Terminal Car Killers

The little Toyota Tercel that I drove to high school every morning got hit by a tree. That's right. Hit by a tree. During a storm, a tree fell and landed right on top of it, crushing it. I loved that car.
Steve and I raked together our money while we were engaged (it was mostly Steve's $) to purchase our first car, a lemon of a '93 Ford Taurus. It lasted us a super ~5 mnths before it overheated and died. I hated that car, as did Steve.

Then my parents were VERY generous and after my brother left on his mission, they let us have their Nissan Quest Mini-van which we LOVED until one cold Provo morning, a guy decided to race his friend down a neighborhood street and run a stop sign and slam into me, totalling the van.

We used the insurance money from the van to buy our '98 Toyota Camry which we've really been grateful for-- smooth driving and no car loans and gas mileage that would get us all the way from Virginia to SC without having to make one stop!

But when we got back from SC a few weeks ago, the Camry started making a strange noise. We took it in to Meineke to get the oil changed and have them check out the sad noise coming from the motor, and that's when they gave us the news....

... it's terminal.

They told us it still might last us another 6 mnths to a year-- or 4 days.

We think one of the pistons must have broke off and started to whirl around in the motor because Friday after I dropped Steve off at work, I was on my way to the gym when the car suddenly started clattering like crazy and it wouldn't go over 15 mph.

Thank you to Katy who came to our rescue!!

She was kind enough to trail behind Steve going 15 mph in morning traffic with the emergency lights on through the rain while listening to a screaming baby! Thank you!

Ironically, Kate and I both said we had actually been looking for an excuse to get some time together to talk... sometimes you get what you want in ways you'd never expect, I suppose.

So I don't know what is up with our terrible luck with cars. This has all happened within a few years time. ::sigh:: It's not like we don't do our research. We check lots of cars, take them to the mechanic before buying, haggle a bit... and yet... it's terminal.

Steve and I, we kill cars.

By the way, does anyone in the Charlottesville area know a good mechanic?

... Or have a car they wouldn't mind donating? ;)