Day Sixty-Five:
In the end, I might as well write about it, but I can do it now that I know everything's settled, for better or worse, and I'm that much less likely to get sympathy responses.
On 15 May, about 10:18p [leaving to go to work], some idiot stopped to make an illegal left turn--which is illegal because making a turn there needlessly brings traffic to a complete stop, especially since it's much easier to take the previous left without incident. Not expecting traffic to have stopped there, I had glanced away and looked back just in time to react well too slowly and rear-end the last person in line. From a cursory inspection, I'd only knocked off the girl's plate and scratched the fender a little, which was a relief. Much to my horror, though, my hood had smashed in, making my car absolutely not roadworthy, though at least drivable.
Figures that happens when I haven't yet gotten to register the car in Maryland, of course [even as of this writing! arr!].
It didn't help that it was raining, making the process that much more annoying, but I completely and utterly handled it wrong and only got the girl's name and address, not insurance or phone number, etc., though I gave her mine. Luckily, her mother [I figure] knew what we were supposed to do and called me back to ask me about all that stuff, even if she didn't give me any in return... not that I could've written it down, as I had to bum a ride from Charles to get to work and thus was in a dark car at the time. Yes, I'd really wanted the night off after that, but in the end, it really was better to just go, since I honestly need the money for my now-increased insurance premiums, already increased from moving to Maryland [see below].
In the morning, after work, I called my insurance and filed a claim, with quite a bit of difficulty given it was a Sunday and the problem of my insurance still being for Virginia, so I had to go through several hurdles to apply for Maryland insurance at the same time I had a claim being processed. Getting an auto body place to work on my car was a hassle as well, though a lot of it came from the timing, and that the place I tried first [Manhattan Auto Body] didn't have an answering service or anything to ensure I had the right number to begin with. I ended up calling the insurance support line again and getting cut off in the process, but finally Manhattan answered after I tried one last time--apparently they open relatively late for what I was expecting [9:30 Monday morning].
So somewhere, there's a technical support person for State Farm that thinks I'm a complete and utter spaz, like who everyone's been complaining about in their journals lately [friends at work dealing idiot customers, or friends shopping dealing with idiot store management, etc.], but I guess everyone's stupid in the eyes of someone else. It reminds me of seeing a family of geese walking down the road as I was returning from work... they were perfectly happy doing their own thing, but they were pissing off everyone on that side of the road. Unfortunately, you can't reason with geese on that level, so the best thing to do is adjust and go on.
Meanwhile, I got a rental from Enterprise... a Mazda of year I can't remember, but it was the fruitiest Mazda I've ever been in. [Granted, it's the second Mazda I've been in.] Certainly it was nice being in a new car again, despite its quirks, but I was really anxious about racking up fees or getting dents in it to really enjoy it that much, so I drove it absolutely minimally. In the end, I got a dent in the driver's door anyway from swinging it open just slightly too far... *grumble* Stupid mall parking.
After a bit, Manhattan called me back to tell me they were "almost" done and asked me if I wanted to have the front right door replaced as well, since it would be the ideal time to do it. I almost considered until they gave me the estimate of $480-something, which I naturally balked at. Granted, that might be a good price, but it's $480 I don't have to spend on my car, so I made amply sure to tell them, "Yeah, go ahead and don't do that." The annoying part was, as eager as I was to get my car back, it took what felt like [and perhaps was] two more weeks to finish...!
Meanwhile, I went through a good number of problems getting Maryland State Farm to give me insurance--including trying to figure out purely from over-the-phone dialogue what I needed for Maryland was, relative to Virginia, and how much more I had to pay--the latest of which involved the agent not realizing, "Oh, it already processed! I called you and you called back fifty times for nothing!"
...
I perhaps should have gone ahead and gotten renter's insurance, but I'm being as stingy as possible right now, until I'm more secure in my money situation, even if it means costing more out of pocket should something go wrong as things tend to do.
The final cost of repairs was in the range of $4800--I don't feel inclined to hammer into my head the exact amount--even if I only had to pay [at the time] the $250 deductible. Unfortunately, there was a matter of Manhattan not actually calling me to tell me it was done... I had to get word through Enterprise instead, and even then I got the message after they'd closed! So I spent well too much time sorting that out, with the final cost of my rental being $640-something minus my $500, at that point, maxed-out rental limit, plus tax, plus they likely saw the dent... $230 for three weeks or so.
Nothing but hurting for my bank account.
The part I especially want to note, not because it's depressing, but because it's surprisingly refreshing, was the dialogue with the Manhattan guy:[after explaining that they'd sent my car over to have the AC recharged]
Guy: Hello, Auto Zone? This is Wacko Auto Body... yes, I want to check out the Lexus, too, but right now, I have the happy owner of the Honda waiting for her car... She's got a gun... Okay, a few minutes, then.
[turns to me]
Guy: They'll be over in a bit. In the meantime, that'll be $12,000.
Me: ...I thought I had a gun.
Guy: Oh, right, right! It's free, then.
Anyway, the damage was more extensive than I'd thought, because he told me that the radiator was --><-- this close to falling off, and it would've had I driven any farther than I had. It's amazing how little damage cars can take--I want my next car to be a tank! At least I can appreciate having a sense of humor about the matter, especially since most people who come in aren't in the best of moods [as was the case with me]. He mentioned that most people get in an accident once every eleven years. When I said my last one was five or six years ago, he called me "above average."
To get a sense of perspective, he told me, on the Jaguar out in the lot, the work for the tires alone was more than the total cost of my repairs... $5500-something. Total was $22,000! I'd've just bought a new car for that money! It's good having my old car back, though--as used to having a new car as I was for the larger part of the past month, I don't have to worry [read: I don't care] if it gets dents in it, because I'm not going to bother fixing them. Worrying about someone else's car sucks... rentals more so.
There's prolly something I'm leaving out, but this is getting long as it is. Regardless, I'm an increasingly paranoid driver now, though with a completely solo claim under my belt now [I still haven't told my family about it], I feel a little better about the actual process, if not the events leading up to it.
Moral: The worst time to get in an accident is on a rainy Saturday night, with possible exception of a snowy or hurricane-y Saturday night. Also, as much as speeding might shave a few minutes off travel time [not that I was], getting into an accident certainly increases the delay exponentially.
Quick notes: When moving--
Update address with place of work,
Update insurance [all types],
Update driver's license and vehicle registration,
Update bank information,
Sign up for Internet access, cable, electricity, etc. at new place of residence,
Find new doctor/dentist/chiropractor/etc. [as needed, I've been lazy],
Update all other changes of address with assorted extra places that might need it [subscriptions and so on],
Do not get any more than necessary [as with our adventures in getting overcharged for something we stopped using immediately], and be rabid about not being sold what isn't needed,
KEEP ALL DOCUMENTATION OF THE ABOVE CHANGES.
As for this adventure... NEVER AGAIN [though that's a little more out of my hands than I'd like to believe, but I'll certainly not choose it]
Oh, last thing, I went ahead and registered to be an organ donor. Eh, I won't need my body after I'm dead. That much, at least, I need to tell people so they'll know, otherwise I'm not really an organ donor.
On 15 May, about 10:18p [leaving to go to work], some idiot stopped to make an illegal left turn--which is illegal because making a turn there needlessly brings traffic to a complete stop, especially since it's much easier to take the previous left without incident. Not expecting traffic to have stopped there, I had glanced away and looked back just in time to react well too slowly and rear-end the last person in line. From a cursory inspection, I'd only knocked off the girl's plate and scratched the fender a little, which was a relief. Much to my horror, though, my hood had smashed in, making my car absolutely not roadworthy, though at least drivable.
Figures that happens when I haven't yet gotten to register the car in Maryland, of course [even as of this writing! arr!].
It didn't help that it was raining, making the process that much more annoying, but I completely and utterly handled it wrong and only got the girl's name and address, not insurance or phone number, etc., though I gave her mine. Luckily, her mother [I figure] knew what we were supposed to do and called me back to ask me about all that stuff, even if she didn't give me any in return... not that I could've written it down, as I had to bum a ride from Charles to get to work and thus was in a dark car at the time. Yes, I'd really wanted the night off after that, but in the end, it really was better to just go, since I honestly need the money for my now-increased insurance premiums, already increased from moving to Maryland [see below].
In the morning, after work, I called my insurance and filed a claim, with quite a bit of difficulty given it was a Sunday and the problem of my insurance still being for Virginia, so I had to go through several hurdles to apply for Maryland insurance at the same time I had a claim being processed. Getting an auto body place to work on my car was a hassle as well, though a lot of it came from the timing, and that the place I tried first [Manhattan Auto Body] didn't have an answering service or anything to ensure I had the right number to begin with. I ended up calling the insurance support line again and getting cut off in the process, but finally Manhattan answered after I tried one last time--apparently they open relatively late for what I was expecting [9:30 Monday morning].
So somewhere, there's a technical support person for State Farm that thinks I'm a complete and utter spaz, like who everyone's been complaining about in their journals lately [friends at work dealing idiot customers, or friends shopping dealing with idiot store management, etc.], but I guess everyone's stupid in the eyes of someone else. It reminds me of seeing a family of geese walking down the road as I was returning from work... they were perfectly happy doing their own thing, but they were pissing off everyone on that side of the road. Unfortunately, you can't reason with geese on that level, so the best thing to do is adjust and go on.
Meanwhile, I got a rental from Enterprise... a Mazda of year I can't remember, but it was the fruitiest Mazda I've ever been in. [Granted, it's the second Mazda I've been in.] Certainly it was nice being in a new car again, despite its quirks, but I was really anxious about racking up fees or getting dents in it to really enjoy it that much, so I drove it absolutely minimally. In the end, I got a dent in the driver's door anyway from swinging it open just slightly too far... *grumble* Stupid mall parking.
After a bit, Manhattan called me back to tell me they were "almost" done and asked me if I wanted to have the front right door replaced as well, since it would be the ideal time to do it. I almost considered until they gave me the estimate of $480-something, which I naturally balked at. Granted, that might be a good price, but it's $480 I don't have to spend on my car, so I made amply sure to tell them, "Yeah, go ahead and don't do that." The annoying part was, as eager as I was to get my car back, it took what felt like [and perhaps was] two more weeks to finish...!
Meanwhile, I went through a good number of problems getting Maryland State Farm to give me insurance--including trying to figure out purely from over-the-phone dialogue what I needed for Maryland was, relative to Virginia, and how much more I had to pay--the latest of which involved the agent not realizing, "Oh, it already processed! I called you and you called back fifty times for nothing!"
...
I perhaps should have gone ahead and gotten renter's insurance, but I'm being as stingy as possible right now, until I'm more secure in my money situation, even if it means costing more out of pocket should something go wrong as things tend to do.
The final cost of repairs was in the range of $4800--I don't feel inclined to hammer into my head the exact amount--even if I only had to pay [at the time] the $250 deductible. Unfortunately, there was a matter of Manhattan not actually calling me to tell me it was done... I had to get word through Enterprise instead, and even then I got the message after they'd closed! So I spent well too much time sorting that out, with the final cost of my rental being $640-something minus my $500, at that point, maxed-out rental limit, plus tax, plus they likely saw the dent... $230 for three weeks or so.
Nothing but hurting for my bank account.
The part I especially want to note, not because it's depressing, but because it's surprisingly refreshing, was the dialogue with the Manhattan guy:[after explaining that they'd sent my car over to have the AC recharged]
Guy: Hello, Auto Zone? This is Wacko Auto Body... yes, I want to check out the Lexus, too, but right now, I have the happy owner of the Honda waiting for her car... She's got a gun... Okay, a few minutes, then.
[turns to me]
Guy: They'll be over in a bit. In the meantime, that'll be $12,000.
Me: ...I thought I had a gun.
Guy: Oh, right, right! It's free, then.
Anyway, the damage was more extensive than I'd thought, because he told me that the radiator was --><-- this close to falling off, and it would've had I driven any farther than I had. It's amazing how little damage cars can take--I want my next car to be a tank! At least I can appreciate having a sense of humor about the matter, especially since most people who come in aren't in the best of moods [as was the case with me]. He mentioned that most people get in an accident once every eleven years. When I said my last one was five or six years ago, he called me "above average."
To get a sense of perspective, he told me, on the Jaguar out in the lot, the work for the tires alone was more than the total cost of my repairs... $5500-something. Total was $22,000! I'd've just bought a new car for that money! It's good having my old car back, though--as used to having a new car as I was for the larger part of the past month, I don't have to worry [read: I don't care] if it gets dents in it, because I'm not going to bother fixing them. Worrying about someone else's car sucks... rentals more so.
There's prolly something I'm leaving out, but this is getting long as it is. Regardless, I'm an increasingly paranoid driver now, though with a completely solo claim under my belt now [I still haven't told my family about it], I feel a little better about the actual process, if not the events leading up to it.
Moral: The worst time to get in an accident is on a rainy Saturday night, with possible exception of a snowy or hurricane-y Saturday night. Also, as much as speeding might shave a few minutes off travel time [not that I was], getting into an accident certainly increases the delay exponentially.
Quick notes: When moving--
As for this adventure... NEVER AGAIN [though that's a little more out of my hands than I'd like to believe, but I'll certainly not choose it]
Oh, last thing, I went ahead and registered to be an organ donor. Eh, I won't need my body after I'm dead. That much, at least, I need to tell people so they'll know, otherwise I'm not really an organ donor.