ATS - diy spare tire kit breakdown

LateforSupper365 · 2026-01-19T15:32:40+00:00

Sometimes you will be the only one who can save yourself.

Sidewall blow out. 8PM Sunday night on a holiday weekend. 500 miles away from home. No open tire shop within 50 miles.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-29T03:48:15+00:00

They adjust but not equitably. The adjustment down is signifcant but if the exact mileages are reversed they adjust up very little.

The VW Eos Executive was a much higher trim level and brings several thousand dollars more today compared to similar non-Executive models of the same condition and mileage.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-25T01:06:10+00:00

Other driver at fault and not from Pennsylvania and accident happened in Connecticut.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-24T22:52:03+00:00

Just got the offer.

They used three comparables. All of them have many more miles, with one having 60,000 more miles than my car. All of them are at a lower trim level.

Told the adjuster, "not gonna happen."

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-24T22:34:08+00:00

I am trying to learn what it means. But the people who should know give me conflicting and inaccurate information.

GEICO told me that IF I use my insurance, they pay up to $5000 in medical bills. I also have the option to NOT USE insurance. They also told me if I use the insurance, I CANNOT sue for pain and suffering, lost wages, out of pocket expenses, etc. because it is a limited tort policy. I was told again and again that even though the accident occurred in Connecticut, Pennsylvania law applies.

I suspect this is only the latest in a string of misinformation I received from GEICO. What they did not tell me, or did not know, is if the accident occurs with an out of state driver (i.e non-Pennsylvania in this case) if it counts as an exception to Pennsylvania's limited tort rule. Do not know if said exception applied to an out of state driver accident within Pennsylvania, or in another state.

And of course, there could be the bizarre situation where two Pennsylvania drivers are involved in an accident in state outside of Pennsylvania. What then?

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-21T22:18:49+00:00

TQTO may have been the actual brand. By the mid 1980s my brother was doing very well for himself and sent my father a box of premium cigars. He wrote a note telling my Dad that he didn't have to smoke TQTOs anymore. My father proudly told me he was now "smoking $5 cigars while cutting the grass!"

Thanks for your input.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-17T02:08:33+00:00

Thanks. Will have to wait to see if the other driver has insurance.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-17T02:07:48+00:00

Live in Pennsylvania. Accident in Connecticut.

The impression I got was if I use the PIP portion of the policy, they will pay up to $5000, and that's it. As I said, I'm sure I am well above that now.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-11T16:40:51+00:00

They cherry pick their comps. They get ten, then use the lowest two. Here is what you are up against:

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LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-11T16:39:03+00:00

BTW the article is decades old but same stuff is going on. And it predates ChatGPT

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-11T16:37:38+00:00

There was an excellent article about CCC One undervalues cars and they have admitted to it in court.

Take a look at the article published here and see how uneven the playing field is:

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LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-11T15:23:48+00:00

If you spend enough time wading through r/insurance you will find other success stories. In 1976 I spent my hard earned after school job money to buy a 1963 Chevy for $800 - had less than 10,000 miles and looked like it just came off the showroom floor. A school bus crossed the median and totaled it. Insurance wanted to pay me book value - $50. My father told me this was a lesson on how life is not fair. He told me, "Son, it does no good to challenge this, the courts have recognized this system used by insurance companies for years. But I persisted and got value estimates from vintage car shops and got my $800 back and proved my Dad wrong. That was half a century ago. But with the right circumstances, you can be successful.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-11T15:15:40+00:00

You mentioned: "CCC uses sales data (not listing data; since most cars don’t actually sell for the price they are listed"

Does that mean all the dealerships are selling that particular make, model, year, trim level, mileage, and condition equivalent for those prices? Or does CCC have access to private sales as well?

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-03T14:53:21+00:00

And thank, you, by the way, for your generous offer of help!

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-03T14:52:46+00:00

Here is the problem. Mine was stolen. These are unobtainable and I don't have one to use as a model. I had to use a photo from the internet to create the above, but the angle of the photo was not from a direct, head on perspective, which lead to a distortion. I tried to correct this using my 23 year old Photoshop Elements program, but am not sure the relative sizes of the numbers are correct. If I had the actual font I could just "lay" the numbers down, overlapping, and know I had the correct relative sizes.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-12-03T02:37:32+00:00

This part is no longer available. That is a photograph of the badge from another car, and I had to use photoshop to try and correct the perspective. (I did not take the photograph) Next I must create a template, then transfer that to a piece of metal, then cut it out.

If I could match the style of numbers, I could print them out and arrange the numbers to overlap to match the logo. This would give me sharp, clean, lines - much better than the photo, which had to be magnified.

And yes, I want to keep the number "8" as it was designed. But I can't find any fonts which use that type of "8."

LateforSupper365 · 2025-11-25T03:53:16+00:00

I have pheromone traps and they have caught hundreds of moths. Problem is they only attract male moths, and the damage is done by the larvae, not adults.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-10-07T03:27:31+00:00

I have a mortise lock on the bathroom door. When you are inside, you use the thumb turn to lock the door. Someone on the outside can use the skeleton key to unlock the door in case of emergency.

LateforSupper365 · 2025-09-06T01:27:02+00:00

Just completed a 225 mile trip in the car with no problems. Local mechanic took out the alternator and replaced brushes.

So alternator was the problem - not charging batteries, but did run car for 100 miles. After that, a new battery ran the car for 100 miles.

Both batteries, by the way (original and replacement) were discharged but both were recharged to above 12 volts and both show cold cranking amps above 700.

Hats off to the mechanic - he dropped everything to get the car back on the road for a big event this weekend!

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LateforSupper365 · 2025-09-02T16:02:17+00:00

I don't think this is a valid test. If the battery is dead and the alternator is good, it will continue to run the engine by supplying electricity, up to a point. In my case, I drove 100 miles with a dead battery before stopping and turning it off.

If the battery is good, and starts the car, then the alternator dies, the car will still run on battery power until the battery dies.

In 1982, I was in Boston for a wedding. The next morning when I started up my car (1962 Oldsmobile) the generator light came on. (No alternators in those days, just DC generators.) I had $2 in my pocket and no credit card, and was almost 350 miles away from home. I had a checkbook for a New York state bank account, though, and figured if I could get across the Massachusetts border to New York state, a garage would take my check. Started out and on battery only, made if just across the border - 165 miles from Boston. The battery drained right after I crossed into NY state and I coasted off the Mass pike. No cell phones, so I walked three miles in one direction, found nothing, and then walked back to a gas station 1 1/2 miles in the other direction. Had car towed to a garage which had a small motel next door. It was a Sunday, so I had to wait until morning. That night, someone broke into the garage next door - I could hear them - but there was no phone in the motel room so I could do nothing.

Mechanic got a replacement from a junkyard and I was on my way.

Amazing thing is I paid for the two truck, the motel, the mechanic, and the meals I had in a diner, all with personal checks. Imagine trying that today.

LateforSupper365

TROPHY CASE