12/21/2016

 The mood is very low.

 I wrecked my car on Friday after work. The right front wheel and tire are both destroyed beyond redemption. The front bumper is broken. One headlight is broken. There may be damage to the suspension, I have no way to tell without putting it on a lift.

 And it's all entirely my own fault.

 My car has four transmission modes; Standard, manual, sport, and economy. During the cold weather, I use the economy setting. It's the only one of the four that stays set when I shut off the engine. It will still be in economy mode when I start it again.

 When it's turned on, there's a light on the dashboard that says it's turned on. And when it's in economy mode, you have to press the gas pedal down farther to achieve what would otherwise happen with the slightest pressure.

 So I'm at a light. It's red. There's a car in front of me.

 The light changes, the person in front of me is sitting still. Before I can blow my horn, the light begins to turn back to red. So I cranked the wheel to the right and stepped on the gas, intending to go around.

 What I hadn't been paying attention to was that there were no transmission mode lights turned on on the dashboard. So, expecting resistance, I stepped on the gas—hard. I have to give Toyota credit, this thing took off like a cruise missile, jumped a four-inch high curb, and mowed down an old, disused stop-sign.

 In an eye-blink. I was suitably impressed.

 So, I got bounced around a little. The car was not drivable because the right front tire was blown out...completely. I called AAA. They flatly refused to tow my car unless I had a paper police report. I pointed out that it could take days to get a paper report.

 They persisted. Claiming it's a state law. Now, the only damage was to my own vehicle. The sign I ran down should have been removed a decade or so ago. It's one of those stop-signs that you can only recognize as a stop-sign because of the shape.

 So I called 911 and waited.

 The cop turned up fairly quickly. I explained what AAA had told me. He admitted he wasn't aware of any state law like AAA had mentioned. I was also suitably impressed with the police officer. He was helpful. He sat in his car and wrote up a paper report so I could get AAA to send someone to tow the car.

 He made sure I had a ride before he left and he also called a tow-truck who said they'd bill my auto insurance. I shook his hand and thanked him before he left.

 I got the estimate on the car today. 2K and counting and 21 day in the shop. Apparently I found something else I'm good at...breaking things. Expensive things. So the price of impatience is aggravation, rental cars, and deductibles.

 I picked up my rental on Sunday. It's called a Nissan Versa. It's classified as a compact. To experience what a compact is really like, open a can of sardines, drain out the liquid, climb in with them, and close the can again.

 I figured I could stick it out until the car's fixed—until I found out it's going to take three weeks. So I went back to Enterprise and got something similar to what I was driving. It's at least easier to get in and out of and it's four-wheel drive in case it snows in the next three flaming weeks.

 So I have some hostility. And all of it is directed at me. I spent two days battering myself. It was unproductive.

 I discovered I kept having these thought where maybe this really wasn't my fault. Maybe if the person in front of me had moved this wouldn't have happened. Which is completely untrue. I never, ever want to become one of those kind of people who are never wrong.

 Even when they're clearly wrong.

 I once listening to a friend's mother describing how she smashed in the front of her car. Her exact words: “The light changed and the idiot in front of me didn't move.”

 So, let me get this straight. You were stopped at a light. You were behind one other car. The light changed. You stepped on the gas and drove straight into the back of the car that's been sitting in front of you for the past two and a half minutes.

 And he's the idiot?

 I never want to sound that way.

 I never want to be so desperate that I refuse to take responsibility for the things I do.

 Thanks for listening

What AAA told me was they couldn't tow the car if it was damaged...which makes no effing sense at all.  The only thing damaged was my car...and my pride but AAA wouldn't tow that either.

The transmission modes are consist of two buttons on the dash for Economy and Sport and a Triptronic setting on the shifter that allows me to change gears by pushing up or down on the shifter.

The modes change how the transmission works.  In Sport the RPM's tend to be higher delivering more power when it's needed.

The Economy setting uses very low RPM's to conserve fuel and will shut down the air conditioner compressor to maintain fuel economy which is why I don't use it during the summer.

In Economy I get around 22 mpg.  In sport it's around 18.  Normally it's 20 or so.  I rarely use the manual setting since there's a significant amount of lag between when I select the next and when it actually changes.

When it's in Economy mode I have to press down farther on the pedal to get the car going which is what I was expecting when I stamped on the gas...I must have turned it off at some point or it reset on its  own...either way, I utterly failed to pay attention to the instrument cluster which isn't like me at all.

 

12/22/2016

 The mood is even lower.

 I didn't think this was possible but there it is.

 So, I'd wrecked my car. It was my fault. The insurance company got a rental for me but it was very small and very low to the ground. I thought I could tough it out but when I found out the repair time is 21 days I decided to upgrade to something like what I own.

 I dislike rental cars for one very good reason. Because they always, always seem soooo much better than what I'm driving. And I have this terrible, impulsive personality. So I rent a car and suddenly mine sucks and must be traded in immediately.

 This gets expensive.

 So, I've got the impulse to trade in my car for a Nissan Rogue. It really is a nice cushy ride, has some good features, handles wonderfully, and has surprising power which I'm paying attention to this time. I've had the Rogue less than 24 hours.

 And someone backed in to it then drove off.

 I went out on break to sit in the car and read and discovered a long, deep scuff-mark from the edge of the bumper to about the middle.

 When I was buying my car insurance policy, it never even occurred to me that I might end up with two claims at the same time. Mind you, this is kinda abstract so I'm not kicking myself over it.


 And now I have two deductibles.

 I had just finished cleaning out my savings account for Christmas so the timing is impeccable.

 I don't know what else to say tonight.

 Thanks for listening

CT I know you are dealing with a lot right now and then add in Christmas and all that comes with that.
Like flowergirl said.. better times ahead. Music can really help calm your soul so I hope this might help a little bit.



Pharrell Williams - Happy

 

Last edited by Common Sense (12/23/2016 11:08 am)

That $500 deductible is painful to shell out.  Your car insurance should pay for the damage to the rental car, not sure if there's another $500 involved or not.   Good luck with it all.