I hit the wall… literally.
Posted on September 20, 2008 9 Comments
Well, it had to happen: I had my first car accident. Almost. It wasn’t with another car or anything. More like me vs. the wall. You see, our apartment’s parking lot is tight…really tight. I was creeping around a corner, foot on the break, maneuvering to avoid several parked cars and some garbage cans, when… POW!… the passenger side door hit the corner of the building and SCRRRAAAAPE!… the sound of bricks scraping paint off the door filled the air.
It happened last night, and it’s B’s car, so I feel terrible! There are dents in the door and a few 8-inch wide scratches (deep ones) in the paint. He cares for the car pretty meticulously, and although he said, “It’s OK, accidents happen,” when we talked about it, I’m still upset. I insist on fixing the door, but B says it will cost more than it’s worth… he estimates it will cost between $800-$1,500 to fix …on a 10-year-old Mitsubishi Eclipse. He says there are better things to spend my money on.
From my perspective, yes, it’s a lot of money, but you don’t ruin someone else’s car and then just leave it that way. Sure, it could have happened in a parking lot or parked on the street, but the point is that I did it. No amount of fresh paint can cover up that guilty feeling.
Category: Life
Tags: car talk
Comments
9 Responses to “I hit the wall… literally.”
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September 20th, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
I always feel like in any accident as long as no one is injured, then everything else is just material. Don’t feel bad, like B said, this stuff happens.
September 20th, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
Ahh Nicole I’m so sorry that happened! I completely feel the same way. Maybe you could still do something nice to assuage your guilt? Take him out to dinner, etc. I don’t know…I know dinner doesn’t make up for it, but it’s the thought that counts.
September 21st, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
Oh no! I’m sorry you had such bad luck! It’s not like you did it on purpose though, so don’t beat yourself up about it.
September 22nd, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
Nicole, I usually don’t comment on things but I think B’s right. The car’s 10 years old and it’s a fair bit of money to repair. From a guy’s point of view, don’t dwell on it. Twiggers idea for dinner sounds good.
Barry.
September 22nd, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
I think you did him a favor, Eclipses suck
September 24th, 2008 @ 5:05 am
I’ve done exactly that before. The trick is to back into tight spots. Believe me. It’s better.
September 24th, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
If you are planning driving that car until the wheels fall off don’t worry about it, as long as the engine is good and not damaged you are good to go. 10 year old cars have dents. If you are planning to sell it eventually then you should fix it for sure. Although 10 year old car will fetch almost the same price with dents or without.
September 27th, 2008 @ 12:52 am
the most important thing is that nothing happened to you. the car is a depreciable asset anyway and since it’s 10 years old there is no point spending so much fixing it up.
October 8th, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
As always, you guys really help put things into perspective! Thanks!