The Household landed at Sydney Airport around 3.30pm this afternoon – we’ve been to Melbourne for a wedding – and I got super-excited as the bus approached our far-flung corner of the long-term carpark because the enormous tree we’d parked under appeared to have sustained serious storm damage. A massive branch had been ripped from the trunk and crashed to the ground. I held my breath, hoping that our old shit box was under the branch – insurance write-off dollar signs in my eyes – but as we wheeled our suitcases closer I saw that it had fallen 90 degrees off target.
Damn, I said to Husband, we were thisclose to a new car.
I don’t think so, Husband replied, it’s only insured for $7500.
What? Dammit.
Somehow I don’t think $7500 will buy the tow-bar installed, blue-tooth enabled 4WD of my dreams … So I sighed a different sigh, one of relief that the shit box hadn’t been totalled by the tree.
We arrived home with five minutes to spare before Sprog 2’s gymnastics class and Sprog 1’s trumpet class. I packed Husband off to complete both tasks – sucked in – while I parked myself in front of the computer for some frenetic blogging.
Ah, it’s nice to be home.
PS Speaking of crashing bores … we were horrified to discover that our bargain $146 for 4 days hire car in Melbourne didn’t include comprehensive insurance … that was $47 a day extra (on top of the $45 for a booster seat for Sprog 2 – could have bought our own for that). And if you didn’t cough up the extra $47 and had a crash, you were up for $3600 in excess, even if it wasn’t your fault. $3600 excess even if it’s not my fault! How’s that for a rort? Thanks for nuthin’ Hertz.
housegoeshome 
$3600 in excess for $45/day insurance? I think you may have misread the policy. The $3600 in excess is usually if you don’t take the full insurance. If you take the maximum cover it takes this to zero. I’m not a sales person for Hertz but I always max-out insurance and bring back the car without a care – ding or no ding.
The dumb decisions people make when they are broke … they clutch the $167 car hire like a life raft …
Hire cars. Grrrrrr. I hired a car from ‘no Birds’ (Bayswater car rental or something like that). We returned the car and made our way to the desk to finalise payment/paperwork. A man called Arnold Cluck (how could I forget the name) presented me with a Polaroid of a shredded tire and told me that the replacement cost for the spare tire we had destroyed would be deducted from my credit card. We didn’t use the spare tyre. We didn’t even open the boot. But I was powerless. They had my credit card number and charged me for it. I was in tears. If I ever hire a car again I will definitely insist on an inspection with a company rep before I drive it out of the shop. Bastards!
That’s a shocker. Yes, we always check the car with a fine tooth comb – never though to look at the spare tyre though. We will next time.