A chronicle of how to go about getting a sweet paint job, custom modifications, and much more for your vehicle without paying a cent! Better yet...they pay you!!
So as a bit of a background to the story....I live on a pretty classy street about half a block from the party fun time zone (also know as the needle exchange).
It's a pretty pimp neighborhood to hang out in: drink beers in public, sleep on the sidewalk, shoot some smack in between your toes, sing and dance in the street with your pants around your ankles, etc, etc.
You get the idea...it's like Disneyland for adults.
At any rate, after a few incidents of my "neighbors" jimmying the door of my truck so they could see if I might be able to lend them some bus money, I decided "what the hell...we're all friends here! might as well just leave my doors unlocked".
I figured that was a pretty solid plan, I mean you never know when a someone in the neighborhood might forget the keys to their place and need a warm place to crash for the night right?
Well in hindsight that's STEP 1 of 1 in my "Pimp My Ride - A How To Guide".
What follows (as you can probably imagine) is merely a story which is all too common in this day and age.
Early one February evening (Valentines Day to be exact) I left my apartment with high hopes, some flowers, and a nice starched white shirt and V-Neck sweater courtesy of the GAP. As I reached the parking lot and headed towards parking stall 32, I was confused by the noticeable absence of my beautifully kept 1986 Mazda truck. At first I thought I might have left it downtown on a drunken binge the weekend before, or maybe at a friends place; but soon it became painfully apparent that one of my neighbors "borrowed" my truck and he simply forgot to leave me a note.
I made the standard phone calls to try to get in touch with him: Victoria Police, ICBC; but to no avail so I continued along with my week not knowing the present I was about to receive!!
About a week later I got a call from one of the Victoria PD constables letting me know that they had found my neighbor driving my truck out in Saanich and unfortunately they had to confiscate it because he had been driving somewhat erratically (possibly under the influence). I feel a little bit sorry for my neighbor cuz I'm pretty sure he's still in prison even as I write this; but at any rate I was happy to hear that I could get my truck back.
The next day I showed up at the towing yard to find my truck had not only been "altered" (new baby blue tailgate, no stereo, no front license plate), but that my neighbor had been in the middle of hauling a load out to the dump when the Police apprehended him!
I liked the fact that he built me some sweet wooden walls out of old doors to help get more good junk into the back. That saves gas money cuz it means less trips to the dump!
When I finally go to the dump and pulled back the tarp to see what sort of loot I had, I was surprised to find that there were no bags or boxes full of garbage. The entire truck bed was filled with tiny individual pieces of crap. Fun stuff like computer circuit boards, tailpipes, sticks, barbwire, a couple empty beer cans, even a gum-boot!
Thankfully the lady at the dump lent me a pair of rubbery gloves or else my hands would have looked like I stuck em in a blender. As a fun side note, the lady told me she had seen my truck in there a bunch of times earlier in the week so I guess my neighbor had lots more fun junk to haul.
Don't be deceived by my expression in this picture. There is no better way to spend an afternoon than digging somebody else's random crap out of the back of your truck.
I can tell you're wondering where the happy ending is, so I'll get straight to the point. It's really quite simple actually....I went to ICBC the next day and they made the following assessment....
Baby Blue Paint job on my tailgate
+ Broken door lock (don't ask)
+ CD Player gone
===================
= $800 to fix
my deductible = $300
So my settlement....
ICBC pays me $500 plus what I had to pay at the dump and the towing yard.
Since I only paid $1000 for my truck in the first place I figured that was a pretty decent deal....
Lent my truck to a crackhead for a week and I get half my money back and a sweet new baby blue paint job on my tailgate! Now if only I could get somebody to steal it for another week then my truck would be free!!
Alright this fiasco of a post has gone on long enough. Hope you enjoyed it.
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