[In the voice of Professor Farnsworth, Futurama] “Good news, everyone!”

First a little background:

1. I got a flat tire on the Toyota last Saturday, which is the first since 2010′s “the year of flat tires.” It’s been a good seven-month run of no flat tires, but it was bound to happen again. I planned to go to our local Toyota dealership to replace the tire.
2. Saturday night, Josh got a stomach virus, and was sick all night. He was still a bit sick on Sunday, so I’d stay home with him, to allow him more time to recover.

With these two facts, I watched Josh on Monday, and took him with me to Toyota to get the tire replaced. I was hoping to get the tire replaced under Toyota’s tire warranty program,  but with getting all four tires replaced last year, I didn’t know if I could make a convincing argument to get this one replaced as well. After many wheel balancings, who knows which tire was purchased at what Toyota dealership, which was an original new tire, and which was a replacement for a replacement. I didn’t want to plunk down $275+ for a new tire, when we’re trying to save up money to replace the rear brakes. This was “rear brakes” money!

Ah, well, we could’t drive around with no spare tire all this time. I picked up some McDonald’s for Josh and me, and we sat for over two hours in the customer lounge, waiting on the tire change. Around 4pm, two hours later, Toyota changed the tire. And? They were able to cover the cost under the tire warranty program, so no cost to me. I said hey, that’s great. You know, since the car is up, can I get the brakes done? Also, I forgot my $25 off coupon for brakes (I did forget), so what should I do? They said, no problem.

So another hour passes, and $250 later, the car is done. Rear tire completely replaced, and I got the rear brakes done. Sweet!  I have to give the folks at Dayton Toyota credit, because the sales/service rep was very helpful, and the Toyota tire warranty is a big help for Toyota customers, especially this one. With the Highlander, I’m a first-time Toyota customer, and this has certainly impressed me.

Ah yes, we got a flat tire over the weekend. I hate it. What an inconvenience. I was out with Lily, having dropped off Josh to a birthday party at one of those bounce places. We had a tight schedule today, so I was trying to get as much as I could done. After hitting Kohl’s, I pulled out of the parking lot, and couldn’t ignore a low-level roar.

I pulled over near the next shop we had to get to (BJ’s Wholesale), and saw the rear right tire was flat. Argh. I called AAA, and they would have someone here soon. I took Lily in to get some grocery shopping done. I had until 12 noon before we had to pick up Josh from the party. I thought I would have time to still get him.
Sigh.

By the time we were done, I got a txt msg status that they would be further delayed. Double argh! I walked Lily to a nearby Chick-fil-A, to eat lunch and play, and I spoke to my wife, and she ultimately went to get Josh instead. An inconvenience to many. AAA’s tow company came just before noon, and we were back on the road soon enough. Still, it ate up too much time out of a busy day.

Now, we need to figure out how to add the cost of a new tire to the rest of the Toyota repairs we need to get done in the next few months.

After 2+ years, the battery in my key fob for our Toyota Highlander was running low. After a few too many warnings, I considered taking it to my Toyota dealership to replace it. However, you know it’s going to take too much time and a little too much money to have them replace a simple battery. I researched online, and found out it was extremely easy. You need to use the valet key to pry open the fob, then replace the battery, which can be found at your local Radio Shack. It was fairly easy, and the battery cost me about $5.00. Much better than driving all the way to the dealership!

Toyota Highlander key fob innards

Toyota Highlander key fob (battery)

I have no words to describe the statistical likelihood that we have changed six tires on the Toyota Highlander this year, and now staring in the face of yet another flat tire. Count ‘em:

1. Mid June, 1st flat tire that started this whole adventure. We replaced two tires.
2. August, after our Midwest road trip, we replaced the remaining original Toyo tires.
3. Early September, 2nd flat tire of the year.
4. Late September, 3rd flat tire of the year.

I took a 1/2 vacation day this morning, and I’m sitting at our local Toyota dealership while they patch the tire.

4th flat tire of 2010

Update: Toyota patched the tire at no charge, as it is covered under the original road hazard warranty. I didn’t even have to pay for labor. What a relief.

Un-freakin’-believable. What is the likelihood that we could get three flat tires on the same car within three months? How about two flat tires in the same month? Isn’t this getting statistically improbable? And yet, here we are. Tire #1 in early June. Tire #2 in early September. It’s crazy.

This week, another flat tire on the Highlander. Thank goodness for AAA, because they have changed each tire in record time, and no additional fees. The 1st time in September was in the rain. The 2nd time this month I wasn’t getting home until late. Again, I had to use the Toyota Road Hazard warranty (good for two years), which meant all I was stuck paying for was $22 for tire balancing. Here’s a question for you. This Road Hazard warranty is good and all, but what kind of tire quality is there when the smallest road debris could cause a tire puncture?

This is the ratchet that went into our tire

During the week that I was in Dallas, my wife was driving the kids home and got a flat tire somewhere between Princeton and our house. She didn’t know what it was, but last week when I took it to my local Toyota dealership’s servicing department, they and I were both shocked to find it was a large ratchet tool. They were so amazed, they gave it back to me to keep. You can see a picture of it in my hand on the right. Maybe someone was doing some auto repair, and lost this on the road at some point.

I asked Toyota if they could patch the tire, but they said they couldn’t. Furthermore, they stated all four tires were in bad shape and should be replaced. All four tires? The car is less than two years old, and we’ve accumulated only 42K miles on these tires. Depending on the variables, I would expect tires to last at least 50-60K miles. This is highly questionable. I’m sure Toyota is more than willing to sell me unneccessary services and parts, and that includes overpriced tires, but I asked for an initial quote.

Oh geez, that’s when I got my second shock of the day. The 2008 Highlander Limited originally comes standard with Toyo Open Country P245/55 R19 light truck tires. Fantastically expensive, four new tires would run me $1178. The only other option are Bridgestone Dueler H/T 400′s that will cost about $868. It’s not just the cost that’s shocking — these are the only two options, albeit expensive ones. In the past, I could  go to any tire shop and get a reasonable and comparable model. It turns out that nowadays, you’re going to find more cars/trucks with odd-sized tires that are not carried by many shops.

I went online, and there are numerous complaints from current Highlander owners that you are locked into these limited choices that aren’t readily available at Toyota or Firestone locations. Oh yeah, that’s right. Toyota doesn’t even stock the Toyo tires, and has to special order them. Furthermore, Highlander owners complained that both Toyo and Bridgestone tires will last you 40K miles or less, and you’ll see uneven wear-and-tear. Again, these are my options?

Here’s the next surprise. The Highlander comes with a fantastic feature where a sensor detects a low tire pressure. Nice feature, right? I knew that, and sounded good to me, nor did I have to pay extra for that. Guess what? Every time you have to change a tire, you have to throw the sensor away, and buy a new one, and pay to install that. We all initially like how sophisticated our cars/trucks are these days, but when you have repairs, there are so many more expensive parts to either replace. It’s incredible. Talk about a double-edged sword.

Although I was nervous about driving around with no spare, I wasn’t going to throw money away without price comparison shopping. I tried a few Toyota and Firestone locations, and my Dad helped me as well. I also decided to limit myself to only two new tires for now, with the intention of replacing two more next month. Spreading that cost out over two months is a little easier to swallow. In the end, I went back to James Toyota where we originally purchased the Highlander. They offered us $460 on two tires plus a free car wash. I made a 7:30am appt on a Wed, waited in their nice customer lounge for about 90 mins, and then got on my way to the office. They also highly recommended that we change all four tires at once, but I wasn’t interested. I’m sure we can squeeze out another few weeks without the world ending.

$460 later, I have half of the new tires that I need, but it will have to be good enough for now. There’s no way we’re going to plunk down nearly a thousand dollars on tires in one month.

Seven weeks and $13,000 later, we picked up our Highlander from the Toyota body shop. The list of replaced parts, servicing, and other labor was about five pages long. It’s been a long, drawn-out process, and we still haven’t received our deductible yet from the other party yet, but for now, let’s rejoice that our vehicle has returned. Although it was indeed a major accident, it’s running well, and you’d never be able to tell.

The Highlander has returned

Toyota has loaned me a Corolla. Meh, but I'll take what I can get.

We’re at the 5 1/2 week mark, and the car is still at the body shop. We’ve run through our options on borrowing various cars from family, rental cars, and working from home. This week, I have a loaner car from Toyota, a newer Toyota Corolla. The good news is that all the initial and 2nd round of work on the car is done. We’re now waiting on our insurance company to send someone to examine the car, and pay for the supplemental repairs that needed to be performed. I’m hoping that means the car will be ready on Friday.

Monday night, we drove to the Toyota dealership to pick up the loaner car, and we spotted the Highlander parked outside. It was raining heavily, so we didn’t get up close and personal, but it looks pretty good. The front license plate appears a little twisted / banged up, but nothing we can do about that. Otherwise, the car looks good.

I’m glad they offered us a loaner car, but I have the sneaking suspicion that they only offered me the loaner so that I would stop calling them daily for a status. It’s true what they say — the squeaky wheel gets the loaner car. The Corolla is ok, but the brakes suck. I wonder if I have to fill the gas tank before returning it?

The Chevrolet Impala

The latest update on my car is that it’s still in the body shop. According to the Toyota body shop, the insurance adjuster missed other car components that require repair or replacement. No comment, but oh well, I’m the one over a barrel here. The body shop estimates that the car will be ready either end of this week or early next week, but since it’s Wednesday, you would think they would know by now. Will it be ready in two days or not? Hmmmmm.

In the meantime, I’m working offsite in Jersey City again, so I needed a vehicle to travel to and from the train station. I’ve rented a car for the next five days, and got a Chevy Impala from Avis. I thought it would be an easy rental, but it took some time for Avis and my insurance company to “talk” to each other, and get the billing all set up. Due to logistics, my wife gave me a ride Monday morning to the train station, so that I could get to Jersey City. Late in the day, I walked over to the Avis rental counter at the Newport Mall to get the rental car.

It’s not a bad car, but a little sluggish. I like the radio, as it displays what channel each preset is set to. It also has satellite radio, but I’m not using it. I do find it odd that there are no courtesy or reading lights for the front seat. It’s not the biggest deal, but you know, am I “spoiled” by my last two cars by a reading light?

The first bit of news is that the police report has been issued, and the other driver was cited with careless driving. I’m relieved, but I’m not all that thrilled. Don’t get me wrong — I’m glad the police officers on the scene rightfully sided with us. However, I feel bad that the mother of the teenage driver is now going to experience higher insurance premiums as a result of the mistakes her son made. That could be us in 10-15 years.

The second bit of news is that the Toyota can be saved, but it’ll take a long while to do it. Repairs will cost approx. $9,700, and take about three weeks to get the car back. Uh, wow. I was hoping they would be done in a week. Why will it take that long? Sigh.

The third bit of news is that the Ipes have been sick. Last week, I came down with a bad strain of the flu, which knocked me out of commission Wednesday and Thursday. I was feeling better by Saturday, but I think I relapsed on Sunday. Furthermore, the rest of the family isn’t feeling well now, especially my wife. They all stayed home, and I worked from home today, in order to take care of them.