Our oldest son's van ('09 Kia Sedona) had an unrepairable flat tire. Given the age of the van and high price of the hard-to-find replacement tires (225/70-16, I think) he looked at used.
He found a set of four tires for sale, mounted on 6-hole Kia steel wheels. The tires appear to be in excellent shape with about 20K km on them. (His van runs steel wheels rather than alloys for both the 3-season and winter tires, so the steel wheels are not a downgrade.)
When the donor van was totalled, it was still running winter tires, thus the ready-to-go 3-season tires in storage.
So how did the donor van get totalled?
As the seller told my son, he (the seller) took the van to a drive-through car wash. The whole family was aboard.
When they got partway through, there was a series of loud thumping noises, followed quickly by smashing glass, water pouring in through the broken windows, and crying children, and bewildered parents.
The van emerged with passengers uninjured, though traumatized, and with much body damage and broken glass.
It turned out a load strap had come off a previous vehicle, and had gotten tied up in one of the rotating brushes. The steel buckle, whirling at high speed, made quite the weapon.
Our public insurer wrote the van off, and compensated the family fairly. Presumably they (the insurer) will go after the car wash owners, who will try to find the vehicle that dropped the load strap.
The family bought a newer Kia van. The newer vans use 5-hole wheels, and a different tire size, so the wheels for the old van wouldn't have fit.
I haven't been through a drive-through car was in many years, and this does nothing to change my mind.
He found a set of four tires for sale, mounted on 6-hole Kia steel wheels. The tires appear to be in excellent shape with about 20K km on them. (His van runs steel wheels rather than alloys for both the 3-season and winter tires, so the steel wheels are not a downgrade.)
When the donor van was totalled, it was still running winter tires, thus the ready-to-go 3-season tires in storage.
So how did the donor van get totalled?
As the seller told my son, he (the seller) took the van to a drive-through car wash. The whole family was aboard.
When they got partway through, there was a series of loud thumping noises, followed quickly by smashing glass, water pouring in through the broken windows, and crying children, and bewildered parents.
The van emerged with passengers uninjured, though traumatized, and with much body damage and broken glass.
It turned out a load strap had come off a previous vehicle, and had gotten tied up in one of the rotating brushes. The steel buckle, whirling at high speed, made quite the weapon.
Our public insurer wrote the van off, and compensated the family fairly. Presumably they (the insurer) will go after the car wash owners, who will try to find the vehicle that dropped the load strap.
The family bought a newer Kia van. The newer vans use 5-hole wheels, and a different tire size, so the wheels for the old van wouldn't have fit.
I haven't been through a drive-through car was in many years, and this does nothing to change my mind.
