Honestly, he is lucky to be alive and this could have gone way different for him.

After spending a day up north fishing he and his dog were driving home in the evening and he dozed off going partially off highway (I-17 southbound/Black Canyon area for anyone that knows AZ). He was jarred awake and able to correct, sort of but ended up on side of road where car had to be towed.

He initially told me he blew 2 tires and with his limited knowledge of cars thought that was it. When I went and looked at the car I saw that indeed he has 2 shredded tires and destroyed rims but the rear wheel was also pointing about 45 degrees out from the wheel well. After closer inspection it appears that his rear suspension is really damaged and the sub frame and floor are damaged as well. I am sure there will be additional damage to to drive train and at this point I am thinking that the car might be totaled.

I have no idea how he did not roll and or go off the cliff but am thankful he is alive. I told him yes, this sucks and you will have some money to spend but it beats the alternative.

He was smart enough to get gap insurance so it it is totaled he is covered.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kevmo,

Yes, very lucky to still have him. Things can be replaced.

I know that area - have been there a lot

yes, he is lucky - that can be a tough road with truck traffic as well

FYI - Dog is good too!

quote:

Originally posted by Kevmo:

...He was smart enough to get gap insurance so it it is totaled he is covered.

What's gap insurance? I never heard of it, but it sounds like a good thing.

Glad your son and the dog is ok.

I'm just glad he's safe.

I have a similar story.

When our kids were young we used to often drive from St. Louis to Maryland through the night, after working a full day.
Until one time.... my wife fell asleep while driving. It was about 3 am in the middle of Hoosier National Forest in Indiana.

I woke up suddenly and it looked like we were driving through a corn field. It was tall grass in the middle area between the E and W lanes of Hwy. 64. We gradually came to a stop, sunk in soft mud and surrounded by tall grass.

The State Highway Patrolman who appeared on scene called a wrecker to pull us out with a long winch. The officer said we were lucky to be alive. A mile farther or behind and we wouldn't have been.
After that, we drove during the day!

quote:

What's gap insurance? I never heard of it, but it sounds like a good thing.

It is supposed to cover the difference between what the car is worth and what you owe on the car.

quote:

Originally posted by Patrick-SP2022:

quote:

What's gap insurance? I never heard of it, but it sounds like a good thing.

It is supposed to cover the difference between what the car is worth and what you owe on the car.

^ This - He owes about 1500.00 more than the car is valued at so if it is totaled he wont be left holding the bag

I'm glad that your son and his pup are OK. It's good he has GAP insurance.

Years ago I totaled my Jeep Grand Cherokee and I didn't have GAP insurance, I owed $2500.00 more than the vehicle was worth, only a few months away from paying it off and there I was no vehicle, and having to pay $2500.00 for something that I no longer had.

ARman

Wife and I were just talking about road trips last night. We're driving to Chicago this summer. I'm very experienced when it comes to road trips. She sleeps with full confidence that I can handle what's on the road. One of my buddies said to me one time when I stopped about 2 hours short of my destination to sleep: I thought you could've powered through just 2 more hours with your experience.

I said it's the opposite, with my experience, I know when to pull over to sleep. I trust my experience and instinct.

I've done some pretty good ones:

-Los Angeles to Chicago, left L.A. on Sunday at 0500 and arrived in Chicago at 2100 on Monday.

-on that same trip above: Lake Charles, LA to Lawton, OK back to Lake Charles, LA to Los Angeles to Chicago to Killeen, TX to Lawton, OK to Chicago and finally back to Lawton, OK. Logged about 12,000 miles during that period.

-multiple Orlando-Chicago trips in 18 hours.

-monthly trips for about a year from Lawton, OK to Chicago in 13 hours. Had that drive down to a science.

-El Paso to Chicago.

-El Paso to Orlando to Savannah to Chicago to El Paso.

quote:

Originally posted by Patrick-SP2022:

quote:

What's gap insurance?

It is supposed to cover the difference between what the car is worth and what you owe on the car.

Thanks. I guess it won't help us since the car is paid off, but maybe next time I finance I'll make sure we have it.

quote:

I said it's the opposite, with my experience, I know when to pull over to sleep.

Yep. I dozed off driving exactly once in my life when I was still in high school. Very brief but coming up quickly was a curve and if you went straight, you met a bridge abutment.
I will drive until my ass feels like concrete but start getting tired and I pull over and snooze or find a motel.

Glad your kid is OK Kevmo!

Get the cheapo lemon sours from the quick store. The ones in the 2/$1.00 aisle.

They are terrible, with no redeeming quality, and shouldn't even rightly be called candy - but it is damn near impossible to fall asleep with one in your mouth.



Seriously, glad he and the dog are okay, and that nobody was hurt. That's what matters.

Take a nap on an off-ramp or something. The time lost is way cheaper than the alternative.

quote:

Originally posted by bionic218:
Get the cheapo lemon sours from the quick store. The ones in the 2/$1.00 aisle.

They are terrible, with no redeeming quality, and shouldn't even rightly be called candy - but it is damn near impossible to fall asleep with one in your mouth.

That and sunflower seeds.

We've all BTDT, I recall driving back to college late at night - it was about a 55 min drive from the GF's college to mine. I blinked a really long blink and opened my eyes heading toward couple of those barrels before the concrete at an exit off the highway north of DC - fortunately I recovered and rolled the windows down (in Nov) for the rest of the drive.

quote:

Originally posted by bionic218:
Take a nap on an off-ramp or something. The time lost is way cheaper than the alternative.

This right here.

Glad your son is safe and so is his dog. As others have said the car can be replaced.

quote:

Originally posted by recoatlift:
Yes, very lucky to still have him. Things can be replaced.

this x100

driving is pretty much the most dangerous thing we do and we tend to forget that

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Yep, have travelled that road a few hundred times going up and back to our place in Flagstaff. Coming down that hill from Sunset Point into Black Canyon City can be VERY treacherous. He's fortunate to have only damaged his car, the good Lord was looking out for him!

quote:

Originally posted by Tooky13:
Yep, have travelled that road a few hundred times going up and back to our place in Flagstaff. Coming down that hill from Sunset Point into Black Canyon City can be VERY treacherous. He's fortunate to have only damaged his car, the good Lord was looking out for him!

Someone had his back, that is for damn sure....my wife is still shaken up at the thought of what could have been.

Still waiting to hear on car - 2016 Outlander Sport. Looks like at least 2 tires and rims, frame/floor issue, rear trailing arm and suspension on LR and who know what it affected in the drive train.