Blaaaaaargh!

Yeah I know- I disappeared.

Not much has happened. At least, not car-wise. This entire experience has been so incredibly...infuriating.

It's been two weeks, and I still have the rental.

The insurance adjuster made an appointment to meet with us "between 8 and 3 PM." I let him know that both my husband and I left for work around three.

I got the call at 2:58 PM. "I'm on my way! What are the cross streets?"

I politely re-explained the situation. He said he'd be there the next day by 10 AM.

He made it around noon, after I had (in my optimistic idiocy) rushed through the gym so I could get back to the house by 8 AM. He was at least a nice guy, which was a little irritating, because my first instinct was to kill him.

While he was there, the guy who lives two houses down pulls up. "Hey is there something wrong with your car?"

We explain the situation, and then he says:

"Oh! Well, if it was two nights ago, I saw the guys who did it."

He proceeds to natter on about how he saw three guys under the hood of my car with a flashlight "around midnight." And that he "thought it was odd, but maybe your husband was working on the car?" He paused and added, "I thought it was weird, because your husband's truck wasn't there, but..." He shrugged.

You know, if it was possible to kill a man with laser beams shooting out of your eyes? I could say that I killed the KING of the Morons. Thanks neighbor! Not to mention, if the timeline he gave was correct- those guys were watching the house. The Man gets home at 12:15. So I was alone in the house, and they knew it. Great.

A few days later, my car still hadn't been towed for repairs. We called the insurance co., and found out that they'd evidently lost my paperwork. OK, guys. At least the tow truck showed within an hour.

So now, the repair guys have been calling. The thieves didn't just take the throttle body, they took a bunch of wiring and sensors as well, and so once the garage got the main part and replaced the hood, they realized that the wiring harness had to be replaced, and then realized that the cables having to do with my accelerator were damaged.

Theoretically, I am getting my car back tomorrow. What a nightmare!

Part of me feels ridiculous for complaining about this. Yeah, it's a $500 deductible, and we sure didn't need it right now. On the brighter side, if we didn't have vandalism coverage, we'd be completely in over our heads- the repairs and the two-week rental were at least four times that amount, so it's just good that we have the werewithal to take care of it.

But still. As someone who has had her car broken into more times than I can count, I desperately believe that there's a special place in hell for people who steal.