Accidents Do Happen

My last post was on the car insurance I availed for our Toyota Vios car and I never thought that I would be needing it this early.

Last Saturday, my husband drove our three weeks old Toyota Vios to pick up his cousin so they can test drive the car for an out of town trip. On his way to their meeting place, just after a busy intersection, he bumped the rear side of a passenger jeepney.....the jeepney suddenly stopped in the middle of the road to wait for passengers. My husband, an inexperienced driver that is, was caught by surprise. Maybe he was too close to the jeepney's rear end that's why he was taken by surprise.

I don't want to blame anybody...no one in his right mind would want to be involved in an accident. What I am thankful is that, nobody was hurt in that accident....and that what matters most, in times like this, people's lives are more important than anything else.

The jeepney has no damage, but our car's right side was damaged. The right headlight was cracked, bumper was broken....I don't know how to describe the others.

Lessons learned from this incident?

When driving here in Metro Manila, as much as possible, avoid driving close to public utility vehicles (bus, jeepney, tricycle), you never know when and where they are going to stop.

Car Insurance

Car insurance is necessary whenever we purchase cars. Car insurance does not only cover the car itself but also the injuries incurred by the passengers of the car.

In our case, we asked quotations from different car insurance companies so we can find a much better deal. In the end, we decided to get the insurance from the insurance company accredited by Toyota. The insurance company is Mercantile Insurance Co., Inc.

Coverage of Mercantile Insurance includes, 1 year comprehensive car insurance, 3 years TPL (third party liability) and AOG (acts of God).

Comprehensive insurance covers the face value of the car and the injury of 1 driver and 4 passengers. TPL covers the injury of a non-passenger and AOG covers damages to car and life caused by natural disasters such as flood, typhoon, hurricane, volcanic eruption, earthquake and other convulsion of nature.

However, the policy is inoperative when the driver of the vehicle is found to be under the influence of alcohol or liquor.

Toyota Vios Owner's Manual

Just like any gadget, Toyota Vios comes with an Owner's manual. Usually I don't read manuals, unless something go wrong with the gadget, the manual is always untouched....they are only intended for future reference.

But with the case of Toyota Vios, the first thing I did when the unit was delivered was to look for the manual. Although I am not driving (for now), I feel the need to know more about this car. This will now be our means of transportation and it is imperative that we know all its features especially on safety.

Of course even if we read the whole manual from cover to cover, we won't instantly get everything that is written here. So it is recommended that this owner's manual should always be inside the car and ready to be referenced whenever we need it.

I believe that following all the instructions in the manual will help us enjoy many years of safe and trouble-free travel.

We Chose Toyota Vios 1.5G Manual

After years of using the public transportation, we decided to have our own car. Why only now? It's because...... first, we still have no budget for a car ...... second, we still don't find it as a necessity since our place is very accessible to public transportation ..... and last, my husband and I doesn't know how to drive.

Now that we have children, we felt the need of having our own car. It is the comfort of the kids that we are after whenever we travel out of town. You know, when kids are comfortable, the whole travel experience is great. Everything just fall in place.


So why Toyota Vios? Personally, I have no idea.

We asked friends about their experience with cars and what they always end up saying is, just opt for either Toyota or Honda. So we did our research on the internet, read blogs and contacted dealers for quotations. We compared prices for similar models from Toyota and Honda and we noticed Toyota models costs less than Honda.....that is, for Toyota Vios and Honda City models.

After some thinking, my husband and I decided to go for a Toyota Vios 1.5G Manual 2010 model. Our reason:

• Toyota parts are readily available.
• Our budget fits this model.
• We opted for a smaller vehicle thinking that for an inexperienced driver, it would be easier to maneuver.

Our reasons may be shallow but at least we have tried our best...we are first time car owners and I hope Toyota will never let us down.