Minimal Damage???

OK So David's bruises and aches had al but vanished. Today we decided to get the car to the garage to sort out waht we assumed were minor issues with the electrics! A new Battery seemed to have solved most of the failing electrical systems yesterday, well the windows took themselves downwards and there decided to stay! The wipers were very reluctant to do more than a slow sweep and the horn was silent! However, we suspected that battery acid spilling into the fuse box could be to blame and thought at very worst a new fuse box would resolve those issues!

So off we went to the garage, I followed David along the 10 miles just in case something else failed. Thankfully we arrived with no mishaps. Apparantly the speedometer doesnt work and there were various warning lights flashing intermittantly.

Left the car and drove home to await the verdict! Of course it was far too simple to expect them to ring us in time to collect it before schoool time so as David left the front Drive to colelct Joshua and Christina the phone rang.

Hello! Your E300? Gona be horrendously expencive to fix that!

How much is horrendous?

Dont know without ordering parts but probably horrendously expencive.

So what are the problems? Does it need a new fuse box?

Fuse Box?

Yes is it the fuse box causing the electrics to act out?

Electrics?

This was begining to get rather frustrating! I explained the problems we were having. wondering how they could have missed them really!

Well I havenet looked at the electrics but the airbag is broken and that is an horrendously expencive one!

OH? So what about the electrics do you think they are fixabile?

I can look at that if you bring it back next week!

SIGHHHH

I then decided to ring Mercedes to request a price to replace an airbag....gave tehm year and model etc. But they wanted to know what had happpend what else was wrong we need to bring it in!
I dont actually want Mercedes to do the repair...cant afford their price sheet. What I wanted was a ball park maximum we could be looking at.

Eventually I got out of the lady...oooh 1998 E 300 air bag £700+ then depending on the electrics of course we wont know till we look!

So much for minimal damage!

We decided maybe it was worth claiming on the insurance...my was that a game and a half and 40 minutes later I get through to the supposedly right department...I wont know till tomorrow because they close at 5pm and it was ten past by the time I had been diverted from one person to the next with no one passing on the reams of information each extracted from me. Wonder if that is a new fraud detection system...10 people take the information about the claim then inform claimant that actually you are the wrong office for that broker and she needs to ring a different number to make her claim! Ensure that means it is the next day to see how the story changes in the mean time!

HRMMMPH! I know what happened and I know what I have been told by the garages I just want to know will the insurance company pick up the tab or not?

If I had a stressometer I think it would be on Danger Zone!

Ooooh just before the first garage rang me...The Sheffield Children's Hospital did. They are trying to arrange transport for us to go to Eve's Sleep Study. Ambulance Control are really unsure if they can take us.
I stopped the guy then and told him what the ambulance control had said! He laughed, I guess you have had this problem before?

Yep! Everytime my girls need hospital transport we have the problem that they need an ambulance but not a paramedic crew. But as they both have oxygen and suction they automatically flag up as needing a paramedic Crew.
As I can administer Oxygen and use suction and I travel with the girls they therefore dont need a paramedic crew. We do need a two man crew in case of emergency, but only so I can have an extra pair of hands. That extra pair of hands does not necesarily need to know what to do!

We await the inevitable call to m,e to make sure I am happy to take control of the oxygen and suction....sure I am...far happier than handing it over to someone who doesnt know the first thing about the girls!

Think I am aiming for an early night...hopefully with more than 3 hours sleep in it....pretty please!