...Bring May Glowers (Monthly Mini-Rants)

I send you my sympathies and condolences. As much as I claim that I regard cars today merely as transportation, there is still enough testosterone in this pup that he appreciates them for their own virtues. I was just outside using a gentle abrasive to clean off some crap that somehow got scraped on my sideview mirror which pissed me off mightily. I truly can appreciate how you feel and I feel for you. For my part, many years ago in another city I had just bought a beautiful car that I dearly loved, and someone vandalized it by smashing one of the front headlight assemblies.

The good news is that car was fixed up as good as new. The other good news is that my son got into an accident a few years ago that damaged the front end so badly that it seemed likely that the car was going to be a write-off. This would have been a PITA for various reasons so his mom, who has many contacts in the industry, pulled some strings and got the insurer to cover the repairs, and then sent it to a body shop she knew and trusted. It was a big job – they had to source a whole new front door – but the good news is the car came back as good as new. The shop owner showed me around when we went to pick up the car and was quite proud of the work they had done.

So don’t despair – body repair is not the end of the world, and it often turns out great. My biggest worry would be not to let the insurance company screw you around and demand used parts from a wrecker or any crap like that – new parts only! And use your judgment as to the most reputable body shops, and if you trust your insurer, they may be able to guide you.

I would be too. That model is a gorgeous car.

Yeah, that would be a total dealbreaker. I can’t stand noise for noise’s sake. Plus all that blue light! Guess I should be happy with what I’ve got.

We have Amica. They take very good care of their clients. The claim rep watched the dash cam videos and said they very clearly show fault.

If you have a loan on the car I hope you have gap insurance. And/or a replacement cost / replacement assistance rider on your policy.

Good luck. It is certainly possible for a crash to come out net good for you. But it’s not the way to bet.

We bought it outright. I received the title last week. I have asked Amica for compensation for depreciation. My claim handler basically said, “Oh, hell yeah.”

Accident is at about the 45 second mark.

Imgur

Here’s an accident with a happy ending:

May yours come out as well.


In the vid it seems like their front end was undamaged. I hope that implies that your rear end damage is relatively slight & cosmetic.

I tried to see if I could tell whether the other driver was face-down in their phone. Couldn’t tell. Damn.

I assume your cameras also recorded the front view. Which would be important to establish why you stopped at what in the rear view appears to just be a random spot in the road.

To be sure, the rule of thumb is that a rear-end crash is always the fault of the following car. But there are exceptions. Not that this is one of those situations, but it’s sure what the other side will claim.

The front camera shows the line of stopped cars at the traffic light. I’d upload it, but it’s 4K and a very big file. The moral of the story is: Invest the $100 and 30 minutes to install a dash cam.

I’m hoping so. The expensive thing will be recalibrating the parking sensors.

I work in a company with about 40,000 employees. Not one of them seems to know that the expression is “Bear with me” and not “Bare with me”.

Fucking morons.

That’s very similar to an experience I had. Almost everything was the same. Driving on a freeway, fast traffic suddenly stops, I safely stop but the guy behind me hits me.

In my case, though, my car wasn’t totaled. The damage was pretty much cosmetic. (Though I’m sure the other guy’s car was totaled.) The insurance he gave me was basically a sham. I could never reach anyone on the phone, they had no web site, and looking up the business online just had a bunch of complaints about how it’s more-or-less a fake company.

I ended up trading in that car less than a year later and buying a new one. I’m sure the dented rear of the car hurt the trade-in value a bit. So I didn’t have a happy ending. Well, it wasn’t a bad ending because my car was basically fine until it was time to trade it in, but it sucks to be hit by someone who basically has no insurance.

Do they walk around the office naked or something?

That sounds like a fun company after work on a Friday!

I’ve participated in very few accidents over the decades and caused almost zero.

I’m already worried that, given the way I drive, the “black box” recorder built into my car is not my friend. The only thing a dashcam(s) system would do for me is incriminate me.

I’ll pass. Probably on the right. :wink:

I would complain to HR. Workplace nekkidness is not appropriate.

That’s why I go for the ones that do not have GPS data in them. Let them try to extrapolate my speed by measuring the distance between trees / poles & then try to calculate my speed rather than give it to them, printed on top/bottom of the video.

I wouldn’t complain to HR if we could get just the hot ones, & only my definition of hot ones to do it. :wink:

I find that useful to check up on reports of my kids speeding in the neighborhood.

11 of us went to Red Robin this weekend for a bit of a celebration. They have a cool system for splitting checks ($300-some, between everyone’s entree’s, some table apps, & drinks) in that they give you a tablet with the entire table’s order on it, you pick your items & then tap/insert your card to pay before handing it off to the next person. She specifically told us to not press {print receipt} as it would close it out & she’d have to come over to reset it. One person had to leave early so he paid for his meal + the food (but not drinks) of two others at the table. The guy to my left (“J”) was one of those who had his food paid for. He borked something all the heck up because when it was passed to me, nothing I had ordered was left on the short list, nor for another person but one of J’s drinks was still there. We call her over to help out, she goes & prints out receipts for everyone who has paid so far to help us figure it out. When she passes out the receipts, she’s left with one in her hand, it was for the guy who had left already; apparently, he didn’t leave a tip. She then makes a real snot-nosed comment, w/ a 'tude in her voice about she thought her service was good & she wished we would have told her if it was inadequate as she huffs out of the room we were in.

Now here’s the thing.

  • 10 of us were still sitting there.
  • It’s not that uncommon for people to tip in cash.
  • I knew that early leaver was paying for J because of a comment that was made about, “I got you because you got me last time” but I didn’t know he was also paying for someone else. I didn’t know the details of their arrangements (maybe I’ll pay for food if you leave the tip) & I know these people & was sitting there with them; the waitress wasn’t there for the majority of the time.
  • We hadn’t finished paying yet.
  • One of the people who had his food bill picked up screwed something up & paid for things he shouldn’t have & didn’t pay for things he should have; it’s quite possible he borked the tip
  • We were still trying to figure out the bill, let alone the tip.

Therefore, we all kind of individually & therefore, collectively decided that she shouldn’t get as much of a tip as she otherwise would have gotten for the service because she scolded us because one person didn’t put a tip on their receipt. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

Yeah, a very poor decision on her part.

“Honey, I’ve got some bad news. Well, maybe bad for you...
You know I love you, but I’ve never gone against Spice Weasel’s advice…”

I don’t need to go to the polls today (primary day) because we live in a stoopit closed primary state, which I believe gives us worser (is too a word!) candidates.
If you’re registered R you can go & vote for only R candidates.
If you’re registered D you can go & vote for only D candidates.

This means both parties end up with candidates closer to the extreme ends as opposed to anyone near the middle. Since I’m registered I, I can only vote on ballot initiatives today (none this year) or on whoever the Ds & Rs select today come Nov. Disenfranchising I tells ya.