Not-So-Fender-Bender

It was November 24, and we were supposed to be leaving the next morning to go to Idaho for Thanksgiving. I was making several dishes for our meal, so grocery shopping and cooking were at the top of the list of things I needed to do this day. I got up early, got Grant ready, and was so proud of myself when I discovered that we were actually going to make it to the store right on schedule at 8:30 a.m. What a miracle! I was using coupons and hitting several stores this morning so I could get sales, so being there early was a must. I saw the first grocery store up ahead, flipped on my right blinker, started turning my wheel, and had almost finished the turn into the parking lot when I heard a loud crushing crunch and was thrown forward. Lukily, Grant and I both had our seatbelts on, so the only physical damage done was to my forehead with the visor that was half down. I jumped out and saw smashed plastic all over the ground from my rear driver's side lights and was horrified to discover that the back side of my car was scrunched up inside of itself. It wasn't just a fender-bender like I'd hoped, but luckily it wasn't like we were in any danger.  The fact that the trunk was damaged made me nervous about how much this was going to cost.

The other driver stopped and apologized, but she seemed more irritated that it was making her late for work than that she had just ruined my car (and my hopes for having a stress-free Thanksgiving trip to Idaho). I called 911 and then called Jake's dad, who immediately jumped in his truck to come help. Unfortunately, our new car insurance cards were somewhere in a pile of mail on our counter from a few days before, but the police officer was kind and didn't ticket me. He just used my old one instead. I guess they have fancy computers in their cop cars these days and he could access all my info anyway.

Since it wasn't my fault, I was hoping her insurance would cover the damages, but I was still out a car to go to Idaho. There was no way we could get it into and out of a shop in 24 hours. If Jake's parents hadn't lent us their car, we would have had to spend the holiday here. I called my insurance to report it, and they told me they would contact her insurance, who would then contact me probably the following Monday (a week later). When they did, her insurance still hadn't received a report from her and couldn't contact her, so they couldn't fork out any money to have the car fixed. I had my insurance appraise the damages (which were somewhere between $3000-$4000) while I waited for them to wait for her, since she was apparently waiting to report her mistake. Another week went by before we finally got our car taken to a shop, and almost two weeks went by before we got it back. What a nightmare!

The upsides: we didn't have to pay a penny, and we got a free rental truck for the first snow of the year. It had a funny-sounding blinker, and every time I turned it on, I would hear Grant's little tongue start clicking in the backseat. It really did sound like that, and it was adorable to hear him make that connection!