Unfortunately, Tuesday was not the best day for me. However, it was certainly worse for the fate of my car, the little Ford Focus that could. As I was headed to choir at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church on Route 117 in Sudbury, another driver decided to completely and blatantly ignore a stop sign in a very important place in an intersection. I had no stop sign and when I observed the driver refusing to stop, well, it was just way too late. There was an impact and I saw what I thought was smoke (it was actually the powder from the airbags), so I unbuckled my belt and leaped out of the car. A man who lived in the house at the intersection came out and told me he had called 911. I started screaming and saying that the other driver just didn't stop. And the whole time, the other driver just walked around in a daze, holding his beer belly and not saying anything to me. I honestly thought he was intoxicated, but he was not. Even so, what a jerk!! The police came like two minutes after the crash, as well as ambulances from the fire department. After a few people questioned me about my information and the circumstances of the crash, I was taken to the hospital to make sure I hadn't endured any injuries. I called my mother first, who was a little frantic, but helpful, and then I called Brian and his phone was not on! It was a bit of a nightmare, but my mom called Brian's parents and they ended up going over to our apartment to tell him. Anyway, at the hospital, they simply questioned me about the accident details and took X-rays of my chest. Brian took me home at about 10:30, three hours after the accident.
I took Wednesday off of work because I wanted to rest and I knew there would be tons of phone calls to make to my insurance company, etc. After several calls and one visit to the Sudbury police department, I finally found out the name of the other driver and his insurance information. Although the insurance companies have not yet determined whose fault it was (and this still baffles me), he was issued a citation for not stopping at a stop sign, and therefore, will be at fault. The insurance company determined that my Ford was a total loss because of the excessive damage to the hood and engine and will give me $5700 with sales tax. I don't think this is too bad, considering I had the car for three and a half years and probably paid $9400 for the car, including the interest on the loan. The only bad thing is that I just paid off the loan in August and literally received the title last week, because it had to be transferred from state-to-state.
Of course, I had to rent a car on Wednesday so that I could get to work each day. His insurance will be reimbursing me. Although I have a feeling that it might take a while. Currently, I am driving a Dodge Caliber, which I would never buy. It has the worst visibility ever.
Everyone at school was pretty concerned about me when I told them what happened. I had also called another aide on Tuesday to let her know about the accident. On Thursday, I ended up going back to the doctor to have them look at my wrist, which is quite sore and is hurts when I bend it or flex it certain ways. The doctor said it was fine and that it should heal soon. She did look at my bruises on my hips (from the seatbelt) and recommended that I take pictures of them for any legal matters. I hope this doesn't come to that situation.
The best thing to happen as a result of the accident is that I now have to buy a new car, which is something I've wanted to do for a while. Since I did pay off the car recently, I was looking forward to not having a car loan for a few years. After Brian researched several cars on a consumer reports website and edmunds.com, we narrowed our search down to three cars-- the Honda Fit, the Toyota Yaris, and the Mazda 3. Last night, we drove to the three dealerships on Route 9 in Westborough (isn't it funny how these dealerships are so close to each other). We test drove all three cars (and the Mazda 3 had a manual transmission, which I really want!) and they were all good cars, but we determined that the Yaris was not for us. Also, the odometer was in the middle of the car and the car itself had a very plastic-y feel. The Mazda was great and had a good price, but this morning we have decided to go with the basic Honda Fit with a manual transmission. The only problem is that the car is in very high demand and we will have to call around to different dealerships and may possibly have to wait a few weeks to acquire one. As for the rental car, this DB(use your imagination)'s insurance company will just have to pay for the car a little longer. He had a thirteen-year-old Toyota. Obviously, he wanted a quality car, too.
That was probably a long and tedious explanation of the events that occurred. I hope no one has to endure an event like this, but I wasn't hurt (and the other driver wasn't either) and that is the most important thing.
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