Preparedness: Car Collisions

POLL AT THE END!

In this instance it is regarding car collisions. Before any cracks about my race are made, yes, I suck at driving. In this instance however I was very unfocused and emotionally drained. I simply accelerated slightly in a turning lane and bumped the car in front of my own.

I am not saying be prepared for car collisions, I am saying be ready to avoid them and to deal with them when they do happen.

1) No one told me how to react in such a situation.
2) I probably shouldn’t have been driving in such a poor state of mind, even if I was going to get school supplies.
3) Always carry insurance information in the car. And get information from the other driver.

So on that sunny day I bumped an Asian lady in her very nice white car. I have no idea the make or model of her car but it must have been nice considering that the scratch I could not detect will take $1000+ to fix. Thank you insurance for dealing with it, considering that school and work are taking my time. The lady angrily came out of her car and told me to follow her to a parking lot to “exchange” information. Being honorable and an advocate of the Golden Rule (even if I don’t follow any particular religion) led me to follow her rather than drive off. And I could have gotten away too! xD

You probably noticed that I wrote “exchange” rather than exchange. Yup. She asked me for my name, my insurance information, and my phone number. See, she failed to give me any of her information in return. That wasn’t something I was particularly thinking about. All I was thinking was, “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I hit a car. Oh shit. I’m poor. Goddamit.” This occurred and I went to get my school supplies.

Immediately after I called my insurance provider to ask for advice. My question was, “can she actually file a claim against me if there was no damage that I could see?” Turns out that I, as the bumper, should file a claim with as much information on the bumpee as I could in order to ensure that my insurance would actually cover damages. Wait- what? Apparently, if I did not file a claim that would mean that I might not actually be covered by my insurance that I pay $100/ month for. Really?

Well, anyways. Having no information on the woman, not knowing what car she had, no plate number, no phone number (til later that day) and with plenty of hysterical laughing I completed the claim via phone.

This leaves a bumper with two options.

1) Traditional route: Let the insurance people handle the insurance things.
2) Or take care of it, pay out of pocket, and avoid the insurance company getting involved lest they raise your insurance (for 3 years) when you renew your contract.

I tried to do Option 2, but her quote was $1500. I swear. I was ready to pay maybe $200-300 out of pocket. but $1500?? That’s like my whole safety financial buffer. I can’t spend all of that. I take care of my own business! So. I, with much apprehension told the insurance people to take care of it. I still don’t know how much the actual damage will take to fix or even if there was much damage at all. But I would rather spread payments over a few years than pay for that now. Who knows? An emergency might occur!

So be ready, be informed, be careful, and know how to deal with car collisions.
They aren’t common for most college kids, since having a car is a hassle, but if you have a car remember, drivers in college towns are crazy drivers.
Apparently, that includes myself :I

Just got a Logitech c525 webcam for my Acer Aspire laptop. The Acer Crystal-something built-in webcam went haywire and no longer works.
First picture with the new webcam 🙂 This camera was recommended by the instructors of CS10W (It’s the Beauty & Joy of Computing Online, so I needed a webcam to join discussions and labs) So far it’s a great webcam with a great design and if I love it a lot I’ll post a review.