Last week I took the day off to spend my guy's birthday with him, and I thought the little harmless things I had planned (eating out, taking a trip to a town close by, and walking around some antique shops) would be fine. First I took him to have breakfast at a local restaurant, only we missed their window for serving breakfast by 15 minutes.
No problem, I thought, we'd just drive over to another restaurant nearby that served breakfast all day. Only the car then wouldn't start.
This is why I keep paying for AAA every year, by the way. Anyway, we were hungry, and decided to walk to the other restaurant, where we did have a nice breakfast. Then we hiked back and called the AAA roadside assistance, which arrived about 20 minutes later to inform us that our battery was the culprit, and promptly tried to sell us a new battery for fifty bucks more than we could get one at the local auto parts (you cannot scam a former HVAC mechanic, or a gal who did a trade school course in diesel engine mechanics with her dyslexic dad.)
We got a jump instead of the new battery, drove home, and realized the car was still under warranty -- for two more days. When we called our dealer in the city, they said they were 99.9% sure it was covered, but if not, it would be $400.00+ for the new battery and installation. We just had to drive into the city to find out. At this point it was past noon, our plans were blown, so we decided it was worth the trip in case the battery was covered. Fortunately the car started one more time on the jump charge, and off we went.
I was not optimistic. I expected the dealer to tell us in the end that it wasn't covered, and to pay $400.00+ for our ruined day because that's the kind of bad luck I have during the holidays. We sat in the very comfortable waiting area and drank some coffee while waiting for the verdict. It ended up being $461.00, but in a burst of amazingly good luck, the dealership covered the battery and installation, and gave us a three-year warranty on the new battery. We didn't have to pay a penny. They even washed and vacuumed our car after the installation.
Was it just the warranty coverage that was good luck, though? My guy and I are planning to do a lot of driving this month, and we like to take back country roads, so we might have broken down in the middle of nowhere and waited many hours for help. The battery died two days before the expiration of our car warranty, which I'm sorry, almost never happens in real life -- it's usually two days after the warranty expires. We were treated like royalty by our dealership (Sports Subaru in Orlando, if anyone wants an amazing car and wonderful dealer), who paid for everything and gave us a brand-new battery with a warranty.
Why is this so amazing to me? Since I probably will have to pay a huge increase in my medical insurance premium -- we still don't know yet -- we really need to save money. Also, it was my guy's birthday. He didn't deserve to get the short end of my holiday bad luck stick.
Anyway, thank you, Universe, for the holiday bad luck. It may have wrecked our day, but in the long run it saved $$$ and incovenience, too.
Image credit: Eggs image by Image by Alexa from Pixabay; car pic Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay
Comments
re: Medicare
Are you talking about Medicare A or B? Medicare A has no cost if you paid taxes at least 10 years. It's basically hospital insurance. Medicare B is a supplemental insurance for doctor visits and tests. That one you absolutely pay for premiums and they all tell you what it is up front. I'm on United Health Care. But even the same insurance is different depending on where you live.
When I started Medicare I spoke to a very nice lady who advised me on the various insurances. I think it was from this web site: https://www.cms.gov/about-cms It's a government agency so they don't steer you to any one private insurance. They just answer questions and help you decide which insurance has the lowest premium depending on your health and needs.
It's very complicated, even if you've done it before.