Hyundai Elantra GT

2005 Hyundai Elantra GT, purchased 2005/04/16

We bought this after some Mexicans ran over Cindy's 1998 Nissan Altima. She was following a truck pulling a lawn trailer, when they passed the Wayne F. Hill Water Treatment Plant on old Highway 20. Apparently they decided they needed to turn there, and rather than driving past and turning around, they just stopped, threw it in reverse, and started backing up.

Cindy laid on the horn, but apparently an Altima does not beep in Spanish, and they backed the trailer up over the front of the car. I'm still not clear why she wasn't throwing it into reverse and gassing it, but who knows what happens in times of panic.

Here's the pictures

When they got out of the truck, they asked Cindy if she was going to call the 'policia' and she was "You're damn right I'm calling them." When the lady cop got there, the Mexicans first said, yes, they did back into the car. Then after a few minutes, they were all "Oh no! She ran into *us*!". The cop told Cindy not to worry, they were going to have a hard time explaining why they changed their story, and they were definitely at fault. Only in America do we give a drivers license to anyone with a pulse, regardless of driving ability or being able to read English signs.

Luckily, the insurance company totaled the car. I had to fight a few rounds with them to get what I thought it was worth. The car was paid and was in fairly good shape. The cost of replacing it was much higher than what they wanted to pay. I think I managed to get $3300 out of the them, and on top of it, I had to go pick up the check. Offhand, I can't remember the name of the insurance company, but I'll be sure to NEVER use those idiots. They were a major pain in the ass to deal with, and copped a major attitude about it all.

I have these vague recollections that after the incident I had to spend some time tracking down the company the Mexicans worked for. I had to look up the truck number on the DOT commercial vehicle database, find the company, then explain to them their vehicle was involved in an accident. They were pretty accommodating, and I had no problems with them, just their moronic insurance company.

At any rate, we replaced the poor little Altima with this Elantra GT. Except for an issue with the sunroof continuing to pop the arms off the little air deflector that pops up when you open the roof, it's been a really great car.

Service History

• 2011/09/29 - 77182
  • Replace rear brake rotors
  • Replace rear brake pads
• 2011/07/11 - 74046
  • (4) Pirelli P6 P195/60R-15 tires
• 2011/04/14 - 71259
  • Replace front brake rotors
• 2010/07/26 - 63429
  • Replace front wiper blades