The Toad is on Fire!

Those who didn’t read my last blog post, you might want to go back and have a look. I’ll wait here for you…………………la dee da da la dee da da…….ok, just kidding, I’ll give you a quick rundown. We were looking for an inexpensive extremely cheap toad (vehicle to pull four down behind the RV). We initially went to the dealer around the corner because they had ONE towable car, a Honda CR-V. The day we went, we found out that ONE AND ONLY car had been hit on the dealers lot that very morning. Oh joy. So we regrouped and headed over to our local Honda dealer.

Low and behold the cheapest CR-V on the lot already had a tow bar installed. Wow, that’s incredible, we couldn’t believe it. It was also the one with the most miles. We hemmed and hawed and thought to ourselves, “No big deal, it’s a Honda, Honda’s last forever, right?”. So we took the plunge, no warranty available because of the high mileage, and signed on the dotted line. The car made it home just fine. The next day, hubby drove it five minutes to the commuter lot. He called and told me he was a bit concerned because the check engine light was flashing and it seemed to run rough while sitting still. Hmmmmm.

Now, you remember me saying we all needed to keep our fingers crossed that this car lasted at least three years, right? This is the timeframe we hope to have all debt in our names paid off. Well, the dark cloud that seems to hang over us has been pouring buckets this week.  You see, hubby drives the car back home and is still concerned with its performance, check engine light is still blinking. I told him we’re returning it to the dealer. I cannot be in a new town, by myself with the kids, and have the car break down. I would rather take on a little more debt and extend our three years by a few more months. The peace of mind is more important to me. He agreed.

So the decision is made, the car is going back for one with a warranty and fewer miles. He wants me to drive it to see how wacky it’s acting. I pull out of the driveway and he follows behind me. Strange, the car won’t go very fast, he didn’t mention this. With the pedal to the metal, it’s only going about 10 miles an hour. Okay, maybe it just needs to work something out of its system. I mean after all, it wasn’t doing this an hour ago. So I continue on, the car sputters up to 40 on the speedometer, then back down to 10. I’ll never get it back to the dealer at this rate. I live in the DC area and I’m actually hoping for traffic on I-95 because my car won’t go faster than a turtle! That’s definitely a sign something ‘aint right, haha!

For the first time in forever (hey, that’s lyrics to a song, right?!!), they’ll be music, they’ll be light………..they’ll be flames flying out the back-end of my muffler!!!! Joking aside, FLAMES WERE COMING OUT OF MY MUFFLER. You do know what else is in the back-end of the car, right? The gas tank. My daughter is riding in the back. I yell for her to get out of the car while I grab my hat and try to smother the flames. It was not working. I jump in the other car and head home for the fire extinguisher. [Pause for one moment please –  if you don’t already carry a fire extinguisher in your car, please, for my sake, put one in there. I will forever have one after this episode].

I fly into the house, grab the fire extinguisher from the kitchen while the twins ask what’s wrong. I yell, “The car is on fire”. Oh the crazy shenanigans that permeate through my house. If you only knew the things we’ve been through over the years. I go running back out, jump into the car and try my best not to

FIRE!!

kill any unsuspecting souls on the road. I keep thinking to myself, “Drive slowly Debbie, if you have another accident it will only compound things”. All the while visions of the car in flames is playing through my head. I pull up in view of the car, phew, it’s all in one piece. The flame has extinguished itself and my husband is alive. I breathe a sigh of relief.

I’m so upset I’m shaking. We all get in the Pilot and head to the Honda dealer. We find our salesman and by this time I’m in tears blubbering, “The car started on fire, we were trying to return it to you and flames came out of the muffler”. The poor guy doesn’t know what to do with an incoherent, crazy lady in the showroom. He shuffles us off to the repair lounge and the poor folks waiting for their cars to be serviced get a good show. I don’t know what it is with me. I cannot tell you when the stress is going to come out in a torrent of tears or when I can hold it in. I’m such an emotional sap. The manager comes over to us and immediately puts us in a rental car. He asks for directions to the, let’s refer to it as ‘fire car’, so the tow truck can pick it up. We head back home to await their call the next day. Obviously they need to assess the situation.

Fast forward to today. My husband comes home and tells me the service guy called and told him what was wrong with ‘fire car’. It’s repaired with no charge to us. Oh H – E double hockey sticks, NO! I do not want to have anything to do with ‘fire car’ ever again. Who knows what other damage is lurking inside. I prepare myself for a fight as we head back to the dealer. The sales manager from the previous day is gone so I explain to the new sales manger on duty that we’re NOT taking that car back, no way, no how, not ever. It’s all theirs. Thankfully, he agrees and shuffles us over to our salesman.

The new toad

We cancel out the old deal and move forward from there. I already knew the car I wanted, one with low miles but not brand new. This one is certified, comes with a warranty, actually double the warranties and has low miles. I’m almost a bit squeamish putting the tow plate on her. But alas, it must be done. She’ll have a LeBra on the front as well as a rock deflector between her and the motorhome. We are keeping this car for a long, long time. That’s the only way we can justify the little wrench it threw in our debt payoff plans. We’re also driving it until it dies because it’s a 2014. This is the last year that Honda will certify the CR-V to be flat-towed. All 2015 CR-V’s have different transmissions and are not authorized as flat-towable any longer. She’s the last of her kind.

So there you have it folks. The crazy, crazy happenings of the RV Lost Yet crew, well momma anyway. I have these two bits of advice for you:

• If you haven’t put that fire extinguisher in your car yet, please go do it. I just purchased the ones to your left a moment ago. I had one in my kitchen and it was really easy to use. They cost $16.44 for two and are a compact size that will fit nicely in a car. Click on the link above or the picture to purchase. It could one day save a life or at the very least divert catastrophe.
• DO NOT buy a car just because it was a toad in a former life and has a base plate attached to it. Find a good reliable car first and then put the base plate on yourself. It really only saves you at most a thousand bucks. In fact, I think I’ll steer clear of ever buying a toad car again. I know it was probably just my bad luck and had nothing to do with it but………..yeah, the bad luck part.

Stay safe out there everyone. Memorial Day weekend is upon us and the crazy drivers are coming out of the woodwork. Oh, and watch out for flaming cars.

{HUGS} from the crew!

Hey, if you’re ordering anything from AMAZON in the near future, please think of me over here. You can help me out by making a purchase after you click on my link. My tow vehicle and I would really appreciate it!

If you’re on your mobile device, scroll ALLLL the way downnnnnn to the bottom to find the link. Thank you SO much. It means a lot to me!