Cars (Part 2)

I don't quite remember the exact sequence of events, but at some point Carl and Rachel generously gifted us their red 2003 Oldsmobile Alero (which we still own) and we traded in the Caravan for a tan Dodge Durango. And for a while, those were our two vehicles. I believe Jeanell primarily drove the Alero and I drove the Durango.

My least favorite memory of the Durango was an occasion where we had traveled to Salt Lake for the Tabernacle Choir's annual Christmas concert and were staying overnight. I assume we were headed back to our hotel after the concert but I'm not completely certain. What I do know is that the Durango died at a busy intersection downtown. A Good Samaritan got out of his vehicle and helped us get it pushed out of the way and we were able to call a tow truck to come and get it and eventually got it fixed. But having it die at that intersection was not a fun experience.

I also remember spinning out in the Durango on Rocket Road in Tremonton, but fortunately (undoubtedly due to righteous living), it spun right into a little driveway and came to a stop. I just pulled back onto the road and continued my trip, perhaps a bit more cautiously.

The Durango eventually began to leak oil. I remember I would take it to get the oil changed at Walmart and every time they'd make me sign something because the initial oil level was too low.

We decided the Durango had run its course and that we should probably just get another car since we were both commuting and weren't driving with all seven of us much because the boys had moved down to Grantsville to live with their dad.

So I drove over to Hansen Motors one weekday in 2011, told them I wanted to trade in the Durango, and that I didn't really care what car I got. I just wanted it to run and wanted to be able to pay it off fairly quickly. By some coincidence, Thurl Bailey was there when I went to do this and I got an autographed picture and took a pic with him.

And then I drove home in a 2006 Chevrolet Impala. And as seemed typical for the vehicles that I chose without Jeanell's input, Jeanell hated it. I do remember the water pump went out not long after I purchased it (which Hansen replaced and didn't charge me for it). But just as happened with the other car I brought home that Jeanell hated (the Camry), fate intervened.

I bought it in October. One morning before the end of that year, I had just dropped Lila off at her babysitter's home in Honeyville and was headed down Highway 38 to work in Brigham City. The roads were not good that morning and sure enough as I went around a gentle curve, I slid right off the rode, down a ravine, through a fence and into the middle of a field. Fortunately, I was unhurt. I called dispatch because I wasn't sure what to do. Since I didn't know exactly where I was, I had to call them back using 9-11 so they could locate me. While waiting in the field for the police to arrive, two other cars slid on the same curve where I had. I also remember the farmer who owned the field coming over to me and making sure I knew that I would have to pay for the fence. Then he asked me if I was okay.

The police came and after making a report, I was able to simply drive out of the field and continue on to work. But after filing a claim and beginning the repair process, the car was declared a total loss. After only a couple of months, Jeanell was once again free of a car she despised.

Once we got the insurance check and paid off the loan, we went back to Sherm's Store together and purchased a white 2004 Infiniti G35 with 83K miles on it. It was the first "higher-end" car that we had owned and we both really liked how it drove.

But not too long after we purchased it, we were headed out to Grantsville and while headed west on I-80, a cinder block appeared in front of me on the road. It happened pretty fast and I don't know if there were cars around me so I couldn't swerve around it or if I just thought I'd clear it, but I just tried to drive over it and with the low clearance of that car, it did not go well. It tore up the car pretty well and after another insurance claim and being without it for a good while, we got it repaired and back. We drove it another seven years and 90K miles or so before we donated it to the Kidney Foundation in 2019.

Just before we moved back to Grantsville for Elwood, we found a black 2003 Acura MDX being sold by a private seller. We bought it, fixed it up a little bit with some help from our friends and Archibald & Sons, and brought it out with us when we moved.

So we made the move to Grantsville with the Alero, the G35, and the Acura. And those would be the three cars we used for the next four and a half years.

In June of 2018, we decided it was time for another car. Jeanell and I looked around and decided on a 2017 Land Rover Discovery Support with about 6K miles on it. We drove that car for the next five years, got it paid off and other than it being somewhat of a magnet for rock chips, never had any real problems with it.

That changed shortly after we paid it off. The check-engine light came on and we took it in to the Land Rover dealership in Lehi to have it looked at and learned that the needed repairs would cost $10K. Around the same time, one of the tires failed and all four had to be replaced. But we loved the car and decided it should last us quite a while longer and we wouldn't have a car payment so we decided to make all the repairs.

Shortly after, Jeanell was stopped at the stoplight at Maverik headed east when she was rear-ended by a commercial truck for an HVAC business or something. Initially I don't think the company thought the damage was too extensive and wanted to cover it without going through insurance, but when a repair shop came back with the estimate, they decided we would need to go through insurance. And as luck would have it, it ended up being a total loss.

We looked for a bit to see if we could find a replacement that we could buy outright with the insurance check, but it soon became obvious we weren't going to find a car of the same quality. So we used the insurance check to pay ourselves back for the repair costs and went out and bought a 2023 Mercedes-Benz GLA.

So far, our luck has been pretty good with this car. We have had to replace the windshield twice already, but we opted for the windshield insurance so that's worked out.

So today, Jeanell primarily drives the Mercedes, I drive the Acura (now 20+ years old with nearly 230K miles), and Lila and Caleb more or less share the Alero (now 20+ years old with about 190K miles).

And there you have it, the history of the cars in my life to this point.