Emergency Savings: Our Plan B

The City of Denver is doing a stupendous job maintaining our roads this winter. That’s said with all the sarcasm it would take to tell my former boss that I missed working for her. We understand it’s been snowy, but it’s nothing outside the norm for Denver and doesn’t justify the craters that pimple our roads.

We have two cars, both of which have been paid off for several years. We have a 2006 Mini-Cooper S, named Dita, and a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta that doesn’t warrant a name. Dita is a nice and fun car. The Jetta is our practical car. It’s not terribly nice but works and is worth more to us than anyone else.

During the workweek, we typically drive the Jetta. We do this for two reasons. The first is that we plan to keep Dita for a long time. Mostly driving the Jetta during the workweek lets us keep the mileage on Dita low. She currently has 78,000 miles. The second reason that we mostly drive the Jetta during the workweek is that the stretch of road we take to and from work is driven like the Autobahn by the craziest drivers, many of whom gleefully voted for Colorado Amendment 64.

If we’re only doing ten miles over the speed limit through a school zone, we’re pissing everyone off, in particular soccer moms in minivans. Using turn signals and rear-view mirrors to change lanes are merely suggestions, not requirements. Traffic lights have four colors, green, yellow, pink and red. If you stop at a pink light, you’re rewarded with marching band decibel car honking.

These are the main reasons we drive the Jetta to and from work. This winter and early spring, we’ve refrained from our typical allowance of driving Dita on Fridays because of Denver’s affinity for asphalt pockmarks. Dita has performance tires that aren’t conducive for 4-wheelin’.

The Day It All Happened

A few Fridays ago, the weather was nice and we had a three-day weekend. We were a bit excited, so we drove Dita despite our better judgment. The drive to work was fine, though it required Mario Kart hand-eye coordination. The drive from work was a big fail.

Going well below the speed limit, we hit a pothole with a straight shot to China. This created the loudest, meanest sound we’ve ever heard in a car. We knew immediately that Dita was no longer operable. We pulled over and by the time we got out of the car, our passenger side front tire was flat.

We made a few quick phone calls. We no longer had roadside assistance, but a Discount Tire was less than a mile away. With our run-flat tires, we were able to make it to Discount Tire without incident. Upon checkup, the Discount Tire rep confirmed that our passenger side front rim split in half. Busted! Discount Tire didn’t have a rim in stock, which required us to contact the local Mini-Cooper dealership to order the part.

For a period of time, we thought we would need to have Dita towed to and from the dealership, but it turned out that wasn’t necessary. We simply had to pick up the new rim the following week after it was delivered to the dealership, then deliver it ourselves to Discount Tire who replaced the rim and tire for us.

After these arrangements were made with both Discount Tire and the dealership, we called Uber X for a ride home to finally start our weekend. Martinis weren’t far in our future.

That’s a succinct summary of what went down over the course of an hour and a half. Were it not for our smartphone’s ability to make phone calls, search the internet and app a ride home, what took an hour and a half would’ve taken many more. What could’ve been a miserable experience, was only marginally inconvenient.

Financially, we lucked out, too. Because we were able to coordinate our car repair with all the pertinent parties, we saved ourselves the cost of two tows and confirmed the price of our car rim. What could’ve cost us up to $1,000 only cost $240. Throughout the ordeal, we felt comfortable financially because of our emergency savings account. However, because our net expense was $240, we didn’t touch our emergency savings account. It was nice to have it, though.

This story has two takeaways. One, while it’s popular these days to bash our “addiction” to technology, this same technology can save time and money. Two, an emergency savings account is comforting.

We made a few quick phone calls. We no longer had roadside assistance, but a Discount Tire was less than a mile away. With our run-flat tires, we were able to make it to Discount Tire without incident. Upon checkup, the Discount Tire rep confirmed that our passenger side front rim split in half. Busted! Discount Tire didn’t have a rim in stock, which required us to contact the local Mini-Cooper dealership to order the part.

For a period of time, we thought we would need to have Dita towed to and from the dealership, but it turned out that wasn’t necessary. We simply had to pick up the new rim the following week after it was delivered to the dealership, then deliver it ourselves to Discount Tire who replaced the rim and tire for us.

After these arrangements were made with both Discount Tire and the dealership, we called Uber X for a ride home to finally start our weekend. Martinis weren’t far in our future.

Thank You Technology

That’s a succinct summary of what went down over the course of an hour and a half. Were it not for our smartphone’s ability to make phone calls, search the internet and app a ride home, what took an hour and a half would’ve taken many more. What could’ve been a miserable experience, was only marginally inconvenient.

Financially, we lucked out, too. Because we were able to coordinate our car repair with all the pertinent parties, we saved ourselves the cost of two tows and confirmed the price of our car rim. What could’ve cost us up to $1,000 only cost $240. Throughout the ordeal, we felt comfortable financially because of our emergency savings account. However, because our net expense was $240, we didn’t touch our emergency savings account. It was nice to have it, though.

This story has two takeaways. One, while it’s popular these days to bash our “addiction” to technology, this same technology can save time and money. Two, an emergency savings account is comforting.