We Can't Have Nice Things
That's what Bryan said when our brand new car was hit by some crazy person in the middle of the night. We had had said brand new car for less than a week and put only 140 miles on it since driving if off of the car lot. And it was really only that many miles because the dealership was pretty far away.
The note the offending person left (and I give her credit for leaving one because goodness knows she could have just driven away... if her car was still working... a fact about which I am dubious given the damage to our car after impact)... the note said, "I hit your car, obviously. Extremely sorry." Along with that was her name, phone number, and insurance information. Very decent of her.. and yet, I found myself very upset.
All of the things our brand new car symbolized to us now felt cheapened. A new life starting, acting like grown ups because we're going to have a baby, spending some extra money to be safe and secure for our family. Boo. Stupid lady blew that to hell, obviously.
The "obviously" part of the note baffles and amuses me. First, well, it was obvious that she hit our car. Seems superfluous to add the word. Second, she punctuated the sentence correctly, making it hard to assume she was a drunken teenager. I picture some college-educated mid-30s person, working some lame job which is far beneath her education level, but not being able to find something else. She comes into the big city (different area code on her phone number) and has a night out with her ladies. Either she's drunk or not. She reaches out frantically to catch her cell phone which slides off of the car seat as she rounds the U-turn a bit too fast. She's lost because this is not her town and ended up going the wrong way on a nearly deserted street at 1:00am. And... BANG! She hits our brand new, bought it for baby's safety, first new car either of us has ever owned, prized possession at 40mph, shoving it against the curb and taking out the entire bumper, the hatch on the hatchback, and enough of the driver's side to require replacing the entire metal panel.
And I'm sure she yelled at her steering wheel, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" before possibly pausing to consider driving away. Then, doing the right thing, she took out a notebook and wrote us a note with her info.
It was the same note we found, soggy and sticking to our windshield the next morning as we joyously rounded the corner to take our brand new car to a friend's graduation ceremony. I read the note through hysterical tears, cursed the woman for being a crazy drunk, and called our insurance company. They, by the way, basically said, "You have got to be f-ing kidding us" because we just reported buying the brand new car exactly one week before. We did not get to go to the graduation ceremony, since our car was no longer drivable.
So, now the news is that the car is not totaled (meaning no frame damage). The damages on the body pieces alone came to a grand total of nearly $8000. Holy crap. That woman's insurance must be very unhappy.
For our part, we're still saddened by the turn of events, want to go live in the woods away from society, but are very, very glad to have been sleeping safely in our home when the accident occurred. (And I feel baby kicking me in the belly as I write this, affirming my last statement.)
Before
After
The note the offending person left (and I give her credit for leaving one because goodness knows she could have just driven away... if her car was still working... a fact about which I am dubious given the damage to our car after impact)... the note said, "I hit your car, obviously. Extremely sorry." Along with that was her name, phone number, and insurance information. Very decent of her.. and yet, I found myself very upset.
All of the things our brand new car symbolized to us now felt cheapened. A new life starting, acting like grown ups because we're going to have a baby, spending some extra money to be safe and secure for our family. Boo. Stupid lady blew that to hell, obviously.
The "obviously" part of the note baffles and amuses me. First, well, it was obvious that she hit our car. Seems superfluous to add the word. Second, she punctuated the sentence correctly, making it hard to assume she was a drunken teenager. I picture some college-educated mid-30s person, working some lame job which is far beneath her education level, but not being able to find something else. She comes into the big city (different area code on her phone number) and has a night out with her ladies. Either she's drunk or not. She reaches out frantically to catch her cell phone which slides off of the car seat as she rounds the U-turn a bit too fast. She's lost because this is not her town and ended up going the wrong way on a nearly deserted street at 1:00am. And... BANG! She hits our brand new, bought it for baby's safety, first new car either of us has ever owned, prized possession at 40mph, shoving it against the curb and taking out the entire bumper, the hatch on the hatchback, and enough of the driver's side to require replacing the entire metal panel.
And I'm sure she yelled at her steering wheel, "Shit! Shit! Shit!" before possibly pausing to consider driving away. Then, doing the right thing, she took out a notebook and wrote us a note with her info.
It was the same note we found, soggy and sticking to our windshield the next morning as we joyously rounded the corner to take our brand new car to a friend's graduation ceremony. I read the note through hysterical tears, cursed the woman for being a crazy drunk, and called our insurance company. They, by the way, basically said, "You have got to be f-ing kidding us" because we just reported buying the brand new car exactly one week before. We did not get to go to the graduation ceremony, since our car was no longer drivable.
So, now the news is that the car is not totaled (meaning no frame damage). The damages on the body pieces alone came to a grand total of nearly $8000. Holy crap. That woman's insurance must be very unhappy.
For our part, we're still saddened by the turn of events, want to go live in the woods away from society, but are very, very glad to have been sleeping safely in our home when the accident occurred. (And I feel baby kicking me in the belly as I write this, affirming my last statement.)
Before
After
posted by Bert at 2:22 PM
2 Comments:
As far as insurance payments go, that's pretty cheap. I'm glad that you can get your car fixed, and that the lady didn't just take off (which has happened to me a few times). The title of your post made me laugh. When JB came along, we just figured that we would not own nice things because, hey, what's the point when there's going to be poop and throw up and pee all over the place? Seeing how events have played out, I'm so glad we didn't buy the really nice stuff. I say all that to hopefully make you feel slightly better about your car. And also to warn you that your little bundle will do gross things in your car and house and this is not the last time your hubby will make that comment. :-P
ugh! thank goodness you guys weren't hurt, though.
and yeah, my kids have completely trashed the car we bought brand new in april...scratches on the doors from gracie banging them into stuff, stains on carpeting from ice cream, etc. it's just easier to swallow when your kids are trashing your car instead of random (drunk?) strangers...
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