Knock on simulated wood (I have an Ikea desk), I’ve had pretty good luck with my cars not getting messed up outside of a collision. The only really significant bummer I’ve experienced was the golf-balling my wife’s then month-old RAV4 received when we were caught in an unpredicted hail storm on the way back from a movie, which suuuucked (the hail, I mean, but as I recall, the movie wasn’t great either).
I do, however, have plenty of second-hand experience with cars getting damaged due to bad luck or carelessness or just plain stupidity, including a tree mishap like the one in the top pic – RIP Uncle Charlie’s Buick Regal.
I once saw a person slide a chair into their hatchback, back-first and legs out, and then shatter the rear window because they didn’t account for the legs extending beyond the slope of the hatch. Also shattered: their spirit.
In college, a buddy of mine procured spray paint for an art project before a few hours’ worth of classes one day in early June. When he returned to his car, an art project of a different sort had been completed in his absence as a can of flat black had split in the heat and graffiti’d the interior of his Sentra.
And then there are the more minor, but no less irritating and possibly heartbreaking annoyances such as kids (or pets, which are like kids) hurling up breakfast all over the back seat, spills of stain-producing liquids onto light-colored upholstery, and the like.
Oh, nice! Antti just piped in on Slack:
I once had a hailstorm wreck all horizontal surfaces of my month-old lease, on a work day that could have been an email. When I got the $4000 worth of PDR performed on the car courtesy of the insurance company, the guy doing it leaned on the headliner and broke it and stained it trying to fix it. He ordered a replacement one and the delivery driver left it in the rain outside the shop. He eventually found another headliner in time for the lease return as I just wanted the car gone at that point. Dents did disappear though.
I was mildly annoyed when I accidentally used the rear wiper on the dry and dirty glass on my current lease, but then I remembered what happened to the earlier car and figured I can live with it. Still, I’d hate scratching the glass!
What’s the worst not-a-crash incident … wait, now Thomas is hitting me up:
There was the time the belt tensioner on the Crown Victoria grenaded, lodging the pulley against the timing cover and wearing a groove in it. Then there was the time it sort-of caught fire. Then there was the time wheel studs sheared over a nasty pothole. Then there was the time the transmission gave out …
What’s the worst not-a-crash incident you’ve seen or experienced yourself? See you in the comments.
My truck was stolen from my driveway overnight, and recovered before I knew it was gone. It was very surreal having a cop ring my doorbell and asking, “Why is your truck idling in the alley behind Mahoney’s Bar? Miraculously the only damage was scoffed front bumper from hitting the alley wall, and a broken taillight. Turns out my truck will idle for over 8 hours on only a 1/4 tank of gas.
That happened to a coworker. Supermarket bakery manager who was in the habit of leaving her keys in her purse and her purse in her (shared) office while working in the bakery, well away in another part of the building. The office corridor is open, no “employees only” sign, no door to put it on. Anyone could walk in and someone did.
She gets a call from the police, “(Joe Shmoe) says he has your permission to use your car”. Tweaker (apparently sober at the time, however temporarily), one of their frequent flyers. Suspicious in itself that he suddenly possessed a newish minivan. She tells them no, she never heard of him. The next day we have a full security audit, everything’s locked down since, I tell people my workflow is impeded by women’s clothing designers not prioritizing pockets even though I’m a man.
I live in a SE coastal city prone very heavy summer rainstorms. The first August at a new job, it began to rain like somebody’d launched an ark. In less than a half hour the streets outside the school were totally awash and by dismissal time the water was above knee-level and because of a coincidental high tide, had nowhere to drain. As a newbie, my parking lot was two blocks away. I waded over seeing stalled cars everywhere. The police were out on Jetskis in the streets.
When I got to the lot, I discovered my car bobbing in wake waves caused high-riding trucks attempting to ford the flood. Water was higher than the door sills and the exhaust pipe was submerged. Stalled cars blocked the lot exit.
I had to hike six miles home with the rain still pounding down. The next morning I rode my bicycle downtown. The waters had receded and my Saab was solidly back on its wheels, if a bit sideways. I opened the doors and water began to run out, but only so far as the recessed footwells retained a fair amount.
I did a walk around, then slid into the drivers seat with fingers crossed. The ignition, being on the center console, was barely above the high tide mark indicated on the doors. I turned the key and it fired right up. I let it idle and went out to check around again. A small bit of water came from the tailpipe, but not much. I got back in, carefully let out the clutch and slowly made my way around other cars to the street. Everything continued to go without incident and I drive out of town and directly to a Lowe’s where I bought a shop vac. Then straight home where I spent four hours vacuuming water out of the upholstery and carpet, pulling up the latter to help drying. Then I rigged some fans in the car and let them run over night. The next day, I power washed the undercarriage, changed the oil, then took it to a car wash with a lower wash rack for another douche. I vacuumed the upholstery and carpets then drove home where I shampooed and scrubbed the interior, then set fans going again over night. When I was finished, the car ran fine, looked fine, and smelled fine.
I drove it for another 11 years, cracking 500,000 miles, but the damage had been done. Eventually the frame rotted from the inside out breaking the Saab’s spine when my mechanic put it on the rack to rotate the tires. It still ran like a champ, but would’ve cost thousands to try an repair the damage. By then, it was 30 years old with a half million miles and I very reluctantly decided to let it go to a charity. Still miss that car.
Were you really doing that charity a favor?
Sure, they part them out and the engine and trans were great and all the body panels were straight and rust free. They sent me a tax valuation of $1000, so they must’ve gotten something.
Worst thing for me was probably coming out of a Blockbuster at night to watch a car backing up right into my MR-2 parked in the next row over. Teenage girl didn’t want her parents to know, paid me off in installments. Second worst, freezing at a stop light where I was waiting for a right turn when a car on the other side did a left turn into traffic, knocking the oncoming car at an angle that ended in my door. Same MR-2. Most expensive, paying the deductible on my insurance when I drove the loaner Cayenne down to a doctor’s office a few hours away and on a two lane road an 18-wheeler drove by and slammed a rock right into the wind shield.
Worst I’ve seen, small thunderstorm blew down a very large old tree next to the front parking at work and trashed two co-workers cars in one shot. The funny thing was it activated the turn signal on the newer Camry. But the sad thing was the 20 year old Mustang was bent at the frame. And missed my car by a couple of car widths.
Just two weeks ago! Took my 2012 Colorado Extended Cab (I5 + Auto) in for a noisy wheel bearing. Call from mechanic that the frame is rusted through and no longer safe to drive or repairable. There is NO rust in the body or box anywhere. No rust in the cab corners or rocker panels either. Only 150k miles and it’s now junk.
Sad icon does not do it justice 🙁
Mice.
I somehow, inexplicably, left an entire gallon of milk in the trunk of my Subaru legacy GT Spec B…in the middle of summer.
Even worse, it ended up being days before I discovered it.
It’s been 20 years, and somehow I did get the smell out – but I really don’t know how.
Another one. Our first house had a detached garage. The wife put the garage door opener in her purse one day while I was backing out and accidentally hit the button. The door came down on the top of the car and wasn’t set right for safety and just smashed it until the door came off the track on one side.
Insurance was nice and classified it as a “falling object” under comprehensive. I also had rental coverage, which was the first time, but not the last, that I asked if I could use that anywhere. They said yes. So I took the car in while we were on vacation in Florida and sent in my rental car for reimbursement under the claim.
A number of years ago, I had a buddy ask me to help him pick up his jet skis from his brother’s barn that he left them in over the winter. As soon as we took off the covers we could smell what had happened. The mice got into everything. seat foam, wires, it was awful. The smell was so bad, there are not words.
We decided to leave the engine covers off so they could air out on the way home. Well once we got on the freeway, we could hear loud squeaking inside the car. The mice. They were in the engine bays, freaking out and screaming. I watched a couple fly out of the jet skis as we drove down the interstate. All I could think of is the cars behind us having mice land on their windshields at 75 mph. We exited quickly but the sound stayed with me. Who knew mice screams could be so haunting?
I can picture Hannibal Lecter asking you about the mice.
With a nice Chianti!
It was my parents van, but the van I learned to drive on.
When we moved from STL to Jersey, they had a deep freeze full of food, so they loaded the freezer in the truck and then loaded the food in. The freezer was way to heavy to load into the van while full. The process reversed when they got to a friend’s house in Jersey. They unloaded the freezer, got the freezer out, and loaded the freezer back full of the food. Then we parked the van for about a week while waiting for our house to be ready and for the movers to arrive,since we used the other car.
Well, a couple 5 pound tubes of ground beef accidently got left in the van for that very hot week. The van just smelled like death and juices had leaked into the carpet. They cleaned it up pretty well, but every summer, there would just be that faint smell of rotten meat in the van, but they still kept it for about 5 more years.
Had my S2000 and my wife’s 1 year old Lexus NX plug in get burned to the ground in the garage in the eaton fire last year. My scion xb burned on the driveway.
:((
A friend with a Rabbit convertible put the top up with a swivel ski in the back and damaged the rear window.
Aka the Brady Bunch classic.
Mice. Had a 68 Barracuda I winterized and covered it indoors for the winter. Come spring, I uncovered it to find the fuckers had eaten the headliner, visors, seat backing in all the seats, chewed the wiring under the dash and trunk, shit, died and left a horrible smell. Many bucks later, it still smelled like mouse piss when it rained. Sold it.
Thankfully I haven’t had many instances like this. The most notable exception is when my wife and I were driving her Mazda CX-9 from San Diego to Zion NP in August and we got caught in a crazy hailstorm on I-15 right at the CA/NV border. My wife’s poor car got pelted with golfball sized hail and I was genuinely worried one of the windows was going to break.
I got it on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5HfAYHif1s
Thankfully the car only got a bunch of sheetmetal damage so we were able to continue our trip. I was pretty surprised insurance paid for the repair and didn’t total the car.
Being young, broke, and stupid, I was doing work on the rear brakes of my old Beetle. I reused the old and weak cotter pin which secured the castle nut that held the brake drum, wheel, and tire onto the rear axle. I was going down a rather steep hill when the drum, wheel, and tire decided to remove themselves from the car. That in itself was alarming, but I went into a full panic when the brake pedal effortlessly went to the floor because all of the brake pressure from the single cylinder brake master went to the wheel cylinder of the removed drum, leaving no pressure for the remaining wheel cylinders. Additionally, since the rear brake housing was scraping the pavement, the lifted front end provided even less steering capability than the old Beetle normally had. No brakes, little steering. The next thing I remembered was being at a full stop on the shoulder of the road, with no recollection of how I got there.
Memo to past Jack Trade of about a decade ago – don’t transport used coolant in the backseat of the Mustang, and if you absolutely must, make sure the container’s cap is on super tight. Days of effort and it still to this day vaguely smells like sweet chemical danger back there.
I had a rotted tree branch fall on me as I was driving under it, had to kick out the windshield to drive to the body shop. It was a 2 year old Grand Marquis, so they didn’t total it, but should have, the roof had been crushed down in the center and it had all sorts of new squeaks and rattles in the interior when I got it back, plus the a/c continued to occasionally shoot out pieces of glass for years afterwards.
The township sent me an unsolicited letter from their attorney later on advising that they were not liable under the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which kind of pissed me off, because I hadn’t said a word to them about a lawsuit or recovering damages, felt insensitive and presumptive. The tree was badly rotten and on a vacant lot owned by the township, after the incident, the homeowner across the street came running over ranting about how many times he complained to them about how dangerous the tree was and that it needed to come down
My Merkur Xr4Ti cracked the turbo oil feed tube and sprayed oil all over the hot exhaust manifold. Of course it caught fire and burned a whole lot of stuff but the best part was the starter solenoid self engaging from the flames, and since I left it in gear, it started slowly lurching it’s way towards our all wood library during children’s story time.
Did not happen to me but my parents. The next door neighbor whose property was at a higher elevation parked his boat without securing it or chocking the wheels. Ended up flying down the hill into my parents garage and shifting several layers of cinder blocks making up the garage out of sync. Several years later when my mom was living with just my sister the same neighbor and his son took care of snow removal when we couldn’t get back home. Great neighbor interesting way to meet them
> Great neighbor interesting way to meet them
We met our south neighbors the day before we moved in because our pipes froze and flooded their basement.
I met our north neighbor when a branch from our tree fell onto their kitchen.
We’ve moved.
Just the usual northern winter stuff. A tree fell on my truck in an ice/snow storm a few years ago. Snow and ice slid off the roof and hit another car 20 years ago. I live in Florida now, no more snow.
On a dark and stormy morning around 2001, I was driving down the freeway on my way to work in a 1977 280Z. She was mint, working AC, silver with black interior. I had just installed a new Clarion CD deck, amp and limo tint. Bass was so tight my rearview mirror was useless.
Anyway, It was raining pretty good, and I had just gotten into the exit lane going about 55 when the air turned, what I can only describe as shiny red and green. All the hair on my body stood up, and then blinding light and BAM! The loudest sound I have ever heard in my life. I had no idea what had happened. All 4 of my tires were blown out, but the old L28 was still running like a champ. I nursed it to the shoulder. Bewildered, I got out to check the damage. The guy driving behind me stopped to render aid and explained that lightening had struck my radio antenna. He watched it arc and all 4 tires blow up. The original Z was manual everything but for some reason had this ridiculous 4 foot tall electric antenna. It melted like a candle to the body. I had blood coming out of my ear, and I was near deaf for the rest of the day. My ears still ring.
Later that day, I put on a fresh set of boots, she started right up and drove home. The radio was fried and I spent the next 6 months replacing relays as they gave out one by one. It ate alternators and regulators like tic tacs for a year or so, and the AC never worked again. All the rubber hoses in the cooling system and EFI rail fell apart, but I never had a single problem with the ECU. After that, it ran like a top for the next decade as my daily driver. That car was a beast.
When you said the air turned red and green I half expected you to say you got hit by Santa Claus.
Please tell us what you were listening to that so angered Thor. I want nothing like this.
My personal vehicles? Rodent damage. All three of the cars I’ve had at this house have had their wiring harnesses chewed on to the tune of ~$400 each. Just enough to hurt but less than the deductible. They do it once and never again. It’s like a rite of passage.
Also the engine on my mom’s Opel caught fire while idling at the gas pump with me in it. I was a little kid and thought the paint bubbling up looked cool.
The engine management computer up and died.
I limped along for a few more blocks – I’m told getting the thing to even start was a miracle and everyone wanted to know how I did it, but I didn’t have any rational answer – and then parked it. I called for a tow.
I was on vacation, we were barely six hours from the house into a 18-hour drive, and the damned van was so very dead. Two small kids, one frustrated Sweetie, and me, desperate to rediscover some leisure time. Already grieving at the death of my joy. This is stressful just to remember.
Very long story much much shorter, the ’02 Malibu’s trunk is like a Vegas magic act. National Car Rental answered my question of whether we could take the stranded motorist rental on the rest of our vacation with, “Sure, have fun.” We rented the car in Roanoke VA; I sent them a picture of the car with the Statue of Liberty in the background. I got to see my sister. We had a great time.
When we got back to Roanoke, we picked up our freshly re-brained van with some trepidation. We sold it a couple of years later and I never ever ever missed it, not once. The emotional turmoil it put me through, and the utter absence of faith I had in it ever after left me hollowed out. I hated that car from that moment onward.
A stressful car is a horrible thing. My first car was a vile piece of late 1980s American shite (Horizon/Omni) that blew a head gasket at 70k miles, and overheated at the drop of a hat. I lived in sunny southern California, needed a car for work, and had no money, so every day was a stressful adventure. Will I make it to work? Will I need a tow I can’t afford and repairs I definitely can’t afford?
I got rid of the car and got another one. More fine 1980s American garbage. Blew a gasket at 50k. Overheated, choked under load. I was in a hotter, larger, and busier part of California (with LA traffic). The same daily stress adventures, magnified by distances and higher temps. I had to leave my place after 10pm to see my gf to avoid traffic and overheating. Mechanicals also failed early and often. Polo the mechanic knew I was broke and didn’t take advantage of me, which was nice, but there was very little to be done. My gf had a job and was tired of this so she helped me buy a used Prism (Corolla) that was generally OK.
> The emotional turmoil it put me through, and the utter absence of faith I had in it ever after left me hollowed out. I hated that car from that moment onward.
That was me with both cars, every day. To this day I refuse to buy domestic cars, even though they have improved a lot since the 1980s. And when people here praise the Dodge Omni as a cool car in the general vicinity of VW Golfs of the same era, I still wince from the mild PTSD it gave me 30 years ago.
I’m in a better financial position and can afford reliable cars and/or repairs now, but still very aware of and sympathetic to what broke people who need their cars go through every day. That’s why I get angry when commenters here and elsewhere say things like “why do broke people buy old Kias? They’ll cost them more in repaira than buying a Civic that won’t break down!” If we could afford a Civic, we’d buy it, not the Kia.
This. My sister-in-law, who has never made a good financial decision in the 40 years she’s walked the earth, had one of those USB-theft Kias she bought from a shifty used car lot which threw a check engine light as she drove it off the lot. She nursed that thing along for 3 years before it finally died. I helped her look at used cars via FaceTime at a CarMax lot (she’s in Ohio, we’re in Maryland) and we found a nice solid Corolla with low miles at a reasonable price. My wife sleeps better knowing that’s one less thing her sister has to worry about (and she’s got plenty).
My friends, King and Oz. We are brothers in trauma. Or maybe King’s sister-in-law.
People wonder why the poor suffer so much mental illness and/or stress. Can’t afford school to get a good job to get a good car that doesn’t need constant repairs and keep running so I can get to my crap job that barely pays for the repairs to keep the crap car running.
The treadmill of trauma, folks. At the bottom of all of it, the framework the treadmill is built around, it’s money. And every other piece of the treadmill that is bolted onto the money is cars, work, food, housing etc etc ad infinitum. If you’re lucky enough to have a car that you trust, cool. You’re ahead of the curve.
Manufactured poverty is the oligarch’s time-honored method of population control.
Good job.
Children.
Bored kids in car seats on long car rides do unspeakable things to a car interior. My three ruined the interior of my family truckster Suburban so thoroughly that I ultimately had to junk the car.
I had a brand new Hyundai Tucson Hybrid parked on the street in front of my house, I also had my $1000 Ford Expedition parked right behind it too (that was for the Gambler). The shitty tree in front of our house (that I hated) decided to drop a huge limb that crushed both. Totaled the Hyundai, the Expedition had the hood crushed in, but it still ran fine. Not a fun day. The tree was ours, and from the second we moved in I wanted it cut down because it seemed like it was dying. My wife disagreed vehemently, so the tree stayed.
After this incident I called my wife (who was traveling) and said that tree is FUCKING GOING.
No pushback this time, obviously.
Side note…because it was impossible to find a good deal at the time, I had to do a 100 mile (Round trip) commute in said crushed Expedition for a while until I could get something else. We still took that Expedition to the gambler, ran it off motocross jumps, drove it back 6 hours… never had a problem.
Is have to say it started with a blown engine in my company delivery truck. I had a local company install a Jasper motor. This motor crapped out after 6 months. After paying for a rental and investigating they sent a replacement. Then 2 months that engine imploded and after rental of another truck and the same investigation they sent another engine. Then after 5 months that engine exploded. They offered partial reimbursement because the warranty was 3 years and they felt the 8 months I got out of the two engines, although they counted the time I was renting a truck so they said 2 years so I should pay 2/3rds of the cost of the motor. I threatened lawyers they weren’t impressed my insurance company which covered rental for mechanical problems threatened lawyers and they decided we will return the money you spent on the motor and testing. I bought a new to me truck a Ford E350SD e with a 318 V8 Which had those popcorn plugs. Good times
TS Allison took both of our cars and left us walking and borrowing friends and relatives cars for a month until we could find replacements. Almost 2 decades later we learned our lesson and in hurricane Harvey we put the cars up on jackstands but the water kept rising and we lost both cars again. Spent a month walking, biking, and borrowing cars from friends and corworkers until we could get replacements.
The problem with floods is it’s not just your car that gets ruined, all the rentals and used and new cars get ruined too and the rest of the city is also looking to rent and buy cars all at the same time.
Another one that technically was a crash but maybe doesn’t count because I wasn’t in my car. It was parked in my driveway when an S10 came flying off the freeway and landed on it 🙁