Angela Law

I heard from the insurance company on Friday and they’re going to be sending me my money this week, so we felt it was safe to go out and buy a new car. I got a Toyota Highlander. Silver inside and out. It’s pretty nice. I was actually hoping for a different color (only because I’ve already had two silver cars followed by two white cars and I was in the mood for something different). But, like Mick Jagger says, you can’t always get what you want.

We went to my parent’s last night for a family reunion of sorts, so we both got to try the vehicle out. I have to say, it’s a pretty nice ride. I think I’m going to like it. Since I didn’t get leather seats, we bought one of those wire pet barrier things today so that the dogs can ride in the cargo area (and I do believe that action makes me an official card-carrying member of the crazy dog ladies club). At least the dog hair will be contained to one area and not be all over the seats. That’s all I ask for, really. Well, that and an mp3 player. The factory stereo that came with the vehicle is a piece of crap, so I’ll be ordering a new one this week. I sure am going to miss the 6 disk mp3 changer I had in my Scion, though.

Nothing ever turns out as easy as it should, so why should I be surprised that our auto accident is turning out any differently? I won’t go into the gritty details, but basically the other party has changed their story (neverminding the laws of physics) and now it’s going to be a while till the insurance companies decide just who is to blame. But, this only has an effect on the insurance rates, so I guess it doesn’t really matter how long it takes just as long as my rates aren’t the ones going up.

On the other hand, I should be getting my money fairly soon. My car is wherever it is that they take the demolished cars and someone from my insurance company is supposed to look at it this week. Here’s to hoping I actually get the amount I think I should.

That said, I think we’re going to buy a new car this weekend. While it would’ve been nice to have some of the insurance money as a down payment, they have some really good deals going on until the end of the month and I hate the thought of missing out on a good deal. I don’t like the idea of having a big car payment, but after I get the insurance money, we’ll only have the one car payment, so it won’t be an issue (and if, for some reason, it takes a long time to get the insurance money, well, I still need a car, so…). I’ve already secured financing, so if things don’t work out this weekend, there’s always another day.

Here’s the photographic evidence.
Photo 1
Photo 2

So, we’re on our way home from a funeral late this afternoon and some guy pulls out right in front of us. There was no time to react. I saw the guy. I thought to myself “we’re going to hit this truck”. I hit the brakes and we proceeded to smash right into the truck. In that split second, I was figuring that we’d be able to slow down a bit and have a minor accident. This was not quite the case.

The car hit the truck and immediately some guy was grabbing me and telling me to get out of the car. Apparently there were fluids leaking from the vehicle and they weren’t sure if it was gasoline or what, so people were trying to get us away from the car. I went over and sat on the curb and some lady came over and said she was an EMT (off-duty) and she started checking me out first because the airbag smashing against my face gave me a nosebleed and the inside of my bottom lip was also cut by my teeth. Before I knew it, the ambulance and firetrucks arrived. They checked the three of us out in the ambulance, but we were all ok (shaken up, but ok) so we didn’t want to go to the hospital. The other guy wasn’t so lucky. I didn’t get a look at him, but he did go to the hospital.

We were just seconds from Brian’s parent’s house, so naturally they looked down the street to see what was going on. They thought they saw a white car, so Brian’s dad and our brother-in-law, Bill, came down to check things out. Needless to say, they were quite alarmed to find out that it was us. They took Jake back to the house then came back and stayed with us while we waited for the state police to arrive. The police officer filled out his report, the other driver is being cited, and both cars appear to be totaled. I don’t know about the truck, but the front of my car looked like an accordion so I’m pretty sure ‘totaled’ applies to my vehicle, anyway.

I guess the important thing is that we are all ok. People keep telling us that we’re going to feel like a pile of crap tomorrow and an even bigger pile of crap on Sunday, so we’re already planning on taking sick days on Monday. If we do feel that bad, we’ll go to the doctor’s. If not, there will be plenty of other things to get straightened out that day. Brian already called the insurance company, but our local office was closed for the day, so we couldn’t get any details from them today. Hopefully this will all get resolved quickly.

Incidentally, Jake is now adamantly refusing to ever ride in a motor vehicle again. I hope he changes his mind because we are out of groceries and I’m not walking to Richland tomorrow to buy them.