This is my fourth Lexus from Wilkie Lexus in Haverford. The wonderful automobiles have probably covered about 40 years of my history. I mean – the Lexus is one fine car, and usually lasts a long time.
My 2014 ES350, however, developed leaks – which I did not understand. And because of COVID, I was not leaving my house very often. Every once in a while I would remember to go out and start my car as it sat in the driveway. I did notice condensation inside the windshield, on the passenger side.
But late one night – actually at 1:30 a.m. a few weeks ago, fortunately I was still watching a Netflix series, and I heard my car start honking, very loudly, on its own. And the headlights were flashing, too. I could not even get the engine to turn off when I went out with my electronic car key.
So I called the Wilkie service department the next day, and Jerelle, my favorite service guy there, told me to call AAA and have my car towed to Wilkie. It’s a long story, but it seems some drains were clogged, and water had dripped into and destroyed the electric system in my 2014 Lexus.
Now I have been paying premiums to Horace Mann auto insurance company since 1990. But they refused to pay anything toward the damage to my car. Which should have been totaled. The local salesman is long gone, and a guy from North Carolina was talking to me on the phone. Not a very compassionate or concerned person, by the way.
He told me I should have reported the water leak inside the car right away. But I was not driving anywhere, and I did not realize where the water was coming from or that it was responsible for the ghost honking.
So Jerelle told me to have the car towed to Wilkie’s lot. I did. And the North Carolina guy would only cover a rental car for about three days. I needed to buy a car! Wilkie gave me a loaner car for a week while I wrestled with buying a car.
I have known the Wilkie owner, Dan Polett, for about 40 years now. When I worked for Peter Liacouras when he was president of Temple University, Peter made me, among many jobs I held at Temple, assistant secretary of the Board of Trustees. And Dan Polett was on the board.
Dan went on to become chair of the Board of Governors of Temple University Hospital, and Peter made me also secretary of the Board of Governors. So I got to spend a lot of time with Dan Polett.
Dan had owned Wilkie Buick, the property right across the street from Temple’s law school. And Peter convinced him to sell the property to Temple, because President Liacouras wanted to expand the site of the basketball gym. And Dan sold the property, which became the Apollo. And then The Liacouras Center.
I’m not sure when or where Dan Polett founded Wilkie Lexus in Haverford, but I do remember riding in Pat Swygert’s beautiful navy blue Lexus. Probably the first car that Dan Polett sold at his Lexus site. And I promised myself that someday I, too, would own a Lexus!
So as I was sitting recently at Wilkie Lexus in Haverford, waiting for a salesperson to start showing me certified pre-owned cars, I spotted a nameplate in the office across from where I was sitting. Roy Ruttenberg. I yelled across to the seated salesperson – ayou related to Dr. Norman Ruttenberg? Well, Roy is Norman’s cousin! And Norman and I went all through school together, from Mann school through Lower Merion. And at one point in time, Norman even lived right next door to me – and our houses were attached.
Roy was a delight to deal with, as was Donna and all the other Wilkie folks who waited on me. I guess because Dan Polett had told them that he knew me and we have been friends for decades. Roy even helped me set up my on-line account for automatic payments! He is a whiz with computers.
As fate would have it, after I had taken two cars out for test drives, accompanied by my best friend Debby Wolff, Esq., I said to Roy and Donna in the sales office that I really loved my red car, now deceased. Just then, one of the salesmen piped up that a red car had just that morning been delivered to the Wilkie lot. So he brought it around – it was a 2019 certified pre-owned Lexus 350. I drove it – and came back to tell them to put my name on it! It was another red Lexus, and I loved it!
As a bonus, the day I gave back the loaner and picked up my 2019 red Lexus, the retired former manager, Jack Cornish, was visiting. We had a nice reunion. I will write to Dan Polett and tell him how much I appreciate the wonderful people who work at Wilkie Lexus.
Bonnie Squires is a communications consultant who writes weekly for Main Line Media News and can be reached at www.bonniesquires.com. She hosts the “Bonnie’s Beat” TV show at MLTV- MAIN LINE NETWORK
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