sylvar

I finished the online driver's education class this afternoon while eating a edamame-tofu curry over couscous.  It was pretty simple.  At the end, they try to sting you for rush processing fees in addition to what you've already paid, but I've got 30 days from the accident to tell the county I'm doing traffic school, and 90 days after that to actually send in a copy of the certificate.  So I don't really care if they take two weeks to process it; maybe if I had slacked until the very last minute I'd go for that, but I suspect they get a lot of revenue from people who are just nervous or don't know the procedure.

We looked at apartments today; so far, it seems that the only way to pay less overall than we would here is to live in a 450sqft crate in a shady neighborhood.  Anything else, and we'd exceed the difference in rent just by overlapping rents to move in and out, renting a truck, paying nonrefundable pet fees, administration fees, credit report fees, etc. -- not to mention that we don't pay a separate "pet rent" here, whereas everywhere we looked that actually allows pets allows them because they can make more money from pet owners.

I'm still willing to look at other places, but since Jodi still wants to stay pretty close to USF (she's sitting in on a class or two), our choices are just as constrained as they were when we moved into this place.  We'd have the option of moving to a one-bedroom apartment here, but we'd still have to move everything, we'd still have to overlap the rents in order to move, and we'd end up paying around $700 for a one-bedroom instead of $745 for a two-bedroom.  That doesn't seem worth the effort.  It's true we won't really need an extra bedroom (though I'd like one), or an extra bathroom (though it's not "extra" when we both need to use one).  But surely the difference isn't worth the silliness of renting a truck just to move large furniture pieces 300 meters south.

The other remaining options are Fisherman's Landing, where we'd pay so much in fees that we wouldn't break even against Fairway Oaks for at least 5 months, BUT where I'd have a 15-minute commute -- or getting a new roommate, and I'm not at all keen on that -- or just staying where we are and dealing with the cost.  Because, frankly, it doesn't get a WHOLE lot better than this.  Not in the safer parts of the USF area, anyway.     

I'm renting a gray 2006 Hyundai Accent (interior, exterior).  It fits me well, although the rear-view mirror hangs lower than I'd like; traffic approaching from behind will look like traffic coming from the right until my brain retrains.  The error seems to be on the side of caution, though, so that's okay.  And the contract-negotiated price, through State Farm, is only about half of the normal price: $15.55/day, of which I pay 80%.  Even if fees push it to $25/day, that's still 25 days before I'd hit State Farm's $500 ceiling (for my policy), and I'd have only paid $125 for my portion of the rental by that time.

State Farm says it takes 48-72 hours to get a claims adjuster out there, so it'll likely be Saturday before I get their verdict.  Assuming that it's worth repairing (and I suspect it is; if they can negotiate body-shop work they way they negotiate rentals, it'll almost certainly be cheaper for them to fix it), the work would likely be authorized on Monday morning.  I'm guessing that with all the parts they'll have to straighten, remove, and/or install, I'll probably be in the rental for a week, maybe two.

Since the body shop doesn't have an existing partnership with State Farm, I'll pick up a check from State Farm to cover the repairs-minus-deductible.  I'd rather go out to their office near StudlyCaps Plaza than wait for the check to be mailed.  Timing will be essential in the endgame.  Here's why:

• The body shop will declare they're done with the work.
• State Farm will stop contributing to the rental cost at that point.
• I'll be at the office at the time.
• I'll have to go out to the body shop, pay for the repairs, and collect my car.
• I'll also have to return the rental that same day, or early the next morning.

So I want to be ready to pay for the repairs, and that probably means having State Farm's check applied to a credit card balance before I re-hammer that card.

TBLC knows I'm coming in tomorrow but not today.  I've got enough to take care of for today.  For example, I'm about to go over to the leasing office and get a temporary parking pass so that the clipboardiferous Tyler of the tarmac won't desecrate the rental with a warning about reserved parking.  (I like that she does that for us; I just don't want to fall afoul of her.)