My poor car!
I was having a really good day, yesterday. I got up, made my coffee, watered my garden, got dressed, and headed out to drive for Uber. It took a minute to get my first ride request, but I hadn’t gotten up super early (4am just seems to tank me too much) so I wasn’t too worried about it. When I finally got it, it was a nice fare to get things kicked off.
My second ride was a really nice one – from Tacoma to Tukwila. The woman was super nice and we joked and laughed the whole way, and she ended up giving me a $10 tip at the end. Super nice.
I wasn’t really feeling like driving in King County, so I headed back down to Tacoma. I wanted to stop at a Goodwill to look for some Summery-type tops since what I have for anything short sleeve is t-shirts that either have paint on them or stains from cleaning – nothing I would wear to drive for Uber. I was going to wait until pay-day, but the tip would at least allow me to get a couple of shirts. We have hot weather forecasted for this week (upper 70’s, low to mid 80’s).
I look at the shirts at Goodwill and didn’t see anything I liked, so I wandered around for a little bit. I ended up buying a couple of books – Breathless and Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz. It wasn’t until I was showing the books to Lance last night that I realized that I have already read Life Expectancy. Crud. Oh well. At least I have one book to read, which is a gagillion times better than having no book at all.
Across the parking lot from the Goodwill is an Entenmann’s Bakery Outlet. I used to stop at this store every now and again when my daughter was little to get a little treat for us. When I left Goodwill, I decided to head over there and get myself a treat before heading back out, again, to drive. At least, that had been the plan.
As I’m driving across the parking lot, I remembered that there is a craft store near the Entenmann’s. I still need to paint the details on one of my lawn art bees so I can put them out and I was thinking I would go check in there to see if they had what I need after I stopped at the bakery. I wouldn’t be able to get the paint then, if they had what I need, but I would know where to head over to after payday. Then, I heard this awful noise.
As I started to turn my head to look toward the noise, I felt the car move. When my eyes hit the back passenger side window, my mind just couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing for a second. And then everything clicked. I had just been hit by a car that was backing out of a parking spot.
The woman who was driving the car got out of her Volvo and said “I didn’t even see you!” I looked at her, my brain still swimming a bit, trying to process what happened, and I replied, “I would have guessed you didn’t or I imagine you wouldn’t have hit me.” I pulled into a parking spot, grabbed my insurance card, and called my insurance company, MetroMile.
As I’m talking with my insurance company, finding out exactly what they need and getting a claim started, the woman driving the Volvo keeps saying she is already 17 minutes late for work and needs to go. All I could think was ‘ well, that explains why you didn’t see me.’ She had backed out of the parking spot fast enough to move the Prius over about a foot or so. I’ll admit that the fact that she kept repeating it made me a little worried she was just going to hop in her car and drive off. Thankfully, she didn’t.
After getting all of the info I needed from her and hanging up with my insurance company, I headed toward home. I couldn’t believe my car had gotten hit. I’ve only had it since the end of January, was just getting back into driving for Uber after two weeks down due to the deal with my license, and now this. This is too much. I can’t help feeling like the Universe is trying to say something to me here, though I know it is probably just all coincidence. Life happens, which is something I am quite familiar with.
When I got on the freeway toward home, the Prius didn’t feel right. I started to wonder if maybe I should be driving it home. ‘It’s just the stress of the accident making it feel that way,’ I kept telling myself. When Lance got home, we went for a short drive with him sitting in the back, next to the door that was hit, to see if he could smell exhaust and/or feel anything that might indicate something was off with the back-end of the car. He said he didn’t smell any exhaust but it did feel like the rear end was off. Ugh. This sucks.
When the adjuster called, she let me know I had two options: use my collision insurance, with a $500 deductible, which is the quickest way to have the car fixed and back on the road, or have the woman’s insurance, USAA, deal with it. Since I do not have $500 to pay the deductible, I’m stuck waiting for USAA to fix my car. Crap.
I can’t drive for Uber until the car is fixed, which means I am stuck coming up with the weekly car payments on my own somehow. I think I need to return the Prius. If I’m not driving, the payment is a bit much for me to keep coming up with. To say I’m a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing is a bit of an understatement. I was feeling like we would be able to finally get moving back to good after the driver’s license thing, but, apparently not. At least, not through me driving for Uber, again, since that is, now, not an option. I have to figure this out. Any suggestions, insights, from anyone would be greatly
My Painted Daisy
appreciated.
On the upside to yesterday’s fun: my Painted Daisy finally bloomed.
Dragonfly Gypsy USA 
Her insurance should cover the lost wages since your car is you livelihood. But that won’t help in the short term 😦
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Thank you! I’ll have to talk with my insurance agent to make sure that’s included 😉
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I was in a similar situation and never have I been a “get an attorney” person. BUT the damage on my car was severe and I didn’t have the $500 and it was the advice I was given from people who had been in the same boat too. The attorney talks to the other party’s insurance for you which gets it moving way faster. Also the sooner you call the attorney the better. I had back pain that came up days after the accident. I reported it to my insurance when I noticed it. If you have any pain at all, report it to your insurance company asap it doesn’t have to be broken bones it can be any pain. My back was killing me. So anyway I got the attorney and he basically took care of everything for me. He set up an appointment with a doctor and told me to go. I didn’t have to pay for anything out of pocket (the attorney takes a small percentage of the settlement later and the doctor and physical therapy is paid for by the party at failt’s insurance) so anyway right after I called I was on my way to the doctor for a physical and then the attorney right away told me where and when to go for some physical therapy. It was about 45 mins a few times a week and it was done in about 3 weeks or less. Right when physical therapy was done…my lawyer told me to drive my car to the place I picked to have it fixed. A rental company was waiting for me at the collision repair center. I dropped my banged up car off (which was less than a year old with only like 4000 miles on it) and I left in a brand new Toyota Corolla from the rental company which I was allowed to drive until my car was fixed. I didn’t have to pay anything for this. Since my accident, I didn’t have to pay a dime for anything. The lawyer really helped because it’s their job to help you and they are experts at the situation, they make sure you get everything you need without inconveniencing you. So my car was fixed in a week or so…there were some complications because of the type of damage so it took a little longer than they expected and the cost went over the quote that the insurance agreed to pay. I was worried I would have to pay that but the lawyer did all the talking and the insurance paid the overage. I picked up my car and left the rental car with them and the rental company came to pick up their car. My car was back to being in perfect condition. I drove home and the lawyer talked with the insurance company and went back and forth negotiating how much money I would be paid by them for the inconvenience, pain and suffering, time, etc. Then he got a percentage of the money and I got my settlement check. I’ve never used a lawyer before but now I can’t imagine going through it without one. I would highly recommend it. It made the worst experience so much less stressful and I felt serene through it all because I knew I would be taken care of and not taken advantage of .
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Thanks for all of the info and for sharing your experience with me. I was hit by a moving truck about a year ago and I have a lawyer for that. That’s still all in process so I don’t have an end story for this one. I know my lawyer is going to be taking around 40% of the settlement amount since we are having to actually sue the moving company (total top notch moving company, not so much). I have an email into my lawyer in regard to this accident. Just waiting to hear back, at this point. All of your insight will definitely help me feel like I’m more capable of asking for what I need. Thank you, again!
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