Picture of my car where I got the new tires and alloy wheels
the always busy Radial Tire Company – Brookville Road in Silver Spring, MD . Great folks!

My car was stolen off the parking lot at work Nov 29th and stripped. The Allstate Adjuster I was just working with decided to fix the car, even tho Sandy at the dealership told them (and me) that these kinds of extensive rebuilds can take a long to locate all the parts. The 2000 Honda SI is apparently still worth a huge part of what it sold for – I paid $16k for it new in May 2000, and now, 5 years & 75k miles later its bluebook value is still around $12,000! Its a great car – averages 30 miles-per-gallon and has the vTec engine – stomp the gas pedal and when you hit 4,500 rpm (to around 7000rpm) it sounds and feels like a big 4 barrel carb or supercharger has kicked in. A very quick little car.

The adjuster never asked me if I’d rather have a check to total the car, he decided to have it rebuilt no matter how long it took. That left me waiting all this time without a car – so I bought a used Honda CRV before Christmas , rather than spend a lot of money on a rental car.

Feb 28 would be 90 days since the theft, and I was working up a really thorough rant for my insurance adjuster about how my time apparently has no value to them, blah blah, blah … But Thursday morning I got a call from the body shop that the car was done. Completely unexpected!. I picked it up after work Thursday (and dropped off the CRV for a warrantee adjustment on the idle when cold).
It looks good. New dashboard, steering wheel, & front seats, New fenders and bumpers, new custom wheels and Toyo tires … (I mean, the original wheels & tires were gone and had to be replaced anyway – and these didn’t cost any more than new Honda wheels and tires would have …)

It looks good – and handles great – I’ve been driving the CRV since mid-December and I’d forgotten how much fun the car was!