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Car + Icy Road + Tree = Bad News
Dec. 13th, 2009 07:25 pmThis morning the husband and I got up early to head to his sister's place to celebrate Christmas early. He was out earlier with the dog and noted that it was icy. We left plenty early, knowing that we would have to drive carefully.
As we drove down the street out apartment is just off of, the husband was indeed driving very carefully. Curves one and two were not so much a problem. It was the third one (it always is... third whatever- deer, curve, left...) that caused trouble. The road went to the right, and the car refused.
Honest, it just wouldn't go that way. We traveled in slow motion. The husband actually had time to warn me that we were going to hit the tree. The ABS brakes didn't kick on, the tires would not really turn. Mojo (my car) had had enough of this world and insisted on crashing into a tree.
We are not hurt. Seems like a good thing to mention. We sat there for a moment, and then got out to check the car. To go back, about a year (plus) ago my front bumper was hit in a parking lot while I was in the store. Because it was so cold out my car's bumper didn't dent in- it cracked. We have never gotten this fixed because it's purely cosmetic and not worth $500 to me.
So I see the major damage to the front end and the first thing I manage to do is quip that maybe now I'll get that new bumper. Husband chuckles, briefly, he was still in shock from Mojo's abrupt behavior. We walked around the car for a bit, and then got back in to figure out what next (see again- in shock). Calling people seemed good, starting with our insurance agent. He of course was not in his office, as it was Sunday morning. The call did not forward to the main call center either.
Oh, and during this time we had two people stop to see if we were okay, and the guy who owned the tree came out to check on us. He said that not an hour ago there was a two car collision not 50 feet up that same stretch of road. He also mentioned that this particular tree (fairly young too) had already been hit three times since he put it there. I'm thinking he might want to take the hint and move it...
I ended up walking home to get the phone number for the insurance so we could call them, the township police, and the tow company. I had just finished getting all this, when the husband called to let me know that the police and tow truck were there. The police happened by, and she called the tow company. At this point there was no reason for me to wander back to the scene of the car's suicide and waited for the husband to come back.
See, a deer decided to kill itself on my car about 5 years ago- hitting the front passenger side. At that point it was worth it to repair. Now that a tree had taken out the front driver's side, we're pretty sure they're just going to want to total it out. It is a 1999 Olds Alero with a previous front-end accident. It's likely going to cost more to repair than the car is worth. So yeah. Bubye Mojo. I've had the thing since 2001- I'm really going to miss it.
In order to cheer ourselves up, since we weren't going to be going to Hubby's sisters and thus no presents, we decided to go to lunch and then car shop. :) Afterall, if we're going to have to replace the car we need to know what's available. It was kinda fun, saw some cars that might work. Went to a dealership and was frightened by the circling salesmen. Though that place was good in that I got to sit in an car I wanted to see if I wanted to go to stage 2 (test driving). I didn't take any out today, we still don't really know what's going to happen. The roads had cleared up a lot though... of course.
All in all, it's been an interesting day. Not good really, but interesting. Car shopping wasn't precisely on our list of things to do... not to mention paying for a new (new-used) car. But we'll manage it somehow.
(ETA- oh yeah, and the airbags didn't even deploy...)
Hope you all had much better of a Sunday than I did.
As we drove down the street out apartment is just off of, the husband was indeed driving very carefully. Curves one and two were not so much a problem. It was the third one (it always is... third whatever- deer, curve, left...) that caused trouble. The road went to the right, and the car refused.
Honest, it just wouldn't go that way. We traveled in slow motion. The husband actually had time to warn me that we were going to hit the tree. The ABS brakes didn't kick on, the tires would not really turn. Mojo (my car) had had enough of this world and insisted on crashing into a tree.
We are not hurt. Seems like a good thing to mention. We sat there for a moment, and then got out to check the car. To go back, about a year (plus) ago my front bumper was hit in a parking lot while I was in the store. Because it was so cold out my car's bumper didn't dent in- it cracked. We have never gotten this fixed because it's purely cosmetic and not worth $500 to me.
So I see the major damage to the front end and the first thing I manage to do is quip that maybe now I'll get that new bumper. Husband chuckles, briefly, he was still in shock from Mojo's abrupt behavior. We walked around the car for a bit, and then got back in to figure out what next (see again- in shock). Calling people seemed good, starting with our insurance agent. He of course was not in his office, as it was Sunday morning. The call did not forward to the main call center either.
Oh, and during this time we had two people stop to see if we were okay, and the guy who owned the tree came out to check on us. He said that not an hour ago there was a two car collision not 50 feet up that same stretch of road. He also mentioned that this particular tree (fairly young too) had already been hit three times since he put it there. I'm thinking he might want to take the hint and move it...
I ended up walking home to get the phone number for the insurance so we could call them, the township police, and the tow company. I had just finished getting all this, when the husband called to let me know that the police and tow truck were there. The police happened by, and she called the tow company. At this point there was no reason for me to wander back to the scene of the car's suicide and waited for the husband to come back.
See, a deer decided to kill itself on my car about 5 years ago- hitting the front passenger side. At that point it was worth it to repair. Now that a tree had taken out the front driver's side, we're pretty sure they're just going to want to total it out. It is a 1999 Olds Alero with a previous front-end accident. It's likely going to cost more to repair than the car is worth. So yeah. Bubye Mojo. I've had the thing since 2001- I'm really going to miss it.
In order to cheer ourselves up, since we weren't going to be going to Hubby's sisters and thus no presents, we decided to go to lunch and then car shop. :) Afterall, if we're going to have to replace the car we need to know what's available. It was kinda fun, saw some cars that might work. Went to a dealership and was frightened by the circling salesmen. Though that place was good in that I got to sit in an car I wanted to see if I wanted to go to stage 2 (test driving). I didn't take any out today, we still don't really know what's going to happen. The roads had cleared up a lot though... of course.
All in all, it's been an interesting day. Not good really, but interesting. Car shopping wasn't precisely on our list of things to do... not to mention paying for a new (new-used) car. But we'll manage it somehow.
(ETA- oh yeah, and the airbags didn't even deploy...)
Hope you all had much better of a Sunday than I did.
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