It started on Tuesday the 12th, on my morning drive into Laurinburg: a low hum from the front right of the car that got louder around 45 miles an hour. I turned the radio down, then off, then told myself it was the new road surface on US-74. When I got home, I told Wes about it, and he went out and drove the CR-V down our road and back. He came in and said, "Wheel bearing." He didn't even sit down first.
We were supposed to leave for Beaufort, South Carolina, and Hunting Island on Friday.
A worn wheel bearing makes a hum or growl that changes with speed, not with engine revs, and gets louder or quieter when you swerve gently left and right, because that loads one side more than the other. Ours got louder turning left, which puts more weight on the right side. Wes also jacked up the front and found a little play when he rocked the wheel top to bottom.
On our CR-V, the front bearing is pressed into the steering knuckle. Wes could do it, but it needs a press or a big special tool, and he didn't have either at home. So we called a shop Wednesday morning. They confirmed it, and the price was $486 for the part and labor. The catch was the part: not in until Monday.
Driving 560 miles round trip on a bearing that's already humming was not an option. Wes explained that a bearing that's getting worse can get hot and loud, and in the worst case it can affect the wheel. We'd been looking forward to that Hunting Island trip for two months, so we had to decide fast.
Why we rented instead of waiting
We had three choices. Cancel. Drive Wes's 2012 Silverado, which gets about 16 mpg. Or rent something small.
The truck math was ugly. 560 miles at 16 mpg is 35 gallons, and gas was around $3.29 a gallon. That's about $115 in gas alone. A compact rental would get somewhere in the mid-30s, around 16 gallons, roughly $53. The difference was about $62, so a rental only had to cost a bit more than that to make sense once you counted comfort and not putting more highway miles on Wes's work truck.
I found a compact car at the rental counter in Fayetteville for $164 for three days, Friday through Sunday. The motel in Beaufort wasn't refundable that late anyway, so canceling would have cost us that money for nothing.
Before I picked it up, I did homework. I called our credit card's benefits line and then our insurance agent, and asked each one exactly what would cover the rental. Our personal auto policy extends to a rental car in the U.S. for the same coverage we carry on the CR-V. The card offers secondary coverage for damage to the rental car when we pay with it and decline the counter waiver. Based on that, I declined the collision damage waiver at the counter.
The gap I found
The one thing nobody volunteered: if a rental car is damaged, the rental company can charge for the days it's out of service while it's repaired, plus administrative fees. When I asked directly, our agent said our policy doesn't clearly cover those. The card benefit covered some of it, but with conditions and paperwork. That gap was small for a three-day compact, and we accepted it. If we were renting something expensive for a week, I'd think harder. Ask your own agent and your own card about loss-of-use and admin fees by name, because that's where the surprises live.
We took the rental south on Friday morning at 6:10. The weekend was lovely, and it gets its own post. The total came to $471 with the rental included, which blew our $300 target. I'm fine with that. The alternative was staying home with a broken car and paying for the motel anyway.
What I'd tell myself last Tuesday
When a car makes a new noise, say so that day. Don't drive on it hoping it's the pavement. And keep money set aside for exactly this kind of week. Starting this month, we're opening a separate car repair fund, so the next $486 surprise has its own place to come from and doesn't have to compete with the trip account or the light bill.
The CR-V came home Monday afternoon, quiet as can be. I drove it to work Tuesday with the radio off on purpose, just to listen to nothing.
