Oh My Poor Car

So I have not been writing here much lately, and my reason, I told myself, was that nothing really blogworthy had happened to me in a while. Careful what you wish for, I guess.

Yesterday afternoon, I was driving out to teach as usual. I was driving down the middle lane of a three lane road, with a line of stopped traffic in the right lane, when suddenly, a RotoRooter van pulled through the line of traffic to make a left turn onto the other side of the road. I slammed on the brakes, but there was nothing I could do, and I hit him. Hard.

I realized right away that I was fine, no injuries. The van pulled further to my left and out of traffic, then stopped a few feet away. My foot was still on the brake, because I wanted to avoid going any further and hitting any of the cars on the right. My hood was crumpled up and smoke was coming from the engine. When I collected myself, I decided to also move to the left and out of the two rightmost lanes of traffic.

I decided that the smoking meant I should turn off the car as quickly as possible. I had some trouble getting the gearshift into park, however, so I just turned the car off in neutral, then managed to force it into park. Before I could get out of the car (the driver's side door was difficult to open), a woman came up to the door. She was on the phone with the police. She had been driving right behind me and saw the accident, so she decided to stay as a witness, which was very nice of her. She even gave me her name and phone number before she left, which I didn't know I would end up needing later.

It took the policeman about a half hour to get to the scene. However, within five minutes of the crash, five tow trucks arrived, all waiting to carry my car to a body shop. These men were wreckers, who, in Texas, all have a chance of towing a wreck, as long as they arrive before the police. When the policeman arrives, they all put a small chip with a number on it in a hat, and the cop pulls one out. The driver who owns that chip gets to tow my car. This is quite a strange system, I think, but another of the many Texas quirks.

So the chip was chosen, the lucky winner hitched up my car and pulled it off the road. The policeman talked to the witness first to find out what happened, then asked both drivers for their licenses and proof of insurance. I gave him my license, but didn't have proof of insurance, so I called for my policy number and gave him that. He didn't talk to me again, however, he only concentrated on the other driver. Eventually he gave the other driver a citation, and me a card with the case number and information on it, and then left. I exchanged information with the other driver (which was fun because I didn't know which information I needed, but everyone was very helpful, the wrecker, the witness, and even the other driver himself, who reminded me that I might want to take down his license plate number and such things).

Then I was towed to the "collision center" of a Chevy dealership nearby. Fast forward past a few hours of phone calls, confusion, clarifications, and more confusion, and things finally started to calm down. That was when I went out to my car to get my things, and finally got to fully survey the damage. Here's what I saw:

Not a pretty sight. I waited at the dealership for Lilly to come and rescue me after she finished teaching. Finally, about seven hours after the accident itself, I was back home.

Now I've had a day to shake it off, get things arranged and squared away, give my statement and such, and I am now set up with a new rental car, a Mazda 3 no less! It has been roundly agreed that the collision was not my fault, that I had the right of way, and that the other driver was at fault, so his insurance will pay for all the costs, including the rental. All that remains to be seen is what will happen with the repairs. If the insurance company decides the repairs will cost too much, they will instead make me an offer for my car, and I will have to sell it to them and get another. If it's gone for good, that would be very sad. I'm going to miss you, car. I'm so sorry I crashed you.

But now hopefully things are settled down and I can breathe and relax again. It's been a hectic two days, and it will be nice to let things get back to normal again.