Follow-up to Village Faire Post
Someone pointed out to me that I hadn’t posted about the outcome of my accident. Link to the original post. The outcome is generally good; I was provided with a free rental while repairs were being made, the other party accepted all liability (no kidding), the car was fixed and looks as good as new, and my back pain has receded. I am also confident that the repairs are the highest quality because the last time I let Progressive send my Odyssey out for repairs (about four years ago) it came back looking great and the repaired area is still indistinguishable from the original body and paint. All-in-all I would have to call it a happy conclusion to some abject stupidity.
Not so good included the rental car. It was a Pontiac G6, one of those new cars that show GM has turned the corner on quality. Well, not really. To describe the car as gutless is being kind. Its 4-cylinder provided very little power and, unless you were very gentle, pushing the accelerator caused it to drop a gear or two and the revs would shoot up as you tried to accelerate. With my Odyssey I push on the gas and it goes faster. No theatrics, no revving, no gear drop that you can almost feel. (Of course, the Odyssey has a GREAT engine. See the end for a story.) If the G6 was way more economical, it might be worth putting up with but it only averaged 25 mpg for the two weeks I had it. My Odyssey averages 22 over the same roads.
Rental Car - Pontiac G6
The other thing that just amazed me was how cheaply it looked. The trunk just had one of those fake felt liners, no carpeting. As you can see in the picture below, the trim on the left side door post didn’t meet the roof, leaving about a 3/4″ gap. And when I pushed my toll transponder up to the windshield, the front of the dashboard buckled down, there was no support underneath it. I think I’ll keep my American-built Honda. =)
Poor Interior Trim
And Progressive again dropped the ball on Customer Service there at the end. Someone called me and told me my car should be back late Monday but they didn’t call for actual pickup until late Tuesday morning. Sannan always told us “underpromise and overdeliver.” Pick the latest reasonable time you would get back to someone and promise them that. If you’re right, they’re not mad at you for taking more time and if you’re early they’re happier because you bettered your promise. The folks at Progressive still don’t get it.
(The story about the Honda engine, as I remember it, is that when Saturn decided the Vu needed a new 6-cylinder engine they looked at the thirteen or so different 6-cylinder engines that GM made and decided instead to contract with Honda for up to 50,000 of the 6-cylinders that Honda uses in the Odyssey. And the kicker is that when they started installing those engines in the Vu, it increased the “American Content” of the vehicle.)
Not a Bard 
Glad to hear the outcome is satisfactory. My 1999 Saturn Wagon died last week and we are looking to replace it with the requisite minivan. I hate shopping for cars almost as much as shopping for houses…