Emergency Road Service

I'm giving the emergency road service on my insurance policy a work out. Last Wednesday, the timing chain (it looked more like a rubber belt) on the Miata broke. I was driving highway speed, when all of the sudden, the little car lost power and the "Check Engine" light started flashing madly. I was able to pull off the side of the road -- New York Avenue, almost to Route 50 -- though there wasn't much more than a break down lane to protect me from the passing cars.

I called Geico's 800 number to report the break down. Amazingly, it took less than an hour for the tow truck to arrive. He pulled up only minutes after Shawn did. We towed the car to Phillip's garage and left it for him with a note. He called me the next morning and told me that for $550, he could fix my car as good as new. Okay, I said, fix me up.

That should have been the end of the story, except on the way to work this morning, I started noticing an inordinate amount of white smoke blowing behind my car. When the heater stopped putting out warm air, I started worrying. When the temperature gauge spiked, I knew I had a problem. I pulled off the highway and into a parking lot, where I watched steam billow from under my hood.

Once again, I called Shawn, Geico, and Phillip to report my busted radiator hose. As the Geico claims rep was calling the tow truck, she told me, "You know, we only pay for one tow per repair." I laughed and assured her this was a completely different break down. It took a little longer for the truck to arrive this time, but to make a long story short, the little car is back at the garage for the day. When I pick it up after work, I hope this will be the last time I see Phillip until I'm due for my next oil change.

Dianne