Car estimates

Today was spent going to a couple of places to get some estimates on my car.  According to State Farm, I only needed one estimate, but I thought that I would be a good insuree and get two estimates.

I went to Place 1, a non-dealership and they did an estimate for me.  They figured a new rim, repair and refinish the right rear door, replace the right rear quarter panel and refinish.  Along with some other repair and refinish, it’s a hefty price.  Below are the costs for parts & labor:

Gross parts $650.53
Paint materials $424.00
Parts and materials $1074.53
Tax on parts and materials $53.73
Labor $1566.50
Tax on labor $78.33
GRAND TOTAL $2773.09

After that, I went to Place 2, a dealership.  I thought that if Place 1 was this much, Place 2 would be double that, or more.  This is what the dealership had to say:

First and foremost, they didn’t think anything was wrong with the rim.  If you look at the picture, there were some scuffs on the tire and one on the rim.  So no replacement on the rim, so that saves $289.93 off the top!

It didn’t look like they needed to replace anything according to the estimate.  There were several repair and refinishes, but no replacements.    Here’s Place 2’s breakdown:

Paint materials $344.00
Tax on parts and materials $17.20
Labor $1222.00
Tax on labor $61.10
Sublet repairs $15.00
Tax on sublet $0.75
GRAND TOTAL $1660.05

So now there are a couple of questions.

  1. Will State Farm go with the highest or cheapest estimate?
  2. After I pay my deductable, and if I get a choice, do I go with the highest estimate with most work or go with the cheapest and hope they didn’t miss anything?

So, what are your thoughts?

Most-read post

Why is that my most-read post on my entire blog has to deal with the damage done to my car?  As of right now, (11:47pm), it has 69 views.  I’d be lucky if a sermon got double-digit views, let alone 69 views.  Funny how people like this but don’t have the same feelings toward my sermons.  Hmm…

Car problems

So I went up to the hospital this morning to visit one of my parishioners who had surgery last night.  I come out of the hospital and see that someone has hit my car and left some damage, but “forgot” to leave a note.  I called my insurance to see if I had coverage to repair this.  Fortunately, I do, so that’s good news (after a $250 deductable, of course!).  I then called the hospital and spoke to security to see if they had surveillance video of the parking lot.  They will check and get back to me.  I then went to the police department to file a report.  Below are some nice shots of my car.

Right rear passenger door
Right rear passenger door

Right rear passenger door
Right rear passenger door
Above right rear tire
Above right rear tire

Right rear tire where they hit the tire in 3 spots
Notice where they hit the tire in 3 spots 

Happy birthday Wesley

Today, my big boy turned 1.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year.  Here’s a picture from the hospital and here’s a picture from his party.

Wesley birth picture                                                                    Wesley's 1st birthdayBirthday Boy

Leaving on a jet plane

This last Friday, my wife’s grandfather passed away in Florida.  Her family left Sunday for Orlando.  I’m currently sitting at Denver International Airport awaiting my flight to Orlando to join them.  I left Gillette this morning at 6:00 and will get in to Orlando at 1:03 pm local time.  Needless to say, I will be one tired boy when I get there. This will be a quick trip for me: arrive Monday, leave Wednesday.  No time for me to stay with the family, as I need to get back to work.

While waiting, I have been able to get a start on my sermon for Sunday.  I guess that’s a plus.

Going on vacation

I’m officially on vacation!  Finishing up some email and other stuff.  Gotta fold some laundry and take out trash, grab some lunch and then off to the airport.  Going back to Indiana for two weeks, for a couple of family reunions and an all-around much-needed time away.  Postings will be sparse (aren’t they already!), but if there’s anything important, I’ll post it.  Later peeps!

Blog move complete

Hey everyone! The moving of the blog is complete.  All of the posts from here have been moved over, as well as all the comments.  Please update your RSS readers and continue to read.  Check out some of the pages.  Note that the site is not complete, but is a work in progress.

The new address is https://revtucher.com.

Enjoy!

Just a little update

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, including sermons.

Things have been busy.  We haven’t had a church secretary since May and a lot of that work has fallen on my shoulders.  Now that Advent is upon us, that means an extra service each week.  Fortunately, it’s straight out of the hymnal, no extra bulletin required.

I’ve been running on fumes lately.  I desperately need a vacation, one that will come in January.

Right now, Gwen is downstairs trying to get Wesley asleep, but he’s screaming like there’s no tomorrow. I guess I should head down there and help.

UPDATE: Gwen is on the couch trying to feed him yet another “bedtime” bottle to get him to bed.

Headaches

I get really bad headaches, sometimes even migranes.  Tonight, I had a headache.  I was laid out on the couch, with a rag over my head.  If that wasn’t enough, then I’m praying to the porcelain god.  By 9pm, I was in bed and was out until my wife came down with Wesley at 2am.  I woke up then.  We needed to get formula for Wesley earlier that day, but he needed to be held all day long.  He’s been having some problems the last couple of days; we’re not sure what.  So at 2am, I go to Walmart, pick up some formula, distilled water, milk, and a tv dinner (since I haven’t ate anything in 12 hours).  So here it is 3:04am and I’m gonna finish my glass of milk and go back to bed.

Baptism of Wesley Michael Tucher

(I know I’m a little late on posting this, but it’s been a bit busy with family here and family leaving.  Below are some pictures following the service.)

I knew that this day would be difficult, but I managed to get through it with a minimal amount of tears.  This was truly a special day for several reasons.  The first, Wesley was brought to the waters of Holy Baptism.  Secondly, I had the privilege of performing the Baptism.

Gwen, Wesley, Jared
(Gwen, Wesley, Jared)

Shannon, Bré, Gwen, Wesley, Jared, Kim
(Aunt Shannon, Cousin Bré, Gwen, Wesley, Jared, Grandma Kim)

John, Margaret, Gwen, Wesley, Jared, Janet Ethan
(Grandpa John, Grandma Margaret, Gwen, Wesley, Jared, Aunt Janet, Cousin Ethan)