Cruuuuuuuuuunch!

Yep, that's the sound I heard as some bastard hit my brand new (okay, five months old, but still!) car. I was driving home from work on Friday afternoon to pick up Che before meeting friends for dinner. In an effort to avert an intersection that had been closed due to a fatal accident (so I learned later), I cut through a parking lot and came out of the driveway into the center turn lane. As I was driving down the center turn lane and waiting for a clearing to merge into the closest lane of travel, out of nowhere, some bastard in a pick-up truck rammed my driver side door trying to merge into my lane. In front of a half dozen police officers. Handy to have them as witnesses.


The officers sent other officers out to take our report, and I waited in the 110° heat with the pick-up driver yelling at me and coming over to my car to take pictures. Whatever, dude. Like I'm gonna go out this weekend and bash up my new car some more just to scam your insurance. The officers showed up, asked questions and took our statements, had us exchange information, and sent me on my way while they continued to talk to the guy and decide if they would issue him a citation. All in all, the process was relatively painless, although my door no longer opens. So my car is driveable, as long as I'm willing to crawl in and out through my passenger door. Which is generally fine, except yesterday when I decided to wear a skirt to work. And a little inconvenient when I pull into the gas station on the wrong side. Oops.


So far, dealing with the insurance company has been pretty painless too, and it helps that we both have the same insurer. I dropped off my car at the body shop in the morning and picked up an Audi A4 from Hertz. It's fine, but it's not my car. Call me spoiled rotten, I'm lost without my Bluetooth phone and my XM radio. I'm hoping the insurance company finishes its investigation quickly so that I can get my car back and drop off the rental with no out-of-pocket expenses. The body shop thought I would have my car back in a week, which shocked me. I was thinking more like a month.




Sigh. What a pain in the ass. However, dinner at Stax afterwards (to which I was only about 20 minutes late) helped make up for the drama. Gotta love a place that has tater tots on the menu. And man, these were some GOOD little fried potatoes.