What a weekend. In dodging an SUV that ran a stop-sign, I broke my car. The SUV driver probably didn't know; my car is pretty low-slung. A normal car wouldn't have been hurt by that 4" high or so center divider. Mine required a four-wheel tow. But I learned some things...


1. I mostly like having Farmer's Insurance. My agent may not have the friendliest possible personality, but he is both knowledgeable and effective. And gives great advice on the best way to use the system.


This has once again convinced me of the benefits of having an agent rather than using an internet insurance company. But try not to have an incident on a weekend; my agent was completely offline, leaving me at the mercies of the Farmer's emergency and HelpPoint lines.


Trying to access Farmer's HelpPoint is pretty frustrating though. Their phone menu system seems designed to foil you. On the bright side, their roadside assistance, which is significantly lower in cost than AAA, is also easier to use and lower stress. If you can conquer the phone system, they're great. My belief is that they should add a phone option that, after you input a valid Farmer's policy number, gives you a live human right then who can figure out where to transfer you to.


2. I also very much like my Audi. It's my third new Audi in a row, although at nearly seven years, it's not so new anymore. But what a great car! I don't like the way the current ones drive nearly as much. This has the tight feel of the BMW 5-Series from about 15 years ago, with all-wheel-drive and better fittings (trim.) When driving any other car, I really miss the great attributes of mine. (This includes when driving theoretically higher end cars, especially luxury SUVs, which really don't do it for me.)


My only gripe with my Audi (other than that they don't make them like this anymore - and I've test driven the new ones regularly) is that after about five years, little things start going wrong. After the initial warranty ran out, the following have happened:


    * Rear defroster stopped working - a ground screw apparently came loose.
    * Glovebox hinge cracked. A very common problem. Service suggested just being very gentle with it and not replacing it, because the replacement would have the same problem.
    * Headlight ignition unit died. Expensive device to make the Xenon start up, but not as expensive as a Xenon bulb.
    * Radio died. Completely. This is unusual enough that they sent it back to Germany for analysis.
    * Sunroof dial died. Not a very common problem, but they've seen it often enough to know how it degrades.
    * Front driver's seat rear panel popped out, apparently a broken bracket. This is a zero-wear kind of place. Service tells me this was a big problem for this model seat, and that the choices are to live with it, to find the MacGyver-like fixit kit, or to pay nearly $1000 to replace it. Uggah.
    * The center armrest latch broke, with a spring flying. This doesn't result in just replacing a lid; you have to replace the whole unit. Although at least this I can call "wear".
    * The dash cupholder partially broke a long time ago. It was a really cool design, but they've since decided that perhaps reliability should trump Rube Goldberg-like design.
    * Several different parts of the emissions-control systems have died. These are US-specific parts and very expensive. Very annoying, because they don't really impact driving, but are still needed.
    * The wonderful soft-touch coating on the trim is rubbing off.




That sounds like a long list, and it's a lot longer than I'd like, but I really do drive cars rather hard, typically wearing them out. This is a long time for a car for me. I do expect items to wear out over time, just maybe about one-third as many as have. And keep in mind that none of these prevented the car from running. By that metric, this is a very reliable car!


3. You can't rent a car easily on a summer Saturday evening. Only the airport rentals are open, and they're mostly out of cars. Avis (which was my favorite rental company anyhow) did claim to have Pontiac G6-class sedans in stock, but what they actually had was a PT Cruiser and a Chevy HHR. I got the HHR. That's a crap-mobile. Ugly, in an ugly (red-orange) color, mediocre acceleration, dreadful handling, dreadful stopping, just not a good car. It was even worse than the Dodge Magnum station wagon I drove 18 months or so ago.


Ironically, I think the best rental car I've had in years was a Chrysler Pacifica. It's an ugly mini-van/SUV cross, but performed far better than the HHR, was comfortable, quiet and luxurious. I wouldn't want to own one, but I don't have a minivan/SUV lifestyle.


4. A great dealership is worth paying more or perhaps getting a specific brand. My Audis come from Barrier Audi in Bellevue. Over the years I've gotten to know them. My experience is they work hard to help you. I've had coils go out after service closing but when the service manager was still there, as I limped my car in... he got it fixed right then, reopening parts and having a service tech stay late. In this case, they did speculative inspection (due to possible insurance implications) and then managed to replace, fix and test it in a portion of an afternoon, much faster than I would have thought possible. Keep in mind the above list of woes, and that I'm still very happy with the car, and you have a good sense of how fantastic Barrier's service team is!