Happy New Year

Out with the old and in with the new. In our case, meaning my wife and I, we are out with the old door and ignition switch in her car and in with a new one(s). You see, the night before New Year's Eve, New Year's Eve Eve, her car was broken into with the intention of it being stolen.

My wife was going to buy cat food in the afternoon while I was going to sit on the couch and play a rousing session of Super Mario Galaxy on my Nintendo Wii. She ran back into the apartment stating that someone tried to steal her car to which I promptly responded in true idiot form, "what, like right now?"

I went down to discover the ignition switch on the passenger floorboard of the front seat and the drivers side door had been pried away from the car to gain entry (as shown above). What the would be thief did not realize is that Neon's after the year of 2002 or 2001 had chips in the keys with the expressed purpose of not being able to hot wire them from the inside. Would it kill car thieves to subscribe to Consumer Reports to learn about theft deterrents such as this?

So we spent most of our New Year's Eve afternoon filing the police report, calling State Farm (our insurance agency) and getting the car up to the local Dodge dealership. The rep from State Farm said two other clients had their Neons broken into over the weekend. The tow truck guy said he just picked up a Neon a couple miles away and the only difference is that it was black.

Now the car is checked in at the dealership, but the body shop is backed up. It is winter in the Midwest after all. At least we only have to pay our deductible rather than upwards of $1000 for the cost of the repairs. So we ended 2007 with a bang, so to speak. Hopefully the year of 2008 doesn't involve any more destruction of our property. Who knows, it is Kansas City. Maybe this is karma for my last post of 2007?

Goodbye for now, sweet Neon!