Wrecks in Life in General

Jessica got in a wreck yesterday.

Specifically, someone rear ended her after she left work and was going to the dentist. She did say that she had to slow down quickly because she almost missed her turn, but that doesn’t matter because the guy was either going too fast or following too closely.

I was actually taking a nap when it happened because I was having a stomach attack and figured I’d try to sleep it off. It’s probably a good thing because a couple minutes before she calls me I had apparently gotten a text message from her watch that a crash had been detected. I can’t imagine my freakout in that moment before I got in contact. But she called me and was literally still in the middle of the road and was crying and everything.

My first question was “Are you injured that you know of? Cuts, bruises, injuries?” She said no, so then I said, “Okay can the car still drive?” She said she wasnt’ sure, but I said, “Okay well try to put the car in drive and get out of the road but go super slowly.”

And that’s when I heard the guy who hit her approach her car and say things like “WHY DID YOU SLAM UR BRAKES SO FAST?” and I immediately said “don’t listen to him just get out of the road”.

While I was on my way to the accident, she told me he was trying to just quickly exchange information and leave. I told her to tell him he shouldn’t leave before the police arrive. I mean of course no one can stop him but it was honestly also in HIS interests to stay as well. Because if there is any chance he wasn’t at fault here (basically impossible tho), the cops would only determine that if he stayed and gave his statement. Otherwise he’s automatically at fault since he rear ended her.

Anyway he did stay, which was good, and I arrived and he started talking to me and say things like “man I tried to stop, she slammed her brakes blah blah” and I’m like “Dude, honestly, I don’t care to hear you out. I’m here to make sure my wife and unborn child are doing fine. The cops and insurance companies will determine who was at fault. I’m not interested in your story.”

I wasn’t trying to be a dick, but I just wanted to shut that shit down quickly so I could focus on Jessica. It seemed to work because his attitude immediately shifted into apologetic and he didn’t say much more. Like I’m not there to fight the guy or anything, the road is dangerous and people fuck up sometimes. My main concern was just making sure his fuck up didn’t hurt my wife and/or baby.

Well luckily outside of some anxiety and fear, she seemed to be okay. But of course, my plan was getting her to a hospital the moment the police say it’s okay for us to leave.

Also very luckily this happened right next to the dentist and one of the techs saw it happen through the window. So not only did we have a witness, but they were also able to help calm her down before I got there. Also there was a doctor’s office nearby who came outside to check on her and make sure she wasn’t in immediate danger.

So while waiting for the cops to arrive I checked the guy’s insurance to make sure it matched the truck’s insurance. Make model, everything looked good. BUUUUUT I noticed the vin number was one digit off. Super weird.

Well I’m glad I checked because when I mentioned it the cops they were like “oh wait that could actually be a problem” and they got on the phone with the insurance company for me. While we were waiting for them to figure out everything, one of the cops said “hey we are still waiting for the insurance company so why don’t yall just go to the hospital and we’ll call you when it’s resolved.

I was relieved because I did want to get her there asap. Jessica convinced me that instead of going to the closest ER, it would make more sense to go to the main hospital where she works because they a triage center and that’s likely where she’s be transferred anyway (she sees it a lot in people’s charts) so it would save a ton of time and headaches to just go directly to the triage instead of the ER. Turns out she was right because they got us right in and that’s where they monitored her for the next 6 hours. They wanted to be sure the incident wasn’t going to start her labor early.

Well anyway on the way to the hospital I got the call from the officer who said that the insurance said the incorrect vin wouldn’t affect how they honor the policy so we should be good to go (of course that’s not a guarantee we’ll see if they try any weird bs later). He also mentioned that in their report they listed the other driver at fault and cited him for going too quickly. They don’t know his speed when it happened but it was clear he was going too fast to stop (or he was distracted while driving) so they had enough to issue the ticket. That’s very good for us because it means his insurance will have virtually no way to fight this and have to pay for everything (now how much they end up paying is the next battle I’ll be dealing with).

I doubt I’ll be needing a lawyer but if the insurance decides to play serious games with us I may consider it just to stick it to them, even if my payout suffers for it. I really hate insurance companies and would go any distance to make sure they pay.

Anyway, after monitoring Jessica for 6 hours (and taking chest xrays and ekgs) they determined there wasn’t any immediate issues but told her to come back if anything happens. Very thankful she’s okay! Although she’s extremely upset about her car (2009 Honda CRV 140K miles). She’s had it for like 10 years and did a good job taking care of it.

Understandable, because it is pretty banged up. The rear door is caved in and the bumper got pulled up with it. I got two estimates today and both were in the $10,000+ range. Which sucks because the car is, at best, worth $6,000. So it’s basically a done deal, the car is a total loss so she’s going to need a replacement car. It still drives but if she got rear ended again the impact may be worse because the crumple zones were compromised. So it’s not safe anymore.

It sucks because Honda CRVs basically last forever. I’ve been doing research and there are CRVs out there for sale with 200K+ miles still fetching a decent price, because they just don’t quit. We could have easily gotten another 100K miles out of her car. Neither one of us are people who need to have brand new cars with all the bells and whistles. I like to take care of my cars, but it doesn’t need to be brand new. Having no car payment is really really nice, as long as the cars are still reliable, which both of our cars are (…were).

So I’ve been doing some research into replacement cars and I’m not super comfortable putting her in a car with the same miles and her CRV, because while I know she took good care of it, you never know how someone else treated it. I need her to have something that I know is gonna start every time and doesn’t leave her stranded.

Soooo it’s looking likely that even if the insurance gives us a fair price for the car (probably a fat chance there, but I’ll be optimistic for the time being), it’s likely we’ll have to finance another car to get something newer.

I’ve been doing research and I do like the Toyota Rav4. Seems like a really nice car, reliable, somewhat easy to repair, and they’re really popular so plenty of parts floating around out there. I’ve seen some 2019 models with around 70K miles for about $20,000. That tells me they also really hold their value (another good sign that it’s a good reliable car).

My main goal would be to keep the car payment under $300/month. So combine the total loss check and maybe an additional down payment, I should be able to make that happen.

Jessica is upset because her car was perfectly fine and now we’ll likely have a car payment after this but at the end of the day it’s still better than her getting hurt. I’ll take a payment.