Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude remains my only focus at the start of every week, which for today is for a big repair getting done on my car for free from damage done to it 10 years ago!
My car is old, 14 years old to be precise. It has over 271,000 miles on it and it’s a Camry Hybrid of which I’m the original owner. I’m quite thankful for this car and continue to do what I can to keep it going, given I don’t have a job and regular income to justifiably purchase a new vehicle or even a used one for that matter. Unfortunately, my car has sustained a few accidents over the years that have led to some major repairs. One such repair took place in April of 2011 when someone hit the entire left side of my vehicle. This repair was done at a small body shop in a town named Woonsocket, which is in Rhode Island. About two years after that repair, I moved to Toledo, Ohio and shortly thereafter, while washing and waxing my car one day, I noticed a small pea-sized bubble in one of the areas that had been repaired at that body shop. I had no idea what it was but assumed it was just a minor flaw from that body’s shop’s work and given I was now over 650 miles away, I had no choice but to do my best to ignore it.
As time went on and the years passed, that bubble grew larger and larger, until rust began to show its ugly face there, eventually turning into a much bigger problem. From time to time, I’d get estimates as to how much it would cost to fix the problem. All usually came in around $3000 leaving me with no choice each time but to accept the issue and tell myself it’s just an old car. Unfortunately, that was the only area of rust on my entire vehicle, which irked me at times given I couldn’t afford to take care of it. After going through an incredibly snowy and salt-drenched road winter here, the problem exacerbated all the worse.
One day though, about four weeks ago now, I had a strange thought and wondered if the claims area of my insurance company might be willing to fix the problem since it originally stemmed from a claim. I had nothing to lose so I called them up and quickly received the first piece of gratitude when I discovered the repair would indeed be warrantied if proven to stem from the original job, because it had been done at one of their licensed body shops. The second piece of gratitude came right after that when they told me I wouldn’t have to go back there to get the work done and could take it to one of their local body shops. About a week later, the third piece of gratitude came when the estimator showed me where the original job hadn’t sealed the paint correctly and how that rust bubble began, solidifying that it was a warrantable repair.
So, by the time this article gets published, my car will be in a local body shop getting fully repaired, and for free! After having dealt with this problem for the past decade, it’s a no brainer for me to dedicate today’s Grateful Heart Monday to this good fortune, for something good happening for once in my life, and for a problem that has most definitely frustrated me for far too long, finally getting the much-needed repair that has been long overdue.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
