bfurth

The collision coverage process through any other insurer would be the same, given the circumstances (3 cars, 3 insurance companies, one car clearly not at fault - me - and the other two blaming each other). I've spoken to reps from all three companies, they all agree I'm definitely not at fault (I was stopped at a red light, my only involvement in this was being in the wrong place at the wrong time). What they don't agree with yet is who is at fault. Ultimately, I'm inclined to believe fault lies with the 87 year old man who did the initial t-boning of the other vehicle (second vehicle was making a left turn, and I'm about 95% certain she had a protected left turn signal), but that's just me. No insurance company is going to let the deductible go without being paid if the initial payment comes out of their fund. It will eventually be paid back to me through subrogation, I just don't want to have to put the money out up front. I've got another kid on the way (#3), and simply don't have the time or money to have to deal with all of this. Not dealing with vehicle repair nonsense is precisely WHY I bought a new car! I've used the body shop that my carrier would recomend before - they're good. They also warranty the repairs for as long as I own the vehicle.

I'd answer this question for myself, but I don't have access to my Journey at the moment. What is the distance from the back of the front passenger seat to the rear of the cargo area (all rear seats folded down) WITHOUT the fold-flat front seat? Dimensions with front passenger seat moved all the way forward and all the way back would be appreciated. My mother has a 2007 Saturn Vue that needs (at minimum) two front tires (they're showing the steel belt on the inside tread of the wheels), significant front suspension work (see the horrible wear on the front tires), struts on all four corners, the passenger axle shaft (FWD model), and probably should have the front wheel bearings replaced as well (vehicle has 182,000 miles on it). Suffice it to say, the Vue is shot and needs to be replaced. There are some good deals going on right now, and I think a Journey would be a good fit for her needs. The cargo capacity (without fold-flat seat) needs to be at least 72" with the hatch closed. She's a seamstress and deals with full bolts of fabric that usually come on 6 foot bolts. In the interest of being able to keep at least one or two other passengers with her when picking those materials up, she needs to know if it would fit. The vehicles that the local dealers have that include the fold-flat front seat might be out of her price range.

It doesn't help that the other two drivers are dragging their feet in getting their statements to their respective insurance companies. I've got a proposal for them - the other companies split the difference and each pay half of what is needed to fix/replace (if necessary) mine, then fight it out between the two of them for who pays back what to each other. I'm the only person involved who is absolutely not at fault, so naturally I get screwed waiting for mine to get fixed. My insurance company won't even start an inspection without me first agreeing to the deductible! Meanwhile, I'm without my Journey. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy freaking birthday to me! (no, seriously) Not how I intended to spend this week.

I don't know who or what I've angered, or what I may have done, to earn this stretch of impacts to my Journey. I was the third car in a 3 car collision (with me stopped at a light) that probably totaled both other vehicles (first guy's hood is jacked up and it was leaking coolant and oil post impact, front airbags deployed, second car had both passenger side curtains deployed, the entire passenger side is bowed in about 5 inches). My front bumper, driver headlight, and driver fenders re all damaged, the hood is out of alignment, the passenger fender is rubbing the hood, and the steering wheel is 15 degrees off (noticed while backing up to clear the street). I haven't even made the first payment on this thing, and it's been hit TWICE! This is what I get for washing my car for the first time.

That photo should be flagged for abuse! The Transit has to be the one of the ugliest vehicles on the road.

While the third row does have a locking seatbelt, it does not have a LATCH point for the top tether for a convertable car seat (or any other 5 point harness style seat). It would be safe enough for an infant carrier if it were installed in the third row (and good luck with that, I don't think it would fit), but it is not really suitable for use with a front facing car seat (in this soon-to-be parent of 3's opinion). A rear facing car seat (other than carrier) would never work in that third row, no matter what you try. There's just no way to tighten the straps.

She might get tired of it. But for potentially $10k in savings, she might not. My wife is quite possibly the biggest penny pincher in the world. It forces me to be creative in finding solutions to problems.

The 2nd row in mine has a lever at the top of each side of the 60/40 split. Let's say you put the infant carrier on the driver side (the 40 split). With just the base installed, the seat back is still movable. The easy entry lever will allow the seat to slide forward, lift up the seat, and fold the seat back forward slightly (the base should still be able to be attached while all this is going on). You leave the driver side 3rd row seat up at all times, let the 5 year old hop in, and help him buckle. Then, slide everything back into place and put the infant carrier in place. At the point that you'd need to switch to a larger car seat (the big convertable), you might be switching your middle child to a high back booster (it's at the lower end of the age/weight range, but still legal (in most of the US) and safe enough - dependong in the child), or getting a smaller 5 point harness seat (like a Graco Nautilus or equivalent). Either way, your 6 year old (by then) could probably sit in a backless booster wherever he wants. The worst of it is year 1. After that, it gets easier. If you've already got the base for the infant carrier, go try it out. If it works well enough, then you don't need to buy a new vehicle (and can then work around the storage capacity issue with a significantly lower budget). If it doesn't, then you have a more definitive answer.

Doesn't the middle row have the easy entry to the 3rd row? It's in the 2015, I don't know if it's in the 2012. If it does, then the infant carrier base won't interfere with it too much, and you can still get the 5 year old in and out of the 3rd row without opening the rear hatch, and you've got easy enough access to help him with the seatbelt. The stroller is a different problem, but it should fit even with one of the seats up (yes, you lose most of the cargo space). Which brings me to the solution - roof pod (assuming you have an existing rack)! It won't work well for the weekly grocery shopping, but unless everyone goes to do that anyway, it's not an issue (I've gotten really good at installing and removing car seats in the last 5 years). If you're already towing a trailer for camping, storage space isn't an issue for that. Otherwise: Durango, Explorer, etc. Also - don't knock the minivan until you've really tried it. My 2010 T&C runs great, and handles the weekly duties of a decent size family (soon to be 3rd kid!) like a champ. The 2011s (all Mopar vans) and up come with the Pentastar engine and 62te transmission (and the 2014s have the HD brakes standard). It won't do any offroading, but it will haul anything on any highway you'll ever need. A used 2014 or 2013 Grand Caravan can be had for manageable prices (probably under $15k if you really try). It won't have all the bells and whistles, but if you can swing the loan (and all other costs on maintaining) a second vehicle (with 3 kids, I'm assuming you and your happy spouse are not a one car family), a minivan and a crossover are a good combo to have. Honestly, it's why we arrived at the Journey when we had to replace my '03 Malibu. Keep the Journey for your offroading and camping (and probably your daily driver - just making assumptions on who handles the kids every day), get a minivan for the daily family hauling.

Talk about a freak accident. My sister hit a deer a few months back in my old '05 Cavalier. Broke both headlight mounts, the hood curled up, the radiator bowed (still functional, no leaks at all), and the hood latch was destroyed (no way to release the hood without removing the entire latch). No frame damage, car was drivable immediately afterwards, and the bumper was fine (the nose on that thing is pretty low). I put a "new" hood and headlights on it and replaced the hood latch, car drives as well as it ever did. The hood doesn't match, but she doesn't seem to care too much. Now if only the instrument cluster gave her information (all of the motors are shot, and I've been waiting for her to order new ones for the last few months).

To follow up to Journey_SeXT: The dipstick can be made at home with the following items: 1 wire hangar duct tape some marking tool (file, knife, whatever) Straighten the hangar - you need something more than 18 inches in length (so you drop it into the fill tube). Measure 424mm from one end, and mark this off (use the duct tape). Everything below that point will go into the filler tube (marked with the "Dealer Only" cap). Use the chart Journey_SeXT posted and mark your min/max levels.

I'll do a lot of maintenance on my vehicles. The 62te drain and fill is one I don't particularly feel like doing myself. Reason 1 is the warranty coverage - it's an expensive component to have to repair, and I don't feel like dealing with questions as to whether or not it was done correctly. Reason 2 is that the hassle involved with draining that particular transmission (since there is no drain bolt), refilling it, and making sure it's done just right, is worth the extra $30 to pay someone else to do it.

The dealer has the correct tool (I don't remember the part number). The easiest thing to do is take a wire coat hangar, straighten it, and mark it for the correct level (this assumes you know what those dimensions are). This is the actual recommendation for the 2008-2012 T&C/GC in the Haynes manual. I don't know what the level is for the DJ, so I wouldn't use that as a reference without confirming the measurements first. It's the same transmission and engine, so you'd think it would be close, but you never know. Alternatively, if you can get a dealer to read the level, then you can get a test case for full and hot, and then you only need to get it to that point. Without a proper service manual, it's a lot of guess work. Transmissions are not something to guess with.

Mine was done at the dealer - they used Mopar ATF+4 and a Mopar filter. ATF+4 is already a synthetic lubricant. It's also $8/quart. The total cost of parts to do a drain and filter change is about $110 (8 bottles of fluid, plus a $30 filter, plus applicable taxes). The 62te should not be "flushed," ever. Just a drain and fill with filter change. When done at the appropriate interval, you shouldn't have problems. Having the dealer do it eliminates any headaches you'd ever have, just make sure you get a good discount on them actually performing the service. For a dealer to do it, it's really about 30-40 minutes of actual work, most of which is cleaning the RTV off the mating surfaces. The only reason you "can't" do it at home is that you don't necessarily know the temperature of the transmission fluid. Though, if your EVIC tells you what the transmission temp is (as my 2015 does), then the only thing you need is the correct dip stick (which can be found for the minivan platform with the 62te, and I'd imagine the fluid level is the same, but I don't work for a dealer, so I don't know for a fact).

The MPG rating is based on total average since last reset (there is probably some hidden mileage number behind it for how long it weighs the current fuel economy, but it is at least based partly on when it was last reset). My 2010 T&C does the same thing, though it doesn't have the EVIC console (it has two small panels, one on the tach and one on the speedomoter). The EVIC on my 2015 has a running gauge that shows real-time economy in digital bar graph form, as well as the average fuel economy (based on the reset, and some formula that I don't know).

I have a 2010 Town and Country with the same 62te transmission. I had the transmission fluid changed for $140, taxes and shop fees included (had a dealer coupon). The only "reason" you can't get the fluid level correct without going to a dealer is because the level on the dealer dipstick is based on the current temperature of the transmission. The pan needs to be dropped, there is a filter that gets replaced, and the gasket is made with RTV. If you can get the cost down to $140, it's not much more than the cost of doing it yourself (and has the added advantage of being documented, and on someone else's dime if it's been done incorrectly).

The radio has to store some amount of data ( manual indicates sync speed of 1,000 songs in 5 minutes). Given this, there must be some long term storage, just enough to remember where files are from a synchronized device. Since this thing is supposed to work well with iPods (which the old iPod classics would be 250g hard drives), it's got to be a high limit. But 500 GB and 1 TB drives are going to have problems with getting enough power to operate through a USB cable (unless they've been built to run off of that low power).

The owner's manual for the 2015 states to do a tire rotation and oil change when the oil light goes off. I just bought mine 3 weeks ago, so I can't say what I have done yet (I haven't even put gas in it myself yet ) My '10 T&C gets a tire rotation at every oil change due to the 6,000 mile interval that goes off like clockwork (light has come on at 5,500 miles save for one time). That one time, I did not do a tire rotation with that oil change (3,000 miles, and this was the time that it had been dealing with a transmission leak at a dealer, so it was getting a lot of poor usage that my wife and I don't put on it during our typical driving). I changed it early again, and did the tire rotation after the next 3,000 (oil is cheap, and my 3.8 used to burn it like gas - not so much since the valve seal replacement.) The only thing that a tire rotation will do is evenly wear the tread across all four wheels. If you don't care, don't do it. And replace your front tires much more frequently. If you want to keep all 4 wheels within 1/32nd of an inch, get a gauge and rotate as soon as you see a difference from front to back. It does give you a chance to inspect brake linings at every oil change, so there is that. Older vehicles with a 3,000 mile change interval had them every other oil change due to the minimal wear you'd get in 3,000 miles. It wasn't enough in that short of distance to make much of a difference. At 6,000 - 10,000 miles, it matters. The 2012 and up T&C have an 8,000 mile oil change interval, and the tire rotation matches the oil change. The current Journey is "never to exceed 10,000 miles," with a tire rotation at the same time. Severe duty (dusty or off road) is 4,000 miles, so I would imagine the typical time is going to be closer to 8,000. For a 40,000 mile tire (like what you typically get with OEM), it might make a difference to rotate earlier, but once you're past that first set of tires and get to a 60k or 80k tread life tire, it's not going to matter too much.

My brother's old Civic (an '89 that was our grandmother's before it was his) basically never got maintenance done on it while he owned it. To the point that one time he took it to a mechanic to have an oil change done, and they said the "oil" that came out of the block was more like mud. He drove it for another year or two after that without an issue (until he drove the car into a utility pole being transported on a trailer and peeled the roof back like a sardine can starting at the driver side top corner - and somehow walked away with a few scratches on his hands). Engines are more forgiving than the specs call for - because the manufacturers know that most people don't take care of them when they should.

Tire rotations are done at every oil change (or the first time you notice uneven wear). The only requirement you have to meet to keep the powertrain warranty is to change it when the light comes on, and be able to document that it was changed should the delaership question you. Past that, your responsibility for maintenance starts and ends with what is in the owner's manual.

If they are the 1326/1327 pad part numbers (semi-metallic or ceramic), they will also work on the same model year for Grand Caravan/Town & Country. If you still have them, it will increase your prospective buyer pool. I happen to have a 2010 T&C, but I just changed out the pads, rotors, and all four calipers!!! in January. I also bought my stuff through Amazon and only paid $70 total for the pads (Wagner Thermoquiet ceramic front and back).

We got a new car seat out of this as well. It was in a vehicle that had been in a "colission," and the manufacturer recommends replacement for any accident, regardless of occupancy of the seat, or severity of impact. So for the deductible, it gets a paint job on the bumper that is gauranteed for as long as I own the vehicle, and we got a new seat (and the adjuster had full disclosure of: we know it's probably crazy to even ask, but, what is the coverage here, given the vehicle probably didn't even move from the scrape?). With baby #3 on the way, it works out well for us.

Just got my Journey back this afternoon. I'm VERY happy to be out of the rental car and back in my own vehicle. Bumper looks good as new.

Dropped the Journey off at the body shop this morning. I have to hand it to dodge - it handles very well on snow pack considering it's only FWD and with the 2.4l block. Much better the hand my old Malibu, and significantly better than my weekend rental. The rental they gave me helps further cement my mind I made a good choice in my new vehicle. A 2014 Ford Focus is not a good car. The driver seat feels cramped, the steering wheel is far too busy (buttons buttons everywhere!), the radio pales in comparison to even the Uconnect 4.3, no Enter&Go, and no auto-stick. The transmission clunks when shifting (even worse than a Chrysler 62te), and the engine feels like it revs up an extra 400 RPM when it tries to shift.

FAT32 is a VERY old standard - it works across multiple platforms because software developers recognize that their operating systems are not the only systems that exist. Mac, Linux, Windows, Unix, etc. can all read FAT32. NTFS is basically Windows XP and up only. HFS/HFS+ is Mac OS X (all flavors). You have one limitation with FAT32 - file size. No files can exceed 4 GB. So if you have ridiculously large audio files, say a book in audio format that hasn't been broken down by chapter for some reason, you might have a problem.