win some, lose some

[arduinna]

I got a new external drive and did a full backup, OS and all, of my laptop, so now if it dies it should be fairly painless to just swap in a new SSD and copy the info over. Yay! It hasn't done that weird shutting-down thing since, so maybe that was just a desperate cry for a backup. Computers are weird.

Alas, the next day I was woken up by a cop ringing my bell to tell me a neighbor had called them to report a hit-and-run. With my parked car as the hit-ee. Dammit. It was a hard hit, crunching up the entire back end. The initial estimate (on damage visible from the exterior) came in at ~$8,800 (omg) and the claims rep told me that if the supplemental estimate (after the body shop opened it up and looked for hidden damage) came in too much higher, they might have to total the car. /o\ But it's been a week, and I haven't heard that they're totalling it, so I am cautiously hopeful that they can fix it and get my wonderful little car back to me. It's only two years old, and I love it to bits, so I wasn't thrilled at the thought of having to buy something else. (OTOH, the fact that it's only two years old is pretty much the only reason that $8,800 wasn't enough to total it right out of the gate...)

Whichever neighbor it was did get the plate number of the guy that hit me, so the cops have something to investigate, but my insurance co doesn't seem to be following up on requesting the police report to get it. Which I would like them to do, as I would like my deductible to be waived, and also I would like someone to reimburse me for the rental car I've risked renting for the duration, since I'm not getting my car back for another few weeks regardless. So I think this week I'll be taking myself off to my police dept to get the plate number from them, so I can tell my claims rep directly and have her run it for me to see if the other person has insurance. (Which is likely - we're a mandatory-insurance state, thankfully.)

I'm not actually using the rental much, which seems silly, but just knowing it's there and I can get to a grocery store is a big help.

Meanwhile, today is a quiet day, wherein I am actually managing to get a little cleaning done around the house. Go me!

Comments

[marthawells]

Augh, I'm sorry! That happened to me once, but no one got the license plate number.

And the last time I dealt with an insurance company they kept saying they would get the police report, but they never bothered to, and I had to get it and send it to them, and then call them to point out that I had sent it to them, so they would pay up. I think it must be one of their standard delaying tactics, to hope that you won't go get it yourself for whatever reason, and that you'll eventually give up.

[arduinna]

I'm amazed that my neighbor managed it! But very grateful. The hit was hard enough to shove my car (with parking brake on, no less) forward at least a full car length. Ugh. But in the event my car does get totaled, I would like to be able to get pushy at someone else about getting it replaced. *g*

That is good to know about the insurance companies - so weird, you'd think they'd be all over it. But yeah, my rep has conspicuously not responded to my emails or calls on Thursday or Friday, so I bet she's hoping she can just wash her hands of it all. Hmf.

[the_shoshanna]

Yikes! Pardon me, I'm just having a huge "thank god you weren't IN the car" moment, which I know is silly -- you wouldn't be sitting in a parked car, and if you'd been driving the car wouldn't have been there for some jerk to plow into -- but still, let me say I'm glad you're okay? And how amazing that your neighbor got the plate number!

I'm glad you've stabilized the computer situation, anyway. If only you could have backed your car up, as it were... Good luck with the insurance company.

[arduinna]

I am also very glad! *g* The whole thing was/is just sort of surreal. I wound up pattering out after the officer in bare feet and a bathrobe to look at the damage, which may have wrung a "oh son of a BITCH" from me when I saw it. And yet, crumpled back end, how bad can it be, really? Except then the body shop guy went from trying to fob me off (when all he knew was it had been hit while parked, and was assuming loose fender or something) to "... Wow. Okay, this is going to take weeks..." and reassuring me that I'd gone to the right place (the car's a Honda, and this shop is the contracted body shop for the local Honda dealer when people bring in cars too damaged for their in-house shop to handle, which is nice to know!). Poor little HRV.

But yes, yay for the computer! *pets it*

[rhi]

Hmm. In my state, the insurance companies get police reports through a third party (why I do not know) and it takes 2 weeks, even if you have the police report number for them. May it be something that weird but simple for yours!! Good luck and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[arduinna]

Oh, interesting - if that's the case here, she probably wouldn't have it yet. Will investigate - thanks!

[rhi]

Well, that's part of why it took two months from me being hit to my car being fixed. Mine was still driveable, however, thank gods. I'm glad you're okay and good luck!!

[klia]

Ugh, hit-and-runs suck so hard. I'm glad you have an observant, proactive neighbor who cared enough to call the cops and get the plate number. So many people today dgaf unless the thing happens to them.

Relieved your computer is better now and well-behaved!

[arduinna]

Man, no kidding. I never heard a thing; my bedroom is at the back of the house, and I had an a/c and fan going. (Plus, you know, being asleep.) Yay for responsible neighbors!

[gwyn]

Noooo…not the new car! You love that car, with good reason! Man, I'm so sorry that happened to you. Before I got the garage, I used to always be afraid of that happening. People are such dicks!

[arduinna]

I knoooow, my poor little car! I'm letting myself be cautiously optimistic that they won't total it, now that the body shop has had several days to poke around at it. I'm still paying it off, so if they total it, I'd have to get something used instead, and I will be sad.

I've been hit in this spot once before, but that at least made some kind of sense; it was at night, it was raining, and the person was coming the other direction and hit a slick spot on a curve, and crunched into the front of my car. This one, though - full daylight, dry and clear, and seriously no easy way to manage a hit like that. A co-worker suggested maybe they sneezed, which could account for it. But still. Sneeze somewhere else!! *g*

[sakana17]

Wow, that's a really hard hit! Poor car! When my car was totaled, I had to get the police report for the insurance company, but they were pretty insistent about it. It was interesting to read in an aggravating way. I'm really glad your neighbor was alert and got the plate number. That's amazing.

[arduinna]

I've never had to go get a police report before, although thinking back on it, it's possible I should have the first time I had a car totaled (if this is totaled, it will be the third time. out of four cars. *hands*). But I just assumed the system, like... worked. Heh.

The neighbor was totally amazing!

[sakana17]

My car was hit in an intersection near a gas station, and someone at the gas station called the police, who showed up fairly quickly. The cop who stood with me to get my statement gave me a card with my case number on it and told me the report would be ready in 48 hours or something. Cops and insurance co. had the process down like a well-oiled machine, but for whatever reason the insurance co. made it my job to get the report. Perhaps due to arcane state laws? Or just my insurance co.'s M.O.? Without a car, it was a slog to take the bus and walk the mile or so to the police station whose jurisdiction the accident occurred in.

Unfortunately, none of the handful of bystanders who were around and seemed so helpful at time could say they definitively saw the accident occur, so the cop's report concluded that they couldn't determine who was at fault. That was the aggravating part. Fortunately, my insurance co. believed me and it all worked out in the end.

My fingers crossed for a better outcome with your car! *hugs*

[kass]

Ugh, so sorry about the car stuff!

[arduinna]

Thank you!

[princessofgeeks]

So sorry about the car, but glad you got your computer sorted. Thanks for the update.

[arduinna]

Thanks!

[dorinda]

Hooray for:

1) your neighbor getting the plate number!

2) you having a nice quiet cleaning day!

3) Hol-ly-wood!