Year of the Rat

I celebrated the Chinese New Year in a non-traditional way. This is the year of the rat, I've been told. On Monday morning I got in my brand new car and it would not start. Every single warning light came on. Not good.

I called the service department of the dealership and asked if there was a "reset" button. No such luck. (Hey, it was worth a try!) They sent someone out to come tow my brand new car away. All of 2,000 miles on the vehicle that has been affectionately named Hannah the Hybrid. I bought it to be a practical, reliable car that I can drive for 100,000+ miles.

The dealership had the car for 3.5 hours when they called me to explain what had happened... a rat or squirrel or other vermin of some sort had gotten into the underside of the car and eaten through several important wires and components. Not good. Also not good was the fact that my Toyota warranty doesn't cover rat damage.

Geico, though, does cover rat damage. Shout-out to Geico! I was fitted with a rental for the week and Toyota went to work replacing all the parts that the rats ate through. Also a shout-out to Toyota of Fort Worth, who worked so hard to get me my car back within the week. After 5 days and over $5,600 worth of damage, I got Hannah the Hybrid back today--hopefully as good as new. It could have been much worse. Here's to the Year of the Rat!