The Reckless Tree Incident

The other day I had an incident in our front yard involving our big old pine tree and my 2004 Ford Escape vehicle smashing the tail light assembly on the passenger side.

My guesstimate was around forty bucks but when they looked up the part for me at Auto Zone their computer showed it priced at $119 plus tax and that was not installed. I asked the kind gent if he thought I might find a used one.

He was kind enough to refer me to Isaac Torain,. owner and proprietor of  T & T Auto Service & Repair  on Highway 86 N. in Hillsborough, just down the road a piece.

I drove into his establishment and declared, “A tree has rear ended my vehicle and destroyed the tail light assembly, Sir.”  It took Mr. Torain a few minutes to get adjusted to me. He was working on a truck in his shop. After a nice visit he promised to look up the part and see if he might find a used one for me and, true to his word, he called me the next morning to report that he had located just what I needed at Wagner’s Auto Salvage over at Durham, just down I-40 from us a piece.  I drove over there and picked up  the assembly. Looking brand spanking new it cost me just $35 plus tax and when I brought it back over to Mr. Torain he quickly installed it and graciously accepted $20 for his service. The slogan on his business card was, “Service at reasonable prices.”

Now if I had taken that into my Ford Dealer for repairs I could just imagine sitting in their air conditioned customers’ lounge while they drummed up an estimate that would exceed my deductible. I would have to report it to my insurance company and they would consider it a “moving collision” and they would either cancel my insurance or raise my policy cost for the remainder of my lifetime.

The tree?  Not one little bit of damage.

And you ask me why I love it here in beautiful old Hillsborough, North Carolina.  Well, because of the people like Isaac, that’s why.