Since Sunday is just a few days away I'm going to be brief on this post and tell you of our trip we had and the testimony I built in just a few minutes of time.
Thursday February 27th we were about 10 minutes from hitting downtown Salt Lake City (6 hours from Casper Wyoming) traveling in Parley's Canyon in the middle of a rain/snow storm when all of the sudden the wipers on our car quit working, of course you start thinking "Oh No! What's Happening?". So we pulled over on the next exit which was called the Lambs Canyon exit and my immediate thought was "The fuse blew!". So I crawled up under the dash and pulled the wiper fuse. As I was pulling the fuse I heard my wife and children saying a prayer that we would be able to fix the problem or get the help we would need. As I was struggling to get another fuse (that I robbed from another accessory in the fuse box that I knew I could live without for a few minutes) a young man who introduced himself as Cole pulled up to help. As Cole and I were trying to get the fuse back in (since the engineers put the fuse box in such a convenient spot) a tow truck pulled off the exit and drove by and backed up and asked if we needed a tow. I asked a few questions such as how much is your charge, and how far will that get me and let him know I had my wife and 4 children with us. Just as I was talking to the tow truck Cole was able to get the fuse back into the wiper spot and much to my dismay we still had no wipers.
Oh great! I'll have to get a tow, so the tow truck lowered it's flat bed and asked me to drive upon the bed, well just then the car had a loss of engine power. So we had to be winched upon the flat bed. He then asked which dealership we wanted to be towed to, I had no idea! He named a few and my wife called Jerry Seiner GM and gave the phone to me to talk to the service department. I was told that the evening service consultant would give me a call right back. When the service consultant called back I told him I was in town from Casper Wyoming for some doctor appointments and was being towed in and let him know the problems I was having, he then informed me they could look at my car at 6:30 p.m. that evening. I thought that's weird most service departments I've heard of close at 6:00 p.m.
Remember how a couple weeks ago I told about the importance of the EMERGENCY FUND? I also told how we have an auto repair fund in last week's blog post. Our auto repair fund didn't have but a couple hundred dollars in it so we knew we'd have to dip into the emergency fund and were we ever glad we had it.
So the tow truck dropped us off at the dealership and on a big sign in front of the dealership read a sign "SERVICE DEPARTMENT OPEN TIL MIDNIGHT". Wow this is another answer to a prayer. I walked in and the service consultant said "You must be Brandon from Wyoming!" I said I am, and he said first off let's get you and your family back on the road by getting you a rental car. So they loaded us up in the only thing they had at the time that would hold a family of 6, a BIG OL' 15 PASSENGER VAN! Uhhh yeah not my ideal vehicle but it had 4 wheels and the wipers worked. I'll take it! He then gave my wife and children complimentary drink coupons that they could use in the restaurant connected to the dealership.
As we were waiting for the rental van to get to the dealership I was kind of concerned that the repairs might be more than our $1,000.00 Emergency Fund, since the car also experienced loss of engine power. So I went off in the corner and said a prayer to my Heavenly Father that he would watch over and protect us and that the repairs would be under our $1,000.00 Emergency Fund.
We got checked into the hotel and we took the kids to the swimming pool and my phone rang and it was the dealership. He said what was wrong with the car and told me that everything out the door, parts, labor and tax I would be looking at $785.33. I told him sounds good, get it fixed please! He said they had to order some parts in and so it would tomorrow afternoon before they could get it finished but they would get as much done that night as they could. No worries I had the VAN to run around in!
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| THE VAN AND THE FAMILY! |
So my friends at the end of the day I paid:
-Tow $60.00
-Rental Car with Insurance (since they said a 15 passenger van was a specialty vehicle by most insurance standards and I didn't have time to call my insurance and double check) $88.00
-Rental Car gas $28.31
-Car Repair Bill $785.33
GRAND TOTAL $961.64
THAT MY FRIENDS IS THE IMPORTANCE OF AN EMERGENCY FUND!
Like Cowboy said it's not really an emergency anymore it's more of an inconvenience. Inconvenience it was!
There was a time in my life when I wouldn't even of had the $60.00 for the tow. GLAD THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!
I hope you have enjoyed my testimony about the importance of the EMERGENCY FUND!
I will see you again on Sunday and I hope you have your Emergency Fund and are getting used to living on a BUDGET! YEAH I SAID IT, AND I'LL SAY IT AGAIN! B U D G E T!
REMEMBER
COWBOY UP
AND FIRE YOUR DEBT!
(Thanks Erin, Cowboy and your Awesome Family and Dave Ramsey and his team, and Integress Solutions for your inspiration and God my eternal Heavenly Father for all of your blessings!)
(Thanks Erin, Cowboy and your Awesome Family and Dave Ramsey and his team, and Integress Solutions for your inspiration and God my eternal Heavenly Father for all of your blessings!)
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