Time for a New Car?

I'm not sure why I feel compelled to publish this story. Perhaps I'm looking for some kind of catharsis.

To begin with I'm not exactly making a living from my CDs or any other published work for that matter, so for now I'm a courier.

I had a Dodge Caravan that had 225,000 miles on it with three payments left. I would definitely not recommend Dodge vans from 1995 to 2003 if you do any real driving at all. I've had three of them and they all went through transmissions. My last was a 1999 Caravan that was on it's forth since January of 2005.

Just before plate renewal was due I lost transmission # 4. $1700.00 later I took it in for inspection. In Missouri we have safety and emission inspections. The station wouldn't pass a small crack I had at the bottom of the windshield and three of its tires. I had them change the oil while they were at it.

Three days later the van died on me while I was working. I was furious when I called the station thinking they didn't put the bolt back in under the oil pan. They towed it in and discovered the fuel pump was shot.

It cost me over $3000.00 to get my $500.00 van road worthy.

The weekend finally came and my girl friend and I were ready for a good drunk. We were relaxing on a friend's second floor porch in South St. Louis. It was probably the last pleasant evening of the year. My friend warned me that a car doesn't die until you put new tires on it. I told him I just had.

When it came time to leave we couldn't find my van. It had been parked right under the porch we were sitting on and we never saw it being stolen. Our host was so embarrassed he lent me his car for a couple of days.

As it turns out Dodge Caravans are the most stolen car in St. Louis. They are incredibly easy to hot wire. Just punch out the ignition with a rock and use a screw driver. I had a club that would have secured the steering wheel but the van was so beat up I didn't think anyone would want it.

The next morning we were watching the news. They broadcast a story about a drive by shooting. Two cars were seen speeding away including a dark van. I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if that was my van?" I told my insurance agent about the story and he assured me it was unlikely.

Two days later the agent called me with good news. "They found your van and it only has the ignition punched out." When we went to claim it I almost didn't recognize it. My new tires were flat, the upholstery had been slashed, and wires had been pulled out everywhere. Twenty or thirty empty brass bullet shells littered the floor. It occurred to me later that brass it going for a lot these days in scrap yards.

Everyone's always got advice during situations like this. Someone told me the cops probably ripped it up looking for evidence. My agent assured me if this was the case we would have found dusting powder for finger prints.

The insurance company gave me enough to pay off the van and put a down payment on another car.

Watch out for those Dodge Caravans.