One Bad Random
Monday, January 17, 2005
Sedan versus SUV
The following is long and boring. You have been warned:
There's currently a lot of road construction going on in the area a short distance from my house. This weekend, they diverted the main road for the third time in the past six months or so. Previously, one of the east-bound turnarounds that popped out on the left side of the west-bound road had its own lane for a few hundred yards. However, since the most recent redirect, the turnaround has a brand new yield sign and unfortunately no longer has its own merge lane. It now immediately merges into the west-bound traffic.
As my luck would have it, one of my fellow morning commuters didn't notice or pay attention to any of the many new signs declaring the new need to yield. As I was passing the turnaround I saw a big black SUV coming at me. I had enough time to realize that I had a car on my right and one directly behind me. Swerving and stopping didn't appear to be options so I braced for impact and screamed like a little girl.
Immediately after the wreck, I pulled off the road so as not to clog traffic. The woman got out of her gas guzzler and said, "Um, I have my own lane." I informed her that she in fact did not as the recent construction had diverted traffic onto a new stretch of road, minus the extra lane. She apologized and said it was her fault. I chuckled and shrugged. "Well. I AM sorry," she insisted. I tried half-heartedly to say it was okay.
Shortly afterwards one of our community's fine law enforcement officers showed up on the scene. "How's your day going?" I asked. "Fine until now," he said. "Yeah. Tell me about it," I replied. Always good to be friendly to the police.
When asked, I told the officer what had happened. When he asked the lady, she said she didn't understand what had happened. It was her fault, she thought she had her own lane, etc. "Yeah. That's what happens with all the construction around here. You've got to be careful," he said. "Don't speak to me like I'm an idiot! I don't think that is necessary," she blurted out. Nice move, dumbass. Around that time, my wife showed up on the scene. I had flashed the "Lisa Signal" into the sky right after the accident and she had leapt into action.
While finishing up the paperwork, the officer saw Mia and mentioned that he also had a new puppy. He also said he lived in the same neighborhood as I do. He then started writing Ms. Sass-mouth a ticket. "Am I getting a ticket?" "Yes ma'am." "What for!?" The officer smiled a little and said, "failure to yield." It's nice to see people enjoying their job.
My left front rim was a slight bit bent and the officer suggested changing the tire. So, I put on the little donut and limped home. After this is over, I'm going to sacrifice the trunk space to have a real fucking spare tire. Tonight, I put the old tire back on the car. It's got to be safer than driving around on that "Little Debbie Snack Tire."
Before leaving the house, Lisa had called Progressive (our auto insurance). She was given a claim number and told that someone would call her within twenty minutes. No call. She called them back and was told that someone would call her in an hour. No call. She called back and was told that, while the guy would call her, perhaps she should contact the other person's insurance. Our insurance person connected her on a three way call and got the ball rolling. Probably the only thing they did correctly.
Anyway the other insurance company, Geico, seems to be handling things very well. They took the details, recommended a local body shop, arranged an appointment, set up a rental car, and explained that the rental fee would be paid directly by them when we pick up the rental tomorrow morning. They apologized that that was the earliest available time. The woman in the accident had never called them to start things rolling on her end, so Geico tried several times until they got a hold of her, confirming that it was her fault. They were friendly and responsive, much like a good hooker.
This is smart business on their part. By doing their job well, they may very well have convinced me to switch to their insurance company. They had the customer of a competitor handed to them on a silver platter and they showed what a good insurance company should do. Meanwhile, we still have not heard from our insurance guy. He was apparently in a nearby town handling another claim. I guess he's the single point of failure for my policy. Geico emphasized that we could talk to anyone there as they shared all of the claim information (probably on one of them fancy computers).
Quite the eventful day.
Follow up
Well, I got my car back one week after having taken it to the body shop. They replaced a bent tie rod, the fender, the bumper, one tire, and one tire rim. They even washed the car and shined up the tires. It drives like new. I believe the cost to fix was somewhere around $2500. I paid nothing for the fixes or the rental car thanks to the fact that it was someone else's fault. Alls well that ends well.
