Fun Times In Camelot: Bittersweet

A little over a month ago, a woman in a 2013 Altima decided it would be a good idea to try to turn into a Walmart parking lot without looking for cross traffic. I was headed northbound in my truck going about 45 mph and didn't even really have time to put on my breaks. Luckily for her, I did have time to swerve to the right and I made contact with her car right in front of her front passenger tire instead of directly T-boning her. Her 7 year old daughter was in the back seat on the passenger side, it if I would have T-boned her, the results would have been devastating. As it turned out, my truck ripped off her entire front end past the tires, and her car was instantly totaled. My truck was damaged, but at the time, it did not look totaled. She admitted fault, but she used an insurance company that was unknown to both me and all the police officers at the scene. Because of this, I decided to just let my insurance company handle my claim. I knew I would have to pay the deductible, but I would recover it plus interest when State Farm collected their money through subrogation.

After two weeks, I was told that my truck would be fixed. I was happy. I had owned my truck for 14 years, and it was in fantastic condition before the wreck. I just wanted it back. Fast forward another two weeks, and I get another call, this time letting me know that they discovered that the frame was cracked, and it would now be totaled. I was not happy. I figured that would get screwed with the settlement, and I would miss that truck.

I purchased Old Blue in May of 2000. Brand new Wedgewood Blue F150 Supercrew Lariat 4x4. At the time it had every option, and the MSRP. was a tad over 35K. I think I paid 32K out the door at the time. I put 155K miles on that truck, and never once did it fail to start when I put the key in the ignition. Other than routine maintenance, it never made or needed a trip to the mechanic. It was rock solid for 14 years, and I kept it in very nice condition.

After finding out it was totaled, I was prepared to fight with State Farm. Instead, I was a bit surprised at what they offered. Without haggling, I was offer $10,900 as a settlement price. For it being a 14 year old truck with 150+ miles, I thought that was more than fair. I accepted, and picked up my check the next day.

Now, I owned two F150s in a row, and loved both. Both were totaled in wrecks that were not my fault, and I walked away without a scratch each time. I wanted another F150. I got in touch with 1ags, and he gave me his contact's information. I tried to get close to what I had in options on Old Blue, but doing so made the price of a new one more than I could spend. I'm a "all the bells and whistles" kind of guy, and there was no way I could afford a new F150 with all of those things. I searched for other options. I finally found an acceptable alternative, and I made a deal and picked up a new vehicle last week. Here it is:

2014 Nissan Frontier Pro-4X in Metallic Blue. It has every option they offer, and then some. Leather, sunroof, navigation, bluetooth, Sat radio, skid plates, bilstein shocks, hill descent, sonar, reverse camera, Rockford Fosgate 10 speaker system, factory spray in bed liner with a their Utili-track system, roof rack, ect. Everything!