I was on my way to work this morning, when a rainstorm started sprinkling on my car. After a few moments, it had progressed from sprinkles to an all out downpour. This kind of thing happens a lot in Houston, so I'm used to it.
As I progressed down the freeway, I came upon a spot where the rain had accumulated on the road. A big puddle that could have been as much as a foot deep stretched from one side of the road to the other. Everyone in front of me was slowing down. We would be able to make it through the puddle just fine, but not if we were going freeway speeds.
I slowed down, and proceeded into the puddle, when I heard a squealing sound behind me and then--WHAM!--I was rear-ended. My head slammed back into the headrest, and the car rocked from the impact. The guy behind me had failed to slow down in time for change in traffic because of the puddle in the road.
I cursed my luck. This was now the third time I had been hit by someone since moving to Houston. Three times in three years. The first one ended my little Fiat. The second time I got sideswiped by a tour bus that didn't even stop to own up to the accident. And now this. Here's some pictures of the damage. Considering it was an accident on the freeway, I feel like I got off light. Just some damage way at the bottom part of the bumper.
The guy who hit me was cool. He stopped and we swapped insurance info in the rain, then we hurried to get off the side of the freeway before some other idiot killed us...another thing that Houston freeways are notorious for.
When I called his insurance, they took my statement, and then tried to tell me that I was 25% responsible for the accident because I stopped quickly. They wanted me to use their app, and accept a quick payout.
I considered it. The damage was minimal, the car worked just fine despite the missing bit of the bumper and the crumpled piece at the bottom. Once my daughter got her license, this would be her car to drive, and, if she was anything like her father was at her age, would certainly acquire new dings from unwise driving decisions. We could leave the damage and use the money for other things.
I was pretty sure that this 25% thing was another one of those unethical things that insurance companies do. A new one, but a part of the long line of unethical insurance company activities. Before I would take the money, I wanted to find out what my insurance company thought of this. I called and they said that they couldn't imagine how the other company could make such a claim. If I paid my deductible, they would go after the other insurance company on my behalf to get me the full payment.
When I took the car to the autobody shop, I was pleased to discover that the damage wasn't enough to declare the car a total loss. Every time I get hit, no matter how minimal the damage, my car gets totaled. I guess that might say something about the cars I tend to drive. This time, however, the $2,000 damage was less than the total value of the car. Huzzah!
The shop fixed it up for me, and rented me out a BMW 330i while I waited.
Speaking of the cars I tend to drive, I was completely uncomfortable driving this $40,000 vehicle. Not literally, it was actually quite comfortable. The lumbar support on the seat was amazing, but I was so worried that I would get dinged in some way and wind up paying a bunch for it. It had tons of amazing features, and I barely looked at any of them. I did push the pedal all the way down one time as I was getting on the freeway, just to experience what an engine like that feels like when you take the reins off. It was pretty exhilarating. I was thrown back into the seat as if I was on a roller coaster, and I finally got to understand what they're talking about when they say a car can go from zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds.
I was glad, though, to give the car back when they finally finished with mine. And there it was, as good as new!
I called my insurance company to find out about how the claim was proceeding. It was going to have to go to arbitration, but I wasn't worried, because I assumed I would win. There's almost no way to get rear-ended and be responsible. So...I waited for months to find out how it went, and as I suspected, we won the arbitration and got our money back from the insurance company. It was nice for once that it didn't end up as another loss for us, even when it wasn't our fault. It's happened enough that I just expect that now. Every now and then, when the world shows me that not everything is bad, I gotta smile and be happy.
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