations clinic on base, where I was subjected to a Tdap (tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis) and, thanks to it somehow being missing from my records, an MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, the Dog Utility Vehicle broke.

Now, I realize cars don't just break. In particular, they don't just break suddenly or without good reason, but this case was about as close to "breaking" a car as you can possibly get. Let me apologize up front for my possible lack of proper terminology, as cars are not really my thing ...

You see, sometime between our trip up north last weekend, which featured some pretty fun roads to drive over, the trip to the air show, and trips back and forth to Fort Eustis, we hit a deep pot hole (while avoiding a landscaping truck that almost ran us into the median). At any rate, it hit with sufficient force to damage the rear gear box on our four-wheel drive Ford Escape. That knocked something loose, and the loose gear eventually went on to essentially saw the rear gear box in half.

Let me say that again: cut in half. As in, slice metal.

This action resulted in a sound that, at first, sounded like having something metal vibrating in the rear of the car. Okay. We've recently cleaned it out, down to the spare tire, which sits in a compartment in the back, and we both figured that the funny vibrating metallic sounds was coming from either the jack or the tools sitting in the back compartment with the spare tire. That is, until we were driving with the windows down and heard what sounded an awful lot like your average jackhammer. At which point we looked at each other and went:

"Is that the car?"
"Yup."

We pulled over into the parking lot behind a local fire station, got on all fours, and took a look underneath the car. The rear gear box was leaking something that looked like grease, and the obvious nice clean space between the two parts of the gear box looked like it was missing a seal. In fact, that was where the gear had literally cut through the gear box. No seal was missing - the cut was not supposed to have been there in the first place.

You know you've got something special when the mechanics go, "Whoa ... what the ....?"

It just so happens that, fortunately, we've got the best insurance company in the world, because they are covering the repair - at $800 for just the parts, not counting the labor, that's a pretty darn good thing, too. There's a reason we've been paying what we're paying for our insurance - least of all because it covers darn near everything beyond normal wear and tear, but also because it covers our rental car, and we only have a $50 deductible on the whole shebang.

The insurance adjuster came to look at it today and has already deposited a check for the work with the shop. A second check has been deposited for the rental, with Enterprise. The shop will even align the tires for us after the repair, and while we're at it, we may just get the state inspection done when it's all fixed up, since it's due next month. Total cost for us - $50 for the deductible and $108 for the full coverage insurance on the rental car. Heck, we could set that thing on fire right there in the Enterprise lot and it'd be covered.

The rental car is a Chevy Aveo, such as the one pictured below.


Let me tell you, if there ever was a photo that required the disclaimer, "Objects in picture are smaller than they appear," it's this one. The Aveo is tiny. And cute. And oddly unproportional, as its rear tire literally sits right at the bumper, which offends my car aesthetics.

Beyond that, the funniest thing about the Aveo is the fact that its horn goes "meep meep". Like the Roadrunner. It's hilarious. It's a tiny little car that makes a tiny little sound.

I'll be glad when we have the Dog Utility vehicle back.