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Well, we weren't even hurt.
We were sitting in the drive-thru of a local coffee shop.
I'd just paid for our order when there was a loud thunk and the car shook.
At first I thought some idiot had rear ended us.
But there was no one behind me.
Something HAD hit the car.
A wheel and tire.
A witness to the tire's ejection pulled up and told us where to find the owner.
He grabbed the wheel and we followed him to the 3-wheeled Toyota SUV.
I noticed that the tire looked brand new...
I'll let Ron White explain what happened. Just insert "Toyota Dealer" where he says "Sears."
The owner of the SUV is obviously not happy, and quite shaken by her left rear departing the vehicle.
She called the Toyota dealer and they sent the service manager to talk to her.
She delivered an ass chewing to that guy that would have put a sergeant major in tears.
He promised her he'd make it right by her.
Then he looked at my tiny little dent.
I have an appointment first thing Monday to get that fixed.
It is not the biggest dent on the car. It's an ex-police vehicle. It's covered in little scars.
I'm a little embarrassed to have them fix this blemish, but he volunteered. If the body guy will address some of the other small dents while they're working on it, I will let them, but I will not make the suggestion more than a joke.
The scary part of this is that tire crossed six lanes of traffic and two medians to get to my car. It traveled about 600 feet and didn't hit anything or anyone until it stopped by hitting my car.
It's a miracle, Vincent, and I want you to acknowledge it.
The Toyota Dealer is eager to handle this quietly and in-house. I can see why. His guy who skipped lug-nut day almost had them set up for a wrongful death lawsuit. Fixing on my car is a small price to pay.
I'm glad no one was hurt. That dealership ought to be grateful you aren't 'lawyering up' at this moment. Fixing your car's finish is the very least they can do.
ReplyDeleteBack in 1981, I was a 17 soon to be 18 when my '66 VW Bug developed some brake issues. Took it to the dealership who told me the brake cylinder required replacement - okay. About $80 (yeah, old days).
Well I got it back and the next day, I thought my brakes felt funny. I was on the way to take back to dealership when brakes failed and I rear ended a Monkey Wards service van at a red light, doing about 20 mph. Front bumper 'hooks' hooked up with the van's heavy bumper. No damage to either vehicle. Took 4 cops to push down with enough force to free it. Because I took responsibility for the accident and told the driver's supervisor wasn't his fault, they didn't press any charges. That was very cool of them.
Bad cylinder. Dealership payed for for repair work and apologies for the experience. JRs first ticket.
jrg
Wow... that was fortunate it didn't end up much worse. I've seen wheels come off like that before. Although the worst one I saw was a tire bouncing down the highway right past me (at 60+ miles an hour) that appeared to still have the rotor attached to it... then I saw the car still moving, sparks shooting everywhere as it was dragging the left front...
ReplyDeleteI had a wheel almost come off on my C3 one time. I had the left half shaft replaced because I broke the U-joint and when the guy put the wheel back on he must have forgot to torque the lug nuts. I got from the shop about a block out to pull onto the feeder road for IH35 and I punched it... and felt the rear end go all squirrely... So I pulled over and there were only 3 lug nuts holding the left rear wheel on and they were loose... and all right next to each other. Lucky I had a tire iron in the car so I tightened them up, moving one opposite the other two... and turned around and sllloooowly drove back to the shop... My friend who owns the shop just about fired the guy who made the boo-boo, but I told him I didn't want to see the guy lose his job over that because he's not a bad guy. I think he learned his lesson... Anyway... again, could have been worse for me too... Sometimes you just get lucky.
-swj