The prodigal son was driving home Monday morning (November 1st) in a raging downpour. It was raining so hard we were actually under a 'build an ark' watch. He was coming home from spending the night with friends so I could take the best friend to the airport to catch her flight home. About 7:30 or so I get a call from the prodigal son who is on the verge of tears. He tells me he's been involved in an accident and the car is ruined, but it wasn't his fault. I asked if he was all right. He said yes, that he was bruised. I told him to make sure to call the police and that I would find someone to take me to the accident site.
I told the best friend what had happened and that I didn't know if I could get her to the airport. I called a friend from work and asked her to take me to the accident. She arrived and the best friend and I went to check things out. By the time we arrived at the accident site, the police had arrived and taken statements all around and the driver of the other car admitted the accident had been her fault and that she took responsibility for it. She was taken away by ambulance because she'd struck her head and had cut it. The lady suggested my son go to the hospital with her to be checked out, but he opted not to since he did not feel particularly injured.
While my son was sitting in the ambulance, the mother of his friend happened to drive by the accident site and realized who had been involved. She stopped to check on things and my son was sitting in her car waiting for me when we arrived. All my son knew about the other driver was her first name. The state trooper on the scene, who did give me his business card, said he didn't have the time to give me the name or insurance information of the other driver. The driver of the wrecker service gave us his card and we left.
According to my son, he was in the process of making a left turn at the four way stop when he realized the person heading toward him from the left was not going to stop. He had the time and presence of mind to hit the gas while the other driver did manage to slam on her brakes. Fortunately, he had a few seconds to move the car sufficiently not to be hit in the driver's side door. Unfortunately, since it was and had been raining buckets, the woman hydroplaned into the passenger door. We have no idea how fast she was actually going.
Meanwhile, the best friend decides she will not take her flight home nor will she reschedule it. She would rather rent a car and drive home so she calls her husband to let him know what is going on and to ask him to cover her class for her. The friend from work drives us to the a couple of car rental places until we find one that will let the best friend have a car she can drop off when she gets home.
The friend from work goes back to work and the best friend runs us all over town in her rental car trying to get a rental car for me which I have managed to arrange through my insurance company. I finally get one, but as I'm being driven from one Enterprise location to the other, the best friend backs her rental car into an Enterprise rental car while trying to get out of the parking lot. She's stuck giving a statement to the police while I get my rental car across town. The prodigal son stays with her so he can guide her around when they get finished.
I get my rental car and come back across town to guide the best friend back to her car rental agency so she can report the accident. Since she'd bought their insurance coverage because she did not have proof of insurance with her, no one seemed particularly upset about the fender bender. The Enterprise truck she backed into didn't sustain any damage and her fender had a ding that popped out by itself. By the time we got through at her rental agency, you couldn't even tell she'd hit anything.
Anyway, off we go to the house where I try to find a doctor who can see my son. His doctor won't see people who've been involved in auto accidents and my doctor isn't taking new patients until the start of the year. We finally find someone who can take him.
While we're home waiting to leave for my son's appointment, I call my dad to let him know what happened and to ask if he'd help me broker a deal at the dealership he used to work for. Even having only seen the damage to the car in the pouring rain, I'm pretty sure it will be declared a total. What I'm not sure of is whether the woman will actually follow through with her insurance agency. After some discussion, I decide I will drive home with the best friend on Tuesday so I can get a new car on Wednesday and drive myself home on Thursday.
The best friend calls her husband to let him know she's staying another night and asks him to find people to take care of her Tuesday classes - did I mention she teaches at UT-PA? - and I take my son to the doctor where we're stuck for almost three hours for a ten minute consult. Nothing is broken or grossly out of place so he prescribes a pain killer, an anti-inflammatory, and an anti-spasmodic.
We go home and the prodigal son takes his drugs and goes off to have a nap which I interrupt because there is a message from the other driver's insurance company. Not only has she already filed a report, but she did accept fault for the accident. The prodigal son describes what happened from where he sat and tells the nice man on the phone I already have a rental car and that I decided he needed to see a doctor. He then hands the phone to me and the nice man and I talk about what I have to do to file the medical claim and where I rented the car from and if I have a preference on where the car should be fixed if they deem it fixable which I assure the nice man is probably not going to be the case.
And those are the grisly details. I don't really remember much else after the adrenalin wore off Monday night.
The prodigal son and I voted on Tuesday morning. He cleaned out our belongings from the car and brought them home. The best friend and I drove down to the Valley while the prodigal son stayed home to tend himself and the cats. She dropped me off at my parent's house and then went home to hers. Mom, dad, and I went to the lot to look at cars Tuesday night and I managed to spot a couple I liked.
On Wednesday, dad called the dealership and had the cars I liked moved from the McAllen lot to the Mission lot so I could take them for a test drive and look them over without having to deal with McAllen traffic. I picked the one I wanted and I bought it. It had all sorts of discounts and rebates, not to mention getting some stuff at cost, so I wound up with a car payment almost the same as the one I had on the other car.
I had a very nice visit with my folks and made plans to come down for Thanksgiving since my mom thought she might not be up to traveling then. I drove home Thursday and it was a very comfortable, leisurely drive. When I got home, I discovered that my cat Annie had somehow gotten out of the house and disappeared. We've still not found any trace of her.
My old car was declared a total loss and someone from claims will be calling me next week to arrange a meeting so I can sign paperwork and they can give me the check. I've got the paperwork to file the medical claim for the prodigal son but I won't do that until after his follow-up visit on 11/18. The new car has been added to my insurance and the new car has been taken off.
And that pretty much gets me up to date.
Oh, yeah, one more thing. I called the Nissan dealer yesterday and told them I didn't need the whatever-it-was valve for my car anymore. I didn't tell them why.
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