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

[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*