(no subject)

[per_solo]

Just got off the phone with my sister...interesting news.

Her car was hit, and brutally hit, this morning...hard enough to shove her car forward into my father's truck..Her car has the tailights connected, so her car wouldn't be driveable, even if there was no concern of axle damage or anything else. It happened at 7:00 am..she wasn't in the first parking spot (Which I must say I've had a car hit in that spot), but was in front of that...well, hmmm...no easy way to describe the parking in front of mom and dad's.

Anyways, the estimate is that the car that did the hitting was going 40, and took the corner...sprayed gravel pretty far into the yard, and left marks on the sidewalk..oh, and the car was driven by a 12 year old, and 2 of her friends were in the car. One of the girls heads hit the windshield, as there was a crack in it. The girls vacated the car quickly after it hit my sister's car, and ran...and came back to grab their purses...Mom ended up waiting in the car til the police arrived, for fear that they would come back drive off. The girl who was driving has apparently had complaints before.

My sister is doing this smart...she's already called insurance..she'd going to talk to the leasers in the morning..the only downside (well, ok, the main downside this morning) was that on Sunday, rental places aren't open..or at least they couldn't find one. My sister is at the point where she really doesn't want to look at the car anymore, as it's still in the front yard. I can easily understand that. I remember when my last car got totalled, looking at it, thinking about it, filled me with a...almost depression. As dependent as we are on cars anymore, if your car is undriveable, and you don't have a fix almost immediately, it's like it takes a piece of your independence..your ability to be able to do the things you need to do in a day, and without being able to just say "I can go somewhere now", you can trick yourself into dwelling on it.

I told her the advice given to me by friends when my car has been hit before, which is to write your statement down, so when THEIR insurance calls, they can't shake you...which tends to be what insurance companies are paid to do.

Me? I'm annoyed for them...I always go back to the "What the hell? When you were 12, would you ever have thought of taking a car joyriding? Your parents would have beat your ass, if you were lucky..."

Again, it goes back to the raising. Not to get sappy/sentimental, but my sister and I were raised well. Our parents did a good job...yeah, there were issues/problems/fights and all, but to my belief, that's part of growing up. As with anyone and anything, you do the best you can, which is what they did. And continue to do, to this day. I'm fortunate to know and be friends with several people who, if they don't have two parents who do that, they at least have one...and I know many more who have never had that. That always mystifies me. It also tends to bring out the helper mode...also known as a "save the world" complex. I try to beat that mode down a lot, because it almost always leads to major problems...because I can't help everyone.

Anyways, off of that subject. :-) Have been getting hooked into a scrabble game with Sa, Kack, and Awe....it's been fun. I never cared much for Scrabble years ago, and I'm finding a new appreciation for it now. Kinda weird.

Now, to get offline, so I can record Desperate Housewives here in a bit. I may try to write more later...of course, I keep swearing that ONE of these days, I'm going to do a phone post. :-P

Comments

[mooncat75.livejournal.com]

Yikes! It sounds as if no one was in the car, Right? It would have never dawned on me to steal a car (not even my parents' car) when I was 12! And at 7am! What were these kids even doing UP on a Sunday?! I wonder if they had been out all night. I don't know where your parents live, but if they live on a residential street...40mph!? I hope everything works out for your sister and that those kids get what's coming to them....keep us informed.

[confusedjew.livejournal.com]

i'm sorry....a twelve year old took the car to go joy riding??

so maybe i'm not the best judge considering i was the good kid and didn't actually get behind the wheel of a car until driver's ed but WHAT THE FUCK?!

where the hell where her parents????

[the-pixie.livejournal.com]

Wow....what a way to wake up on a Sunday. At least it sounds like no one was majorly hurt, which is a good thing. Hopefully your sister's insurance will get it taken care of quickly. I know that when I was rear ended, the other insurance agency was giving us grief, telling us that we had to get so many estimates before we could get it fixed, and we had to wait for thier person to go out and take a look at it prior to getting it fixed (estimated time for them to look at it was over 2 weeks). We called my insurance agency up, told them what was happening, that we were going to take it to the dealership (since they had taken care of everything on the car before and we didn't want anyone else touching it), and asked them if it was ok. They said yes, that they would take care of handling the other agency. We got one more call from the other agency telling us that we couldn't do that, that we had to wait, and we told them that we needed it immediatly and were not going to wait around for their schedule. We told them that we would have the dealership take photos, and if they wanted to send an person down to look at the damage, they had 2 days prior to the repair being done and if they had any more questions, they could call our insurance agency to deal with them. We didn't hear any more grief from them, and we received my car back a *lot* quicker.

As for the insurance agency trying to trip you up, yeah, that is a good idea. I know when they originally called me, they stated that they wanted my statement, I gave it to them (which was I stopped at a stop light and the other person didn't, slamming into me), and they said that that was not what I said earlier, stating that it was I slammed my brakes on. I said, "What?" and they said, "That's what you said, Ms. Smith...", I told them that wasn't me and they then apologized and said that they thought I was their driver. Ok, I left Voice Mail originally with them with my name and telephone number after they left voice mail asking me to call them back (and they used my correct name originally). They then called later for another statement. I think they were playing some type of game...

I hope that your sister can get this settled quickly.

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

Wow. I find all this very interesting. After four major accidents and one fender-bender in the last year, none of which were my fault, I haven't had any of these problems. Nobody's ever tried to catch me in an inconsistency. The insurance company for the car that hit us in Boston was dreadfully dishonest, though. First, they claimed the couldn't take responsibility for the accident b/c they couldn't talk to their driver because he was in a coma (shudder). So, after I faxed them the police report, they accepted responsibility, but spent two years refusing to pay out because they claimed a constant stream of nonreceived paperwork from my insurance company. Fortunately, we'd passed this off to our insurance company very early, so it was up to them to get the money; all we were waiting for was our deductible. Our insurance company eventually took them to mediation and got the money. But what a crock!

[per_solo]

Yeah, no one was in the car that early. Of course, as with my car accident years ago, the thought is always "Yeah, but what if..." NO clue what they were doing up...hell, I was still asleep at 7:00am. :-) It is a residential street in Franklin, about 2 blocks from the High School. Will keep this up to date as I hear more.

[per_solo]

Yeah...that's the best that can be considered, since the one girl has been in trouble before.

I was only behind the wheel of a car ONCE or MAYBE twice before Driver's Ed, but yeah...no clue on where the parents were, but the dad showed up eventually at my parents house and did a "I'm not saying anything in front of them (my parents)"

[per_solo]

I hope her insurance takes care of it quickly. I've gotten to where I despise Insurance companies.

I can't remember when I got that advice..it may have been after my first accident, while in High School...accident was my fault, but man, I remember them tripping me up on statements. Since then, I've written things down.

I'll call her later this afternoon, just to find out. Fingers are crossed that all is well.

[per_solo]

That one sounded nightmarish (The boston one). Yeah, that is the one good thing...with this OBVIOUSLY being NOT my sister's fault, her Insurance can do a lot to take the other insurance to court...that is at least a small good thing in this. And, her lease was up in October, so maybe the car dealer can let her out of lease early, and just go get another car. Who knows.

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

Not saying anything in front of who? I don't follow.

[per_solo]

As in the guy whose daughter hit the car wasn't going to say anything in front of my parents..just to the police alone.

I'm still having a REAL hard time seeing how this can be spun.