A car is a ticket to freedom. We feel this from the very first taste. I got my first car at the age of 13, a couple of months before my official driving debut. I drove that until it died at a 4 way stop an hour from home. I was 18 at the time and my dad was already in the process of finding me a new ride for graduation. So I just shared with my mom for a few weeks while I waited…. It’s not like I HAD to go anywhere my mom wasn’t going with.

Art Direction and Photographs by: Catie Menke. Model: Shannon Holt.

When I made the jump to leave South Dakota, I bought my first ride. There’s something very empowering/scary/intimidating about making that first big purchase. It was brand new and felt that way until about a year ago when my dog got mad that he wasn’t allowed to drive and tore up the seats….. I was in a financial struggle at the time and so I went in search of trying to find a way to lower my payments.

Fun Fact you can’t refinance a car with damage on it…. Especially not $1300 worth of damage on the seats alone…. However because of my relationship with the dealer, they were able to lower my payments and get me into a brand new 2020. So on March 19th, I handed over the keys to my 2017Kia and purchased a brand new 2020.

At the time I bought it we were only supposed to be “off work” for 2 weeks. 2 weeks quickly turned into the rest of the year and eventually the start of the 20-21 school year. Without driving to work, I hardly put any miles on this new vehicle. Most of the miles on it were from driving home over the summer and trips to Costco every couple weeks to stock up on groceries…. And an occasional bad Tinder/Bumble date. All of these adventures added up to less than 3000 miles.

On August 24th, I had gone to my apartment pool with my coworker. When I got home, I realized that my dog had gotten sick. So, I went to work cleaning but quickly realized I was out of paper towels. I grabbed my keys and headed out to my car to go grab some but, my car wasn’t there…..

I’m sure you’ve felt that feeling of - Where did I park my car? Did I park it somewhere else? Did it get towed?etc…. but no, my car had been stolen. I hadn’t driven it since Friday. I think I had seen it when out walking my dogs, but if I didn’t notice on my way to/from the pool how could I really be sure that I had seen it any other time?! I had been working from home and hadn’t needed it. Pay day was a week away so I was putting off getting groceries as long as possible…. It was just gone.

Panic starts to set in. It’s a brand new car. I haven’t even paid off the depreciation of it yet. What do I do? Does insurance cover this? What is the chances of it being found? If it’s better in the first 24 hours, I’m screwed…..

Art Direction and Photograph by: Catie Menke. Model: Shannon Holt.

I call 911 and report it. I inform them immediately it’s not an emergency but that I couldn’t find the non emergency number. They help me anyways.

It isn’t in an impound lot. (This means nothing to me at the time.)

They are sending an officer - ok good. I’ll sit here where my car was parked and wait.

I call my friend Karalee who was at the pool with me. She turns around, picks up paper towels and heads back to sit and wait for the cops.

I call insurance, someone will call me in the next 3 days to complete the claim. I call my mom, she doesn’t know what to do either. I text my principal, she lets me know it will be 30 days before insurance will do anything.

Then I wait…. Karalee stays with me for 2 hours but eventually has to go home. So I wait… and I wait…. And I call 911 again to check in…. They offer to cancel my report for the night and allow me to call in the next day…. Seriously?

Finally around 10:30, after 4 hours of crying the police officer shows up….. He was nice and helpful, but also very much unable to get me my car. I took my police report card and WENT TO BED!

I’ve never been more annoyed by a question. I don’t know, I'm not a car thief, I don’t know how they go about these things…. I know that may be dramatic but honestly with the amount of “What, How?” questions I received in those first couple days I was ready to PULL MY HAIR OUT…. or someone else’s. I didn’t leave my keys in the ignition like they do in my small hometown of South Dakota…. I didn’t even leave the keys in the car, not even a spare key hidden on the car. Apparently Kia’s are easy to steal.

I spent the next day telling my students about the wild ride the last 12 hours had been (I had had such an AMAZING day up until that point so I really hooked them.) Their comments were very sweet and they were ready to fight whoever took my car for me, or to lend me their parents' cars, and give me rides places…. Ahhh 11 year olds….

I got back on Tinder because…. My life can’t get any worse at this point so might as well. The car theft is still the only thing in my bio and man does it make for some interesting pick up lines/offers …. Especially when your name is Rhona during the Corona pandemic.

I don’t know about you but I HATE asking for help, I hate inconveniencing someone and making them go out of their way to pick me up or include me. I hate putting that responsibility on someone else. I hate relying on someone else. I grew up with a single mom, I have been doing things myself for a long time and I should be able to!

I had to order groceries online and beg friends to take me to work at school or to make a Costco run because I didn’t have a vehicle. I borrowed my Principals vehicle to go to a hair appointment that had been booked MONTHS in advance.

I refused to cash in on the 30 day rental from insurance in the off chance my car was found because I assumed (rightfully) that if it was found, I wouldn’t get another 30 days, and it would need some quality time with an auto body shop…. And lucky for me because…..

In the middle of giving a test to my students, I receive a phone call…. They found my car. It’s at the salvage lot on Colfax and I need to get there before 6. I won’t be able to drive it because it’s illegal to drive without plates and they just so happened to steal the plates. The police officer describes some damage and honestly I don’t really even know what to know. I just know I’m going to cry….

So my friend Karalee comes and picks me up over lunch hour and drives me across town to this salvage lot so that I can take pictures and sign it over to insurance. It’s not as bad as I anticipated but the trauma of it is so much worse….

The physical damage to the car is one thing, dents, scratches, stolen parts etc. What I wasn’t prepared for was what was inside. Every single item of mine that was in that vehicle was removed. My camping chars…. gone, umbrellas… gone, sunglasses….gone, charging chords... gone, jackets….gone…. And yes, this is all just STUFF. The items being gone isn’t even the worst part… it’s the items that were there. Bags of Takis and hot cheetos, clothes belonging to people I don’t know and will never meet, drugs, garbage, and trash…. This is the most violating part. Someone intentionally moved every piece of my out of that vehicle. They stripped my identity away and they made it theirs. That vehicle will never be mine again. That vehicle will never feel safe to me.

And after dozens of calls between insurance, auto body shop, and police officers I feel like my worst nightmare will be coming true. I will be left with that car. Yes they will fix it. Yes they will make it look “new” but it won’t ever be mine. I will spend the next few days praying that they total out the vehicle so that I never have to see it again…

The detective called yesterday and said he got what he needed. Ok ...cool.

The appraiser never called, so I reached out. He called back and starts the call with “I don’t usually handle things past this point and I’m sure they’ve already told you….” My heart drops…. “but your car is being declared a total loss.” Tears come instantly. I’m so grateful for this news. I didn’t expect it. Getting even over half the value of the car’s value felt like a long shot. And from my research on Progressive, they needed it to be over 80% of the ACV to declare it a total loss. Finally I can move on. Finally I can breathe.

That car will never be mine again. It will never be safe. I am not sad to walk away. I’m relieved. I can finally close the door on this chapter. I can finally start finding my next vehicle.

I am downgrading. I am going from a BRAND NEW 2020 vehicle…. To a used vehicle…. Which is fine…. But a step down. I’m not ready to get back in a Kia, no matter how much I loved mine. I am not ready to purchase a new vehicle financially. So I will purchase something used.

If I have to downgrade, I’m going to make sure I get the features I want. I’m pretty simple. A rearview camera, and a sunroof. I’ve always wanted one, so now feels like the perfect time! In my search a lot of the vehicles coming up are older, get poor mileage, or have TONS of miles on it already. I’m sure there were many other logical options… but many didn’t have both my sunroof AND the rear view camera…. I finally found the perfect one though. A 2017 Jeep Patriot with all my “must haves.”

I know Jeeps have a bad rep- “Just Eat Every Penny” - is what someone mentioned to me in my search. I know it isn’t the most responsible decision I’ve ever made. But I found a 2017 Jeep Patriot with 16,125 miles. It had all my features I was looking for AND has always been a dream of mine to have a Jeep. So I purchased the MaxCare car plan to help with any of the issues that could possibly go wrong and I got my dream car.

Now I have a way to move from point A to point B.
I have freedom to go to the grocery store without the assistance of someone else.
And I have the safety of my dream vehicle with all my must haves.

I am moving past this chapter. I can’t close it quite yet. But ….progress.