I got in a (very minor) car accident on my way home from work tonight.
I had stopped at the post office so that I could mail a couple of packages. I sell stuff on Ebay sometimes and I had two bottles of Proactiv Repairing Lotion I needed to send to winning bidders. This detail isn’t at all important to the story, but I find it sort of interesting that I got in an accident at the post office because I hardly ever have occasion to go there. Anyhoo! When I was about half way backed out of my parking space, I noticed in my rearview mirror that the car behind me had shifted into reverse and was backing up too. I immediately stepped on my brakes but it did me no good – the car behind me backed up so quickly that it slammed right into the back of my car.
The other driver hopped out right away to survey the damage. I pulled forward into my parking spot, turned off my car and did the same. When we finally met face to face, I asked the other driver (a very polite older gentleman named Randolph) whether or not he saw me before he slammed into me and he admitted that no, he didn’t. In fact (he went on to admit), he didn’t even look before he backed up. (Isn’t honesty fun?)
Randolph and I exchanged insurance information. The car he was driving isn’t even his – it belongs to his friend Bertram, apparently. (Seriously, what’s up with these names?) Bertram’s car (a 2005 Hyundai sedan) was less damaged than my car. There were a few scrapes and a small dent on Bertram’s rear quarter panel, while the rear bumper on my car was completely dented, scraped, and hanging half way off and my taillight was scraped and dislocated.
The insurance adjuster called this evening to discuss my claim and set up a time for me to bring my car in for estimates. It sounds like the whole process will be relatively painless. One thing that sort of surprised me about the whole ordeal was, we attempted to call the local police non-emergency line (thinking that they’d send someone out to take a report). However, unless someone is injured or the accident happens somewhere other than private property, the police in the city where I work won’t respond to car accidents. Am I the only one who thinks this is odd? I guess I thought that was something police always did? Guess not…
There will be more information to come – including a determination by the insurance adjuster as to which one of us is at fault in causing the accident (which is what I thought a police report was for, but…). I’m curious to hear whether or not Randolph will be as honest with the insurance adjuster as he was with me.
My poor car.
