Lucy the Volkswagon = ALL BETTER!
So I got in a car accident three weeks ago. Wait no, almost a month ago now. Dayum.
Yes, it was my fault. Not on purpose of course. They don’t call it a car purpose. It’s a car accident because that’s what it is. AN ACCIDENT. No, I wasn’t on my phone. No, Oprah, I wasn’t texting while driving. It was 5 o’clock on a Tuesday during rush hour and the guy in front of me stopped too fast for me to stop. No, we weren’t at a stop sign. No, we weren’t a stop light.
It all happened in less than 30 seconds. I tried to swerve to miss him, but unfortunately, I did not.
I’ve never been in a car accident. It freaked me out so much. I got a little whiplash and had a pretty good bruise from the seat belt for a couple days, but other than that I was fine.
But I remember getting out of my car, making sure the guy was okay, and then seeing my car and I immediately started crying. For a couple reasons, one because I was shaken up, two because my pretty car was no longer pretty, and three, I thought “HOW IN THE HECK AM I GOING TO PAY FOR THIS? WHAT AM I GOING TO DRIVE WHILE THIS IS GETTING FIXED? WHO IS GOING TO TELL ME THIS IS GOING TO BE OKAY?” etc. etc. etc.
And of course, I’m totally lucky. It’s a good thing I WAS paying attention. I hear horror stories of these car accidents on the interstate and I am thankful I was not one of those. So, of course, hooray for it being okay.
Sure, I have car insurance. But there are those things like rental car deposits, tickets, and deductibles we forget about.
SIDE NOTE: The rental car I got for the last 25 days was a 2010 Dodge Avenger. AKA: It looks like a manly muscle car. BUT it did have Satellite radio. I used to have Sirius satellite radio a long time ago – I forgot how much I missed it. I was really sad to say goodbye to Cosmo radio. MAN that is a good station.
Oh well, 25 days after my accident, I finally have my car back. And she’s good as new and pretty again. The guys at Elite Auto Body in Carrboro did an AMAZING job.
(They sure as heck better have for having it be a $4,000 repair job…) 😉
Well, here she is, in all her glory:
Moral of the story? People get in car accidents. Sure, it sucks, but it happens to everyone. I just need to make the benjamins now so I can pay it off…
And I think the two-second following rule should be a five-second following rule.
Just sayin’.
Tell me: Have you ever gotten in a car accident or fender bender? Did it totally suck? If it did, I’m sorry. Share your wisdom and experience in the comments.
Word.
My first weekend home from college many, many years ago… it had just started to rain, and I was headed down Greensboro St in Carrboro. I was accelerating up a hill and as I topped it, there was a Toyota stopped in the middle of the road: no brake lights, no turn signal… and it took me just a moment too long to realize the vehicle wasn’t moving. I was only going 20mph and I tried to swerve between it and a lamp post, but I slid and clipped her back fender. My dad was overseas and my mom was out of state… *man* were they peeved!
Two years later, I drove too close to a bollard (those yellow metal posts) at a McD’s drive-through and got a lovely yellow streak down the side of my pickup.
A few years after that, I got too close to an immovable object (metal post? concrete steps? — can’t remember) at Carr Mill mall and put a similar ding in my Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight… but those suckers are, like, twenty feet long with a miserable turning radius, and I maintain it was totally unavoidable given the cramped parking lot.
Glad to hear Lucy is all better!
We were just talking about this last night… I’ve run into an ATM (old car, no power steering & I couldn’t make the turn), I’ve lost control on a muddy road and went under a chain link fence, I’ve been rear-ended in traffic, I’ve been hit three times while sitting in my car before getting out at the store, I’ve been hit by an 18-wheeler when sitting at a stop sign, I’ve hit a deer going 75, and I’ve run a stop sign and hit a little tiny car (I ‘totaled’ his car and I was only driving a geo prism).
That’s 9 accidents in only 12 years (though most of them happened in the first 5 years I had my license). No wonder State Farm refuses to insure me!