Temporary car insurance

Beer - what would we do without it?

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The move from hell happened to us four years ago. My wife had to drive into France to take temporary care of her widowed mother, who had fallen down the stairs. It seems she was day sitting the next door neighbour's child, who had left his toy car in the path of my mother-in-law, who was carrying a box of toys downstairs for him to play with. She had fractured a hip, making walking difficult. She was sleeping downstairs on her sofa, but could not get upstairs to perform personal care. My wife offered to help.

We were purchasing a larger home because the children needed larger bedrooms and we could all use some extra space. Unfortunately, my car was being repaired after I had been hit from the rear and my wife was in France in her car. She had read about temporary cover on a car for hire so she told me about it and I agreed to try it. I hired a car with no setbacks and purchased the temporary cover. That was the smoothest thing to happen during that move. The removal van broke down and another had to be sent out to us. The replacement van blew two tires. It took four hours to change two tires. Finally, we thought we were ready.

It wasn't that the furniture and personal belongings were a problem to load onto the removal van. It wasn't that the removers were unprofessional. It wasn't even that the weather did not co-operate. It was that the removal van was cursed. We didn't get the furniture loaded onto the van when a gaping hole appeared on the floor of the removal van. Yet another had to be sent to us. By now, it was dark, so we called it a day and resolved to complete the job the next day. Reloading everything onto the new van didn't take long but then we had to load the remainder of the furniture onto the van. Praying the new removal van would be strong, we crossed our fingers and began the trip to the new house.

When you have three children just turning into teen-agers seated in a car for hire with belongings packed around them, you drive very carefully. I was grateful for the temporary cover on the car because the literature said that if anything happened, they would cheerfully fix whatever the problem was. I could count on the fingers of both hands what problems could arise, but I was watching the removal van behind me recede further and further in my mirrors. I drove back to the van to see what was wrong. The van had become jammed underneath a bridge too low for the van to clear.

That we got the removal van to the new house was, I suppose, a gift from the Lord. It certainly was not due to the removal van company's vans. Frustration reigned supreme that day, but not from the hired car nor its temporary cover.