I had been working five hours of overtime every Saturday morning since buying the car at the end of June. Being able to drive is the only way I’ll come in for overtime since my job moved a mile or so down the road in March. 15-20 minute commute vs. 60-75 by public transportation. Saturday morning, I walked down the stairs outside our condo and found that my SO had parked nose-in in an unusual spot. Our lot is set up kinda like this:
________________________________________
| | | | | | | | |
|___ ___|__ ___| | | | | | |
| \T| 2 | | | | | | |
|___ \| ___| |
| |
|___ |
| |
|___ ___| | | | | | | | | |
| 1| | | | | | | | | |
|___ ___|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|
| |
|___ ___|
| |
|___ ___|
Normally, our car is around (1) but Saturady Morning, it was in (2), opposite the fire hydrant (T). You can see where this is headed. For whatever reason, I decided to back up to my right instead of left. I thought I was in the clear but then I heard a Bang! I pulled forward and saw this little squat yellow thing in my rear window but it didn’t register. Thinking of when my SO ran over a curb a few days earlier, I put the car back into reverse and made the way to the exit as I originally intended. I was near (1) when it occourred to me to check the damage. I had clipped the hydrant with the left quarterpanel and driven that taillight down & in. I parked in (1) and went inside to call our insurance to make a claim.
I took off work Monday in order for the two of us to take the car to our local insurance office for an appraisal. The car, a 10-year-old Olds with nearly 160K, had a hole the size of a grapefruit that would cost in the neighborhood of $2500 to fix. We went back to the insurance office yestarday to sell them the car for $1792 and some change, we had already been trying to sell the car for $1700 before I put a hole in it so this was good news.
I couldn’t fit in that Olds unless I was driving–it had a power driver’s seat but the passenger seat wouldn’t go anywhere. There was something affixed under the seat that prevented it from going back. Presumably the motor for the driver’s seat. The car itself didn’t want to go anywhere while the engine was hot if it had been sitting for over 15 minutes, otherwise it would have to sit for about an hour until it cooled down again. This Saturday, we’re going to CarMax and see about plunking some of that $1792 down on a more recent car with a passenger seat that can go all the way back.