One down...

 

Finally.  Almost two months after the hail storm that beat the snot out of our Honda CR-V and Winnebago motorhome, we have a settlement on the Honda.  Of course, it is a total loss... that was apparent to us before the hail storm ended.

Because the dumbass that Progressive hired to do the damage assessment on our vehicles only took some photos and didn't work up any kind of estimate, our files on each of these vehicles sat.  Only after we vigorously complained did anything get done.  I had to pull out the "not dealing in good faith" phrase before someone at Progressive realized the file had been sitting for 7 weeks with no one working on it.  In the end, I had to shoot photos of both the car and the motorhome again to get things going.

Today, Progressive settled with us on the Honda.  Nothing will happen as far as them paying us until the company they hire tows it away.  That should happen early next week.  Honestly, it seems like a less than dignified way to end the ownership of that great little vehicle.  The CR-V has been a champ: typical Honda reliability, comfortable, and easy to own and maintain.  Pretty sure that when we sign over the title, that vehicle will get scrapped for parts.

Finding something to replace it has taken up a lot of our free time.  The CR-V was the ideal combination of weight and capability for what we wanted with a vehicle to tow behind the motorhome.  The newer CR-Vs are not towable 4-wheels-down.  We would have to buy a 7 year old CR-V for that.  So, we have been looking and comparing.  We aren't looking for anything smaller than the CR-V, and have to keep an eye on the weight for bigger vehicles that are towable.  And, if we continue double towing, we have to work within a length that will keep us legal.

Spending time on Carvana, we pretty much narrowed it down to the Chevy Equinox and the Ford Edge.  Joan wasn't a fan of the Edge, so... Carvana showed us that there are some Equinoxes (Equini?) to be had.  Next came the narrowing down of what we felt necessary for equipment - three big things: the 2.0 turbocharged engine, 9 speed transmission, and factory tow package... that eliminated about 95% of the offerings.  Joan found one she liked and by the time we discussed it and looked back, it was already listed as sold.  That happened more than once.

Then, she found one at a dealer about 70 miles away.  She confirmed that it was still there, and we went to take a look at it and take it for a test drive.  It has "the big three" things we required and a lot of other niceties.  We put a deposit on it to hold it until we got the final word from Progressive... I just didn't want to commit to them that we'd take their evaluation on it and then have someone haul it away before we could take delivery on something else.

Now, we're lining up ducks and timing.