We just found out this week that Aetna has APPROVED my daughters treatments. I'm not sure whether it was the second appeal (or second level appeal as they internally called it -- a source for more confusion about what was going on), the extra info the Doctor submitted, or the fact I had to submit a fax to let the Doctor appeal on our behalf. Frankly, I don't care at this point, because I'm sure whatever process that was involved isn't meant for mere mortals to understand. I'm just basking in the glory that I don't have to drive 4 hours a week for treatments now, and that we aren't saddled with over $20,000 of outstanding medical bills for 3 months of medicine.
You heard right folks, because it was on appeal, they are covering all of the past treatments up until now. This is HUGE, and means I can get back to working my debt snowball instead of piling money up to pay for potential bills. It seems like it is just in time too, because I just discovered about 2" of standing water in the bottom of my furnace due to what probably is a clogged drain pipe. I need to get a service tech out to tackle that one ASAP :)
Wednesday is our first try at doing the treatments at home. We've received all of the supplies for a month, so we are set to get this going. Hopefully it is a bit easier on the girls being able to do it here instead of there. It should be more comfortable in any event.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Aetna, why do you hate your customers?
While being busy trying to pay off past medical bills, I have been somewhat tuning out of my mounting new bills. After taking down four of our old ones (only one left!!), I started to turn my attention to the new ones. We have already hit our out of pocket max, so all of the new charges from Cincinnati from here on out will be covered (those Aetna pays for) so I've set up payments for what we incurred to hit our max.
This, however, is the proper start of my rant. A little back story if you will....
Our daughters have been fighting infection for the last two years. Serious infections. You get a cold and have pneumonia in three days kind of infections. You have eight ear infections in six months kind of infections. You have to go to infectious disease doctors to get special antibiotics because run-of-the-mill drugs don't cut it anymore kind of infections. You have to take a low dose antibiotic just to try to function in society infections (and still get above mentioned infections).
Throughout this time, Aetna was actually being awesome about things. They were covering the plethora of doctors and specialist visits at the said co-pays and all of the medication. Granted, I incurred nearly $17,000 in out of pocket expenses during those two years, but we were keeping our girls relatively healthy (even though we couldn't really take them out into the public). We were seeing specialist after specialist and doctor after doctor until we finally exhausted all of the resources in Indianapolis. We knew they both have a compromised immune system, but no one could tell us what was wrong or how to actually treat it. So, we just kept submitting all the claims and visits to Aetna and went on our merry way, thinking we were going to have to keep the kids in a bubble their entire lives.
Our infectious disease doctor referred us to a pair of immunology specialists at the Cincinnati Children's hospital, so we made an appointment, packed up the kids and headed out.
About all that we knew for certain about the girls is that their MBL levels were abnormally low or non-existent. This is important because this protein plays a big role in letting your body know there is an infection. Anyhow, after meeting with the new doctor, he said that the MBL was concerning, but shouldn't be causing this (based on other cases he's worked on). Twelve vials of blood from each kid later, we had a large panel of tests to try to figure out what is wrong.
After a few weeks, and after Aetna gladly paid for the facility, doctor's fees, and labs (aside from my co-insurance), we went back to discuss the results. At this point, they were still in the dark, but it is obvious they have something rare and it will take a lot more research. In the mean time, we decided to switch their prophylactic antibiotic to something stronger to help keep of infection. Like clockwork, the girls got sick again on the new antibiotic (our typical cycle was every two weeks). After consulting with Dr. Kumar, he was very concerned that they still got sick, and decided to break out the big guns to try to at least get them healthy while we tried to figure this out. He decided to switch them to Immunoglobulin G.
Our rep at the hospital called Aetna to get things pre-approved and to make sure that the treatment was covered and got the all clear. She called us up after that was settled and made our first appointment to come in. So, on our third trip to Cincinnati from Indianapolis we got our first infusion (sub Q, in the belly). We were simply waiting on Aetna to approve a home health care company to supply us with the meds and pump so we could do it at home. We figured we would have to come back maybe once more before this was taken care of, but little did we know Aetna in reality hates their customers.
We made a fourth trip, then a fifth trip, then found out the bombshell -- Aetna had denied the treatment for the girls. The thing is, after getting these treatments for three weeks, the girls had shown a dramatic improvement. They were playing, and I mean they were playing HARD. They probably never felt this good in their sick little lives, and actually got over a cold on their own WITHOUT any extra medication. This miracle drug had completely changed their quality of life, and Aetna was wanting to take that all away.
Our Doctor filed an appeal on the decision, but wanted to keep treating the girls because it was obviously working. Thankfully, he has the hospital holding the charges on the medication until this gets straightened out. Aetna has up to 30 days to respond to an appeal, so we waited, and kept driving back and forth from Indianapolis to Cincinnati to get life changing treatments for our girls.
After the 30 days had passed, Aetna finally responded -- with another denial stating that they don't cover IgG treatments for what the doctor had said he was treating them for because it was "experimental". Obviously, the experiment worked because our kids were finally able to be kids. He called and talked to the director of Aetna and found that there was a very specific black and white list of what they approved this medication for. The problem is, we don't have a diagnosis yet -- we just know the immune system is involved. So, he worked up a second appeal and drew more labs to get more ammunition.
Keep in mind, Aetna has been happily processing and paying for all of the facility and doctor fees this entire time, but just refuses to pay for the medication. If they won't pay for the treatment, why are they paying for the facility FOR the treatment? Not to mention that we haven't been to the pediatrician's office for 3 months (instead of every two weeks like before).
Anyhow, another 30 days went by and Aetna responded to the second appeal by sending me a letter. This time, their response was that they couldn't process the appeal because Dr. Kumar wasn't "authorized" to act on our daughters' behalf. HE IS THEIR FREAKING DOCTOR! What more authorization do you need?? So, today I faxed the release in so that their own doctor can see their medical information and act on their behalf.
So, we get to keep going back to get the treatments that actually give our kids a reasonable quality of life until Aetna decides to stop jerking us around. I figured up that every trip costs us nearly $100 in gas and food -- not to mention the fact that I have to work over during the week to make up for the day I have to be out of the office. Between the growing financial burden this is putting on us and the added stress of running so hard, it is amazing I haven't completely lost it yet.
Without insurance, the treatments cost roughly $1000 per kid per week -- so $8666 a month or $104,000 per year. I don't make nearly that much, so there is no way I can pay for this treatment let alone afford to live. Sadly, the girls' quality of life rests soundly upon Aetna's shoulders. If they deny the treatments, they are subjecting our girls to a life of infection, sickness, and being socially isolated. Aetna hates their customers, and apparently hates innocent little girls that just want a chance at a normal life, which this medication gives them.
I can't fight Aetna directly, but I can at least put our story out there so that others can see what kind of company they truly are. Far too often, people with similar conditions have the trouble getting the life changing medications they need. IgG is just one that I know of that people have to fight for. It is incomprehensible to me that people have to fight for IgG given the dramatic effects it has on those who need it.
For a point of reference, this picture represents all of the medications that my daughters (2 and 4) were on for the 6 months prior to starting IgG. We have only had to take over the counter allergy meds since.
I ask that you share our story with anyone you can. Hopefully this will help others in the future with similar battles.
This, however, is the proper start of my rant. A little back story if you will....
Our daughters have been fighting infection for the last two years. Serious infections. You get a cold and have pneumonia in three days kind of infections. You have eight ear infections in six months kind of infections. You have to go to infectious disease doctors to get special antibiotics because run-of-the-mill drugs don't cut it anymore kind of infections. You have to take a low dose antibiotic just to try to function in society infections (and still get above mentioned infections).
Throughout this time, Aetna was actually being awesome about things. They were covering the plethora of doctors and specialist visits at the said co-pays and all of the medication. Granted, I incurred nearly $17,000 in out of pocket expenses during those two years, but we were keeping our girls relatively healthy (even though we couldn't really take them out into the public). We were seeing specialist after specialist and doctor after doctor until we finally exhausted all of the resources in Indianapolis. We knew they both have a compromised immune system, but no one could tell us what was wrong or how to actually treat it. So, we just kept submitting all the claims and visits to Aetna and went on our merry way, thinking we were going to have to keep the kids in a bubble their entire lives.
Our infectious disease doctor referred us to a pair of immunology specialists at the Cincinnati Children's hospital, so we made an appointment, packed up the kids and headed out.
About all that we knew for certain about the girls is that their MBL levels were abnormally low or non-existent. This is important because this protein plays a big role in letting your body know there is an infection. Anyhow, after meeting with the new doctor, he said that the MBL was concerning, but shouldn't be causing this (based on other cases he's worked on). Twelve vials of blood from each kid later, we had a large panel of tests to try to figure out what is wrong.
After a few weeks, and after Aetna gladly paid for the facility, doctor's fees, and labs (aside from my co-insurance), we went back to discuss the results. At this point, they were still in the dark, but it is obvious they have something rare and it will take a lot more research. In the mean time, we decided to switch their prophylactic antibiotic to something stronger to help keep of infection. Like clockwork, the girls got sick again on the new antibiotic (our typical cycle was every two weeks). After consulting with Dr. Kumar, he was very concerned that they still got sick, and decided to break out the big guns to try to at least get them healthy while we tried to figure this out. He decided to switch them to Immunoglobulin G.
Our rep at the hospital called Aetna to get things pre-approved and to make sure that the treatment was covered and got the all clear. She called us up after that was settled and made our first appointment to come in. So, on our third trip to Cincinnati from Indianapolis we got our first infusion (sub Q, in the belly). We were simply waiting on Aetna to approve a home health care company to supply us with the meds and pump so we could do it at home. We figured we would have to come back maybe once more before this was taken care of, but little did we know Aetna in reality hates their customers.
We made a fourth trip, then a fifth trip, then found out the bombshell -- Aetna had denied the treatment for the girls. The thing is, after getting these treatments for three weeks, the girls had shown a dramatic improvement. They were playing, and I mean they were playing HARD. They probably never felt this good in their sick little lives, and actually got over a cold on their own WITHOUT any extra medication. This miracle drug had completely changed their quality of life, and Aetna was wanting to take that all away.
Our Doctor filed an appeal on the decision, but wanted to keep treating the girls because it was obviously working. Thankfully, he has the hospital holding the charges on the medication until this gets straightened out. Aetna has up to 30 days to respond to an appeal, so we waited, and kept driving back and forth from Indianapolis to Cincinnati to get life changing treatments for our girls.
After the 30 days had passed, Aetna finally responded -- with another denial stating that they don't cover IgG treatments for what the doctor had said he was treating them for because it was "experimental". Obviously, the experiment worked because our kids were finally able to be kids. He called and talked to the director of Aetna and found that there was a very specific black and white list of what they approved this medication for. The problem is, we don't have a diagnosis yet -- we just know the immune system is involved. So, he worked up a second appeal and drew more labs to get more ammunition.
Keep in mind, Aetna has been happily processing and paying for all of the facility and doctor fees this entire time, but just refuses to pay for the medication. If they won't pay for the treatment, why are they paying for the facility FOR the treatment? Not to mention that we haven't been to the pediatrician's office for 3 months (instead of every two weeks like before).
Anyhow, another 30 days went by and Aetna responded to the second appeal by sending me a letter. This time, their response was that they couldn't process the appeal because Dr. Kumar wasn't "authorized" to act on our daughters' behalf. HE IS THEIR FREAKING DOCTOR! What more authorization do you need?? So, today I faxed the release in so that their own doctor can see their medical information and act on their behalf.
So, we get to keep going back to get the treatments that actually give our kids a reasonable quality of life until Aetna decides to stop jerking us around. I figured up that every trip costs us nearly $100 in gas and food -- not to mention the fact that I have to work over during the week to make up for the day I have to be out of the office. Between the growing financial burden this is putting on us and the added stress of running so hard, it is amazing I haven't completely lost it yet.
Without insurance, the treatments cost roughly $1000 per kid per week -- so $8666 a month or $104,000 per year. I don't make nearly that much, so there is no way I can pay for this treatment let alone afford to live. Sadly, the girls' quality of life rests soundly upon Aetna's shoulders. If they deny the treatments, they are subjecting our girls to a life of infection, sickness, and being socially isolated. Aetna hates their customers, and apparently hates innocent little girls that just want a chance at a normal life, which this medication gives them.
I can't fight Aetna directly, but I can at least put our story out there so that others can see what kind of company they truly are. Far too often, people with similar conditions have the trouble getting the life changing medications they need. IgG is just one that I know of that people have to fight for. It is incomprehensible to me that people have to fight for IgG given the dramatic effects it has on those who need it.
For a point of reference, this picture represents all of the medications that my daughters (2 and 4) were on for the 6 months prior to starting IgG. We have only had to take over the counter allergy meds since.
I ask that you share our story with anyone you can. Hopefully this will help others in the future with similar battles.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Busy six months
It has been a busy six months in our household. I had canceled our credit cards and we were going without, we had a cash only Christmas, AND I was able to pay off two large debts. Lots of sacrifices were made to make this happen, bit it was all worth it. We sold a car and replaced it with a cheap cash-only alternative, canceled all extra utilities, didn't go out, didn't eat out, worked extra jobs and finally pulled through a big win. Granted, we still have a ways to go, but are in a much better position than we were six months ago.
The biggest lesson learned - FILE YOUR HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION! I waited too long to do this and got burned by my mortgage payment for the last year. That, however, has changed and our new payment is $300 less than it was before, freeing up that much more in the budget for the debt snowball. It is probably good timing because of the ongoing medical treatments the girls will need, but with insurance hopefully covering everything, we should be in good shape.
The next thing on the radar is a couple small medical debts and the Van being paid off. I'll be sure to update this more frequently as we knock down more debts. It CAN be done people.. you just have to have discipline.
The biggest lesson learned - FILE YOUR HOMESTEAD TAX EXEMPTION! I waited too long to do this and got burned by my mortgage payment for the last year. That, however, has changed and our new payment is $300 less than it was before, freeing up that much more in the budget for the debt snowball. It is probably good timing because of the ongoing medical treatments the girls will need, but with insurance hopefully covering everything, we should be in good shape.
The next thing on the radar is a couple small medical debts and the Van being paid off. I'll be sure to update this more frequently as we knock down more debts. It CAN be done people.. you just have to have discipline.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Finances are Spooky
Ok, that was a lame attempt at Halloween humor, but things were a bit scary there for the last couple months. We had built up quite the backlog of medical bills, but I am glad to say that I was able to work out payment plans with ALL of the providers without having to incur any new debt to do so.
I also got some decent news over the last couple months -- the big one being getting a rather generous staged raise between now and January 1st. The first part of it was effective this month, and while I've only had two paychecks with the extra money, the effects are already starting to become apparent. In January, the next phase kicks in. This is awesome not only that it is extra money, but the total between my raises and all of the money that I've been able to free up by cutting lifestyle equates to about what our old house payment used to be :). The realization that you have managed to gain basically a mortgage payment is a very good one indeed.
With the payment plans I've got in place and the extra money coming in now, I've got a great outlook for how the rest of 2009 will go and how 2010 will turn out. I'm already starting to get panicked calls from creditors about my balances going away. I've got a 0% interest medical loan that I've just about paid off. When it got to be about 5 months away from being paid off, they have been calling me once a week with "good news" that I've got money available that they will gladly give me -- at 24% interest. No thanks :). By the way, making sure they only have my Google Voice number is awesome. It makes it easy to ignore them :).
I also got some decent news over the last couple months -- the big one being getting a rather generous staged raise between now and January 1st. The first part of it was effective this month, and while I've only had two paychecks with the extra money, the effects are already starting to become apparent. In January, the next phase kicks in. This is awesome not only that it is extra money, but the total between my raises and all of the money that I've been able to free up by cutting lifestyle equates to about what our old house payment used to be :). The realization that you have managed to gain basically a mortgage payment is a very good one indeed.
With the payment plans I've got in place and the extra money coming in now, I've got a great outlook for how the rest of 2009 will go and how 2010 will turn out. I'm already starting to get panicked calls from creditors about my balances going away. I've got a 0% interest medical loan that I've just about paid off. When it got to be about 5 months away from being paid off, they have been calling me once a week with "good news" that I've got money available that they will gladly give me -- at 24% interest. No thanks :). By the way, making sure they only have my Google Voice number is awesome. It makes it easy to ignore them :).
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Whew... Can I get off this ride yet?
Ok, so I've been quiet on here for a bit, but that's because I've been holding on for dear life trying not to get flung off this marry-go-round of disaster. In July, our insurance reset, so we got another $500 put into an account and $1000 put into our Flex Spending account to last through the end of the year. By 7/31, all $1500 of that money was gone and we are just about through our deductible (of $3000). Granted, it started a bit lower because of the first 6 months of the year, but still :).
Then, to top it all off, Piper had to get some dental work done and because the Dentist lied about taking our insurance, we owe $591. Sure, they can "take" it and send the claim in, but for the things that are actually covered, it is at 60/40 instead of 80/20. Also, because they are out of network, other things cost a bit more. When I confronted them about this, they simply said "oh yeah, we're not in the network because they make us charge less." No kidding... you don't say?
So, here is my nastygram against "Pediatric & Adolescent Dentistry" in Carmel, Indiana. We saw Dr. Laura Brinson Grahm, who actually is a great Dentist, but her business practices are complete crap. The other dentist in that practice is Dr. Rebecca Stuart Donnelson. I'm not sure of her competency, but I still insist that no one do business with them, and if you do currently, please stop :). And for Google's sake, here's some more information in hopes this gets indexed: Address: 13450 N Meridian St. Suite 363 Carmel, Indiana 46032. Phone: 317-846-5893.
Thanks to the wonderful freedom of speech we all have, they can't force me to take this down either, so eat it :). Stating that you can process Delta Dental isn't the same as being in network, and you need to make that clear to patients in need of semi-emergency work.
I've officially got the Vibe listed in hopes of selling that and paying off another year old hospital bill. I've actually got someone coming to look at it tomorrow. They've contacted me before and from the first email I'm sure they are going to low ball me, but we'll see how things go.
What I really need to do is stumble into about $30,000 somehow. That would make things much easier to deal with (and get a few predatory lenders out of our lives). I'd still have a ways to go, but it would be at least a bit more doable. At least my beater is running strong, and I got the AC somewhat fixed too -- so I'm not losing 20 lbs of water during my drive home everyday :).
Let this be a lesson -- Debt is bad, and even worse when you don't have an emergency fund and actually have a couple long term medical conditions to take care of. Cut the cards... live within your means.
Then, to top it all off, Piper had to get some dental work done and because the Dentist lied about taking our insurance, we owe $591. Sure, they can "take" it and send the claim in, but for the things that are actually covered, it is at 60/40 instead of 80/20. Also, because they are out of network, other things cost a bit more. When I confronted them about this, they simply said "oh yeah, we're not in the network because they make us charge less." No kidding... you don't say?
So, here is my nastygram against "Pediatric & Adolescent Dentistry" in Carmel, Indiana. We saw Dr. Laura Brinson Grahm, who actually is a great Dentist, but her business practices are complete crap. The other dentist in that practice is Dr. Rebecca Stuart Donnelson. I'm not sure of her competency, but I still insist that no one do business with them, and if you do currently, please stop :). And for Google's sake, here's some more information in hopes this gets indexed: Address: 13450 N Meridian St. Suite 363 Carmel, Indiana 46032. Phone: 317-846-5893.
Thanks to the wonderful freedom of speech we all have, they can't force me to take this down either, so eat it :). Stating that you can process Delta Dental isn't the same as being in network, and you need to make that clear to patients in need of semi-emergency work.
I've officially got the Vibe listed in hopes of selling that and paying off another year old hospital bill. I've actually got someone coming to look at it tomorrow. They've contacted me before and from the first email I'm sure they are going to low ball me, but we'll see how things go.
What I really need to do is stumble into about $30,000 somehow. That would make things much easier to deal with (and get a few predatory lenders out of our lives). I'd still have a ways to go, but it would be at least a bit more doable. At least my beater is running strong, and I got the AC somewhat fixed too -- so I'm not losing 20 lbs of water during my drive home everyday :).
Let this be a lesson -- Debt is bad, and even worse when you don't have an emergency fund and actually have a couple long term medical conditions to take care of. Cut the cards... live within your means.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Bills Are From Mythology
I swear, bills are really a new form of Hydra. You cut one head off, and three more grow up in its place. Things have been rather interesting around here lately :).
First off, I'm driving the Grand Am as my daily driver (finally), and am getting ready to prep the Vibe for sale. I've even managed to pay off one of the many medical bills we had laying around. The downside, however is that I've incurred about twice what that one was (on another payment plan), and will be having to pay for a MRI soon. THEN, the Max (one of our dogs), began trying to scratch his brain out of his cheek, so we had to take him to the vet. Some shaving, treatment, antibiotics, lamp shade, and $160 later, he's all better. Poor guy, he looked so pitiful for the first day :).
The icing on the cake is the wonder that is increasing property taxes. Due to the recent changes around here, our house payment is going to go up about $200 -- effectively undoing some of what I've been driving toward with freeing up cash flow. If I can sell the vibe and use the proceeds to pay off another medical loan, then I'll be back up $300 a month. With the Van edging in on the $3000 mark, it should be one of the next things to go. Speaking of the Van, I had to get some work done on it which cost a bit. The good news is that I got the Tires for Life deal on it when I bought it, so I'll be getting a new set of tires here soon. The bad news is that to keep the deal, I've got to get it aligned (understandable), which will run about $150. :)
I did get a letter in the mail today from a Pontiac dealer, however. They are looking for Vibes (I guess people have been asking for them). Since they know I have one, they are offering to buy it because they are low on inventory. They're also offering more than what I owe on it, and I could possibly get more out of them -- so that is kind of cool. It would be nice to be able to sell it and get pretty close to what I want without the hassle of actually having to deal with people :).
Anyhow, I'm off for now. The next update will probably be what happens with the car. Stay tuned :)
First off, I'm driving the Grand Am as my daily driver (finally), and am getting ready to prep the Vibe for sale. I've even managed to pay off one of the many medical bills we had laying around. The downside, however is that I've incurred about twice what that one was (on another payment plan), and will be having to pay for a MRI soon. THEN, the Max (one of our dogs), began trying to scratch his brain out of his cheek, so we had to take him to the vet. Some shaving, treatment, antibiotics, lamp shade, and $160 later, he's all better. Poor guy, he looked so pitiful for the first day :).
The icing on the cake is the wonder that is increasing property taxes. Due to the recent changes around here, our house payment is going to go up about $200 -- effectively undoing some of what I've been driving toward with freeing up cash flow. If I can sell the vibe and use the proceeds to pay off another medical loan, then I'll be back up $300 a month. With the Van edging in on the $3000 mark, it should be one of the next things to go. Speaking of the Van, I had to get some work done on it which cost a bit. The good news is that I got the Tires for Life deal on it when I bought it, so I'll be getting a new set of tires here soon. The bad news is that to keep the deal, I've got to get it aligned (understandable), which will run about $150. :)
I did get a letter in the mail today from a Pontiac dealer, however. They are looking for Vibes (I guess people have been asking for them). Since they know I have one, they are offering to buy it because they are low on inventory. They're also offering more than what I owe on it, and I could possibly get more out of them -- so that is kind of cool. It would be nice to be able to sell it and get pretty close to what I want without the hassle of actually having to deal with people :).
Anyhow, I'm off for now. The next update will probably be what happens with the car. Stay tuned :)
Monday, July 6, 2009
More Car Voodoo
I've had some time to really check out the car that I talked about in the last few posts, and have discovered some pretty cool things. The main gem in this is the exhaust problem I had I was able to fix with a $5 roll of JB Weld putty. Turns out that when they put the exhaust on the car, they only welded the bottom half of it to the flange that connects to the header, not the top half. So, a little bit of putty crammed into that joint later, I've got a sealed exhaust system :).
I spent some time cleaning the interior too and it is in surprisingly good shape. I imagine if the previous owner took the time to actually clean it, he could have gotten a lot more out of the car. I'm going to be getting some seat covers here soon, but the seats really don't need it -- they just look a bit dull. After I do some more little cosmetic things to it, it will be a pretty nice little car.
Mechanically, I need to recharge the AC ($30 kit), and at some point the wheel bearings may need to be replaced (I'm noticing some odd vibrations when coasting). Even without doing the usual tuning I do to the intake, ignition, and exhaust systems, this car is getting 32-35mpg -- not bad for a 13 year old car. I'm really curious to see how well it does after I play with it some more.
Now, all I have to do is get the vibe cleaned up and listed for sale. I'll let everyone know how that goes soon. Hopefully it will sell quick :).
I spent some time cleaning the interior too and it is in surprisingly good shape. I imagine if the previous owner took the time to actually clean it, he could have gotten a lot more out of the car. I'm going to be getting some seat covers here soon, but the seats really don't need it -- they just look a bit dull. After I do some more little cosmetic things to it, it will be a pretty nice little car.
Mechanically, I need to recharge the AC ($30 kit), and at some point the wheel bearings may need to be replaced (I'm noticing some odd vibrations when coasting). Even without doing the usual tuning I do to the intake, ignition, and exhaust systems, this car is getting 32-35mpg -- not bad for a 13 year old car. I'm really curious to see how well it does after I play with it some more.
Now, all I have to do is get the vibe cleaned up and listed for sale. I'll let everyone know how that goes soon. Hopefully it will sell quick :).
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