The damage that you've done

This morning I went outside to see if maybe the Collision Fairy came overnight to fix my dents. Or at least to see if the damage was less than I was remembering.

Nope.

Here's the worst of it, on the rear of the car. You can see where they smooshed the rear of the car as well as took out part of the bumper. The bumper is actually broken, not just dented...it has a small hole in it. Also, the panel of the car is now almost touching the wheel.

This is (hopefully) the more minor damage. You can see the paint scrapes on the door. Since it was raining out and the car is wet and shiny it's hard to tell, but there's also denting near the rear door. The door and the rear panel of the car are no longer completely flush. Mike pointed this out to me and I couldn't really see it until I ran my hand along it and felt where the dents were. You can also kind of see the dent where the hubcap was hit.


Finally, the whole shebang. Notice how the new dents artfully complement the old dents up front.


So yeah, there we have it. In retrospect I'm surprised that the other driver did this much damage. He said that he swerved to hit a driver that was coming too fast, but not only did he hit my car, he hit the two cars behind mine as well. He said he was swerving to avoid hitting a driver that was coming up the street too fast. I know that people come up the street like maniacs, but the rule around here is that you slow down and move over as much as you can. The slowing down is the important part. You don't just keep hurtling down the road. Duh.

I know the damage isn't horrendous, but I'm still nervous about driving it. I know I drove it with the wheel dents up front, but in that case the wheel appeared completely damage-free. It turned out that it wasn't - my alignment is still off - but it's drivable. This, however, makes me concerned. The wheel was obviously hit, even if just a little, and the rear dent is worse than the front. I think I want this at least checked out to make sure that there's nothing wrong with the wheel or the axle, and probably fixed as well. So we're going to have it towed and looked at. The kid who hit it doesn't have insurance (of course) but I do, so they'll cover it after my $500 deductible.

This does mean that I'll be without a car for awhile. While I think that hitchhiking is the best approach to take, Mike thinks for some reason that it would be better for me to drive his minivan. I'm apprehensive about that - apprehensive to the point that I'm considering just taking my car - but he's probably right that it's safer. Still, I'd rather not drive that behemoth through downtown.

Man. What a way to start the weekend.