You know those movies which show you what your life would look like if you had chosen a different path? Well, yesterday morning I chose the wrong one quite literally, and ended up smacking right into a brand new car as it cut across my lane without looking. Ugh…

All of us are safe and sound and no one hurt at all (or else I wouldn’t be able to blog this right now, haha),  but nonetheless it shook us up a bit. And luckily the person I hit freely admitted she was in a rush and wasn’t paying attention when she made the turn so she agreed it was her fault.

We’ll see if that story translates okay to her insurance company (Progressive), but I’d like to think she’s a good person :) Turns out it was also her first crash of her life (she was maybe pushing 19), so a good way to learn the hard way I suppose… at least she wasn’t texting and driving!! Especially with a little kid in the car! :(

SOOoooo…. now we wait and see how the insurance companies play with each other. I relayed all my info to USAA who will keep everything on file in case it’s needed later (they recorded parts of our call for their archives which was pretty cool), but if all goes as planned I’ll get word from Progressive on how we go from there. And hopefully that it doesn’t touch my insurance at all – the way it should be when the party isn’t at fault.

The whole thing was pretty surreal, especially since I avoided what I thought would be a crash only 60 seconds earlier (guess it was meant to be?), and whenever that happens I tend to get into duper deep thought and play the “what if” game.

• What if one of us got killed?
• What if one of us didn’t have any insurance?
• What if I just waited TWO more seconds before getting into my car??
• Why didn’t I just go down the OTHER street instead of this one?
• Am I living my life as best I can right now???
• Is there a potential for me to get sued and lose all my savings and future savings for years and years to come??? (That what if was courtesy of USAA, btw, when they advised I may want to look into “Umbrella insurance” after seeing all my financials I have with them :) Apparently it’s pretty cheap (couple hundred a year?) and can cover you for millions of dollars once all other insurances/etc tap out. So like if someone got seriously injured in today’s crash and my car insurance ran out at $300,000, then the umbrella one would kick in and cover the rest in a crazy situation. I’ll be checking on that in the near future, you can bet on that…)

A little blown out of proportion considering there was minor damage to our cars (well, at least mine as you can see in that picture above – hers was banged up a bit more since I rammed right into her side door there), but nonetheless that’s how the brain works. I was due for a crash any day anyways – I’ve been getting in them every 4 years like clockwork, so it’s kinda expected now :) I swear I’m a good driver though!

HAH! The person I hit just texted me… let’s see here…. awww, check it out:

Thank you for being calm about the whole accident this morning, I am truly sorry. I called insurance company and everything. God bless you.

So sweet!! If only everyone could be like that afterwards :) One of my first ones involved a guy who rear ended me at a stoplight at 2 am, and then got out and started swearing at me up and down as if it were MY fault he drank 10 too many beers that night, haha… I was at a red light – completely stopped – minding my own business! And we were the only cars around in like a 5 mile radius??? What an idiot… And an even bigger one when he decided to pick a fight with the cop who showed up on the scene who then promptly arrested him and took him on a nice trip back to the station ;) You never argue with the police – that’s rule #2. After #1: Never DRINK AND DRIVE.

Boy, what a day… I love it that technology makes this stuff easier too - like how we both took pictures of our insurance cards and then texted them to each other instead of writing it all down like it used to be done :) That accomplishes three things off the bat:

1. You get the other person’s number, which has to be accurate since you’re standing next to each other waiting to see the pictures show up!
2. You don’t mess up any of the numbers/spelling of the names/etc
3. And more importantly, it’s quick and easy. Especially when your mind is racing a mile a minute and you’re trying to remember everything amidst a bundle of nerves.

Other things to do which I *completely* forgot:

• Call the police to report the crash. I’m not sure if you have to do this with ALL accidents, or just the serious/problematic ones, but either way it’s probably a good thing to do anyways.
• Get the driver’s licenses of everyone involved. A) to make sure they are who they say they are, and B) to get their address and license plate number – if it’s on there. If not, snap a pic of that too while you’re there doing the insurance card. I actually meant to do this but then forgot!
• Get the names and numbers of any witnesses that were kind enough to stop and check in with you after the crash. We had two of these good Samaritans even though we didn’t record their info (again – forgot! so hard to do when you’re processing the shock and what’s going on, jeez…)

There’s probably more to do there, but y’all get the point. Just get as much info as you can while there, and usually it’ll all work out just fine. The most important thing is when no one’s hurt!!

So that was my day yesterday – how about you? :) Any one else get in any crashes, either with cars or their finances? Haha… I’ll let you know if anything turns out awry over here, but for now I’m counting my blessings and just happy to be alive and able to talk with you all today.

Life is good, my friends. We gotta do our best to appreciate it!

————
PS: Here’s what my caddy now looks like with my tape “fix”, haha… Contemplating leaving it that way too depending on the size of the check. If it works, it works, right? ;)

{ 60 comments }