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As a relatively new driver, I didn’t have much experience with car accidents. I had one car accident using a rental car that ended up being a total loss when the steering wheel stopped working properly, but since it was a rental, I didn’t have to deal with the beaurocracy involved. I was involved in a few other fender benders because, hey, I am a new driver, but those were simple to take care of and just involved my paying money either privately or through my insurance.
But I always assumed that if you had insurance and you had an accident and it wasn’t your fault, then it wasn’t such a big deal, insurance would take care of the situation, and all would be good.
Ah, how naive I was.
About a month ago I was involved in a car accident and it was entirely not my fault. I was stopped in traffic and a car came behind me, hit my car, and pushed me into the car in front of me. His car was totalled and my car… well, you can see what happened to it, at least partially.
Locally, there are three types of insurance you can have. There is basic required insurance. Then there’s (optional) third party insurance to cover if you did something to another person’s car, which I have. And then there’s comprehensive that covers your own car, even if it was your fault. I was told that it isn’t worth having comprehensive insurance on a car as old as mine, as I’d be paying more than my car is worth on comprehensive insurance. On my old car I’d looked into getting it anyhow and was told it wasn’t possible, but I hadn’t looked into getting it on my newer car, my Kia Soul.
When my car was towed to the mechanic, my mechanic told me that fixing the car would cost me more than what the car was worth, so it wasn’t worth fixing it, and I should try to get as much money as possible for my car from the people who hit my car, who wanted to pay privately instead of going through the insurance.
But they only were willing to pay $2,900 for the car and then bargained up to $3,400 for the car, because they said it was 70% of what the book said my car was worth, and they wanted to take the car for parts. I wasn’t willing to take that little, because that meant I’d have to pay another $3000 minimum to get a car that is the equivalent of that, and there’s no reason I should have to be out of that much money if the accident was entirely his fault. I was willing to come down and take $3500-$4000 if they let me keep the car, because I’d just invested in a new engine, and then I could buy a cheaper car and put the new engine in that car, but they weren’t willing to budge, so I told them I wanted to go through the insurance.
I was really frustrated, to be honest, because why should I have to lose so much money when it wasn’t my fault and no one was claiming it was… but that’s how life is, unfortunately.
His insurance, fortunately, decided that they’d rather fix the car than pay me for the money for a new car, and said that in another few days the car will be ready, but it’s been a month that I’ve been without a car, and there have been so many expenses that have come up because of it.
First off, there’s the fact that I really can’t be taking public transportation. When I take public transportation I end up a) getting really exhausted and non functional, which means I can’t work, which ends up costing me money and b) I end up getting injured, which means I need to pay extra money for physical therapy. So there’s that expense, for when I traveled by public transportation.
For the most part, I rented a car on the days that I needed to leave the house. There is a car sharing company locally, where you rent a car either by the hour or by the day, and it is relatively inexpensive per hour or per day, but then you end up paying per kilometer you drive, which adds up quickly. (It at least includes gas.)
So I’ve ended up paying quite a lot of money for car rentals since my car has been in the shop, at least a few days a week I’ve had the car for at least a few hours. For example, right now I have an exam for university in about an hour, and I’m doing it at the library in the city for peace and quiet, and if I’d take the bus to the library I’d be exhausted for my test, so taking a bus wasn’t an option. But there goes money down the drain.
Other days I tried taking public transportation but saw that a bus wouldn’t get me there on time so ended up taking a taxi between appointments because otherwise I’d miss out on my appointment and be out the money I pay for the appointment, and the taxi is cheaper than the money I’d be losing on the appointment.
Then there’s the money on parking. I have a disabled parking placard for my car because of my disabilities, and in addition to allowing me to park in handicapped spots, I am also allowed to park on sidewalks and in non official parking spots, as long as I don’t block the flow of traffic (pedestrian or vehicular). And then there are many official public parking lots that I get free parking there because of my parking placard. Since I’ve been using the rental car, I haven’t been able to use my disabled parking placard, which means that most of the time I can’t find street parking, and I end up parking in paid parking lots, which adds up a lot.
The one time recently I thought I found a parking spot, it was a tight fit and the bumper of the car stuck out of the official parking zone (I tried my luck there), and I came back and got a ticket… which is another expense I wouldn’t have gotten had I had my own car and disabled parking placard.
It is really frustrating when, through no fault of your own, you end up with so many expenses. If the accident was at least partially my fault, I could at least understand it, but since it wasn’t, these extra costs are really bugging me.
Even if I had comprehensive insurance and they gave me a rental car as everything was being taken car of, I still would have the extra parking fees…
Anyhow, I just wanted to share my frustration with you and hopefully open up people’s eyes to what can happen even when you are completely not at fault in an accident.
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Penny Price
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