Minivan 1, Camel 0

[KimberKenobi]

Well, it has happened.

And, before you ask, no I was not exceeding the speed limit... the van may have been, but that's neither here nor there.

The Camel sort of bounced off... it was a weird experience.

The Nissan service guy guestimated somewhere in the neighbourhood of $800 in damage... more later. I'm physically and emotionally exhausted...

Thank God tomorrow is Friday...

(I will add this... I called the cops for a police report... she was driving a Ford Windstar and gave me an insurance card dated for September on a Chevrolet Venture... and when the cop was writing down her plate number, she pulled a different license plate out of the back of the Windstar...)

[Great White Versa]

very odd. And I feel bad for your Camel

[Ever Victorious]

Sorry to hear... but glad you're ok!

That sounds very fishy about the minivan there...

[BBISHOPPCM]

That sucks... at least you're ok, and the Camel isn't too badly damaged. How bad is it?

[CodeRed]

Are you OK? And can you please go to more detail about what exactly happened? Did you hit the mini or the mini hit you?

[Urq]

At least you were not chased by criminals? lets hear the story I am sure it is more realistic the others that we have heard in the past week.Hope all is well......

[KimberKenobi]

Okay, I've had a nap.

I hit the minivan. Long story short, I was in the left hand lane when I realized I needed to be in the right hand lane (to get gas from Shell instead of Exon) and so I looked, I signaled, I started to move over... and there was suddenly a huge van. Go figure. I bounced off it about about midway... and then I followed her to the bank parking lot.

She didn't want me to call the cops, but after she saw my badge I wasn't taking any chances.

I called dispatch and had them send someone. She tried to leave, but then the cop was there (she needed to pick up her kid from school... I let her use my phone to try and make arrangements)

I won't have the police report till the 28th, but I think I'm going to go ahead and claim it through my insurance. My last claim was ... July 2003 and that is technically also my first claim ... and Geoff (thanks for the phone call) says that if she wasn't insured and it is filed as no-fault (which it might not be, but we'll see) then it would go under the 'uninsured motorist' part of my claim... Poor Camel. The pics I took with my phone actually turned out better than I thought...

(The bottom part of her van ^) (The part where my mirror scraped >)

(Some scrapes on the bumper ^) (The worst of the fender >)

(The mirror will thankfully only need touch up paint ^)

Jeff said my fender would need to be popped back out, then filled and sanded several times for me to be happy with it. The bumper will need to be partially sanded, primed, and re-painted, but isn't permanently damaged. I'm going to take off the bumper this weekend and straighten it out. Sigh. I'm going to take it to Shannon's to get an estimate hopefully tomorrow or early next week...

The Camel is fine. The Flying Ace's pride is slightly damaged... ;oD

Minivan stamp?

p.s. I was not being chased by criminals... but I had just left dealing with them... does that count?

[Great White Versa]

that would be awesome if you put a minivan sticker on there next to the squirrel.

[jfanaselle]

Sucks for the Camel. You should have just used your mounted machine gun to move the van out of your way. A van stamp is definately in order after this ordeal. Also, although you weren't being chased by a criminal, if she had left like she wanted to then you would have had to chase down a criminal, so that counts for something.

[Ever Victorious]

See? I told you that a kill stamp for the van would be in order... I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Edit: Everyone beware, especially anyone that meets Kimber in person. This is all due to the October Curse, which I accidentally gave her.

It started in October 2005 when my wife wrecked her Tucson, continued in October 2006 when I wrecked my first Versa, and has now been passed on to Kimber in October 2007.

Who will be the victim for October 2008?

[KimberKenobi]

So remember, boys and girls, not only does this forum offer support, laughs, ROTQ, and a good knowledge base... you could be the fortunate winner of a curse!! w00t!

Stupid EV inviting me over for dinner... ;oD

(btw: Jeff in the above post is the Nissan guy... not to be confused with Geoff, who is EV ... and who shows up on my caller ID as Geoff Nico ... ;oD)

[Great White Versa]

See? I told you that a kill stamp for the van would be in order... I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Edit: Everyone beware, especially anyone that meets Kimber in person. This is all due to the October Curse, which I accidentally gave her.

It started in October 2005 when my wife wrecked her Tucson, continued in October 2006 when I wrecked my first Versa, and has now been passed on to Kimber in October 2007.

Who will be the victim for October 2008?

Wow, that's a lot like the 8 month car curse that I had... The first car that i bought was stolen 8 months after I bought it. A few months later a got another car that was involved in a VERY serious accident (see pics) almost 8 months to the day after purchase (i think it was 3 days after the 8 month mark). I bought another car and at the 8 month mark i decided that i would let my friends/family (it was around christmas, so i was home) do all the driving but one day my mom was stuck in traffic and i had to take my lil sis to work. On the way back i BARELY missed getting hit by semi that pulled out in front of me. Fortunately, that was the end of my curse, whew...

I don't need another car curse, haha

[TrustME]

p.s. I was not being chased by criminals... but I had just left dealing with them... does that count?

I don't know if that counts or not... I think you're making that story up. I call

Seriously though, I'm sorry that happen to Camel, Kimber. I wish I could help

Best of luck!

[BillyBeaneBall]

Maybe the curse isn't the "EV October Curse" Maybe it's the "Blue Sapphire Versa Curse" Remember, on August 25 I ended up totalling mine after fixing a huge fist sized dent in my hood from flying debris on the highway in May...

Good to hear you're alright though Kimber, that's really the most important thing....and yes a minivan stamp is in order here

[TheClevelandSound]

At least you were not chased by criminals? lets hear the story I am sure it is more realistic the others that we have heard in the past week.Hope all is well......

I love u.

[Demonspawn]

glad your ok !

[drummernamedpat]

Can I be the referee for this game?

Can you really give the minivan a point? It didn't total your car. Therefore I believe it is a tie. And you obviously have a better taste in cars than the other driver so you get a bonus point for style!

[lain]

Whats with people hitting mini vans. I got hit once while i was in an astro van...on the freeway. Person was going 80+mph I going going the usual 65mph and out of no where I get slammed into from the side. Story goes this chick lost control of her car and hit me at the back right side of the van. Which then caused me to start sliding on the freeway. Thank goodness I play alot of racing video games because if it wansn't for them I probably wouldn't have known how to control a vechile while it was at a sideways angle. And btw it was only my 3rd day driving a real car.

thank goodness your ok and your car only has a few battle wounds.

[Ever Victorious]

Maybe the curse isn't the "EV October Curse" Maybe it's the "Blue Sapphire Versa Curse" Remember, on August 25 I ended up totalling mine after fixing a huge fist sized dent in my hood from flying debris on the highway in May...

Except that doesn't work, because my V was Blue Onyx.

[KimberKenobi]

I awarded the point to the minivan since it was my fault... though I still think she was cutting me off. Let her remember next time that speeding up to cut someone off gets you a citation for driving w/o license and insurance. (Rodney stated today that she would have gotten a citation but that the officer probably wrote it up at his office)

[srellim234]

Sorry to hear about the accident. I guess Versas are just accident magnets.

I almost bit it twice just this morning. First, idiot getting on the freeway never looks and decides to go from the onramp left two lanes. I was in the lane next to him and had to slam on the brakes and hit the horn to get him back in his lane. My hood was even with the front of his driver's door so he couldn't have missed me.

Later, getting off the freeway, I'm at an intersection where two lanes make the left turn with the arrow. Guy yakking away holding his cell phone to his ear makes his turn from the left turn lane to the right (my lane). Again, hit the brakes & horn, winding up in the gutter almost hitting the curb. Guy never even looked in his rear view mirror or acknowledge anything. Just kept talking on the phone and then ran a red light at the next intersection. Fortunately everyone saw the wingnut coming.

If you can't afford to make that cell phone hands-free, you can't afford the phone OR the car. If you can afford it and choose not to, there's a thing called voicemail. Use it. No one should EVER hold a phone to their ear and try to drive at the same time.

[Ever Victorious]

Bluetooth is our friend!

[BillyBeaneBall]

You know, I used to think that cell phone use in the car was OK....but lately (in the last year or so) I've had a change of heart. People really can't drive with those things attached to thier ears. I love my Bluetooth in my V...

So maybe EV, it's just the "Blue Versa Curse"? LOL. I doubt these cars are accident magnets...people are just idiots...I was in the case of my accident unfortunately...I have never felt so ashamed as that day. Luckily no one was hurt but that didn't stop how bad I felt that I could have easily killed that couple in the other car, my girlfriend, or my grandmother.

I couldn't even look the other guy in the face when I made a feeble attempt at apologizing to him...

[rwanttaja]

So maybe EV, it's just the "Blue Versa Curse"?

Well, it probably doesn't apply in Kimber's case, but one aspect of the "Blue Versa Curse" may be that the color just doesn't stand out. My Versa is red, and I don't think I've had any real close calls in the year or so I've owned it. Someone in a rush, and taking a quick glance around before acting, will not notice a small blue car as quickly as one that's a bright color.

The other aspect is one I've mentioned before, the Versa's poor visibility to the rear quarters. The Versa hatchback has a fairly tiny rear window, which leaves huge pillars on the left and right side. The Versa has a LOT of glass in the back, but much of lies over opaque sections. The part you can actually see through is surprisingly small. Here's a 'shopped picture I did a year ago, where the opaque sections of glass have been made the car color instead of the black paint they use over the underlying structure:



So you've got pretty poor visibility to the right rear...exactly where Kimber's minivan was.

(With the Sopwith Camel theme, I hope Kimber yelled, "Stupid Fokker!" after they hit. :-)

This poor vis to the rear is probably my #2 beef with the Versa hatchback. I suspect the sedan is probably better, but haven't taken a look from inside.

We should all take Kimber's experience to heart, and be very, very careful when changing lanes to the right. Make sure your right-side exterior mirror covers the blind spot...it shouldn't show any portion of your own car.

Ron

[srellim234]

My close calls were due to other people not seeing me, and the way they both happened I think I could have been driving a cement truck and it wouldn't have changed the actions of those two drivers.

And, we can't blame it on "blue". My Versa is silver.

[rwanttaja]

My close calls were due to other people not seeing me, and the way they both happened I think I could have been driving a cement truck and it wouldn't have changed the actions of those two drivers.

And, we can't blame it on "blue". My Versa is silver.

Not merely blue, but any color that doesn't stand out from the background. Silver doesn't...after all, it's just a shade of gray. It should be more visible at night, but the car's lights probably affect visibility more.

Ron

[BillyBeaneBall]

Well all my close calls were people not seeing me too. It was when i didn't see someone coming the other direction that I killed my SB Versa. It was all my fault and nothing about visability.

The worst part about it was I read the "cross traffic doesn't stop" sign and double checked before progressing forward and STILL didn;t see the SUV in a dip down the road...

[faction]

I'm at an intersection where two lanes make the left turn with the arrow. Guy yakking away holding his cell phone to his ear makes his turn from the left turn lane to the right (my lane).

My two driving pet peeves!1. Cell phones in cars. Not to say I haven't done it, but VERY rarely. In fact, I get yelled at because I never have my cell phone on. We lived without them for most of our lives, you can turn them off for the duration of the trip, or until you can get the car stopped.

2. Idiots who don't know how to turn into their own lane! And I do mean idiots. One of these days I'm gonna get a stack of driver education books and keep them in my car. When I come across one of these fools, I'm gonna chase them down and throw a book at them. Might wrap a rock in it for good measure.

[KimberKenobi]

I spoke with Josh tonight (he was following me when this happened) and I realized a number of things...

With my mirrors adjusted how they are, I don't have a blind spot to my right (as soon as a vehicle passes my passenger front window, they appear in my side mirror)

Josh didn't notice her until we hit

I looked, signaled, and started to move over... I hit her after the centerline of her vehicle. If we had been going anywhere near the same speed, she would have been right at my front corner when I started to move over.

I e-mailed Patrolman Dale because I'm hoping I can revise my statement... and I'll have to call my insurance office again on Monday...

Let's cross our fingers for a no-fault or a her-fault...

[shreqboi909]

sorry to hear what happened with your camel kimber. i think the van won too, since ur the one who bounced, and not her. lol. hope all comes out great

i wanted to add my experience with a so-called "car curse" well, since i got my licence, back when i was 15, i have had 4 cars. fist, a plymouth reliant, transmission blew exactly one year after i got it. second, my honda civic, got it about a month after the plymouth. about a year and a couple of days later, my engine blew. a week later i got my lincoln ls. a year and a month later, the engine and transmission blew i loved that car but i tradded it in for my versa. thank god i lived around the corner from the nissan dealer so i drove it there, i probably drove 2 mins if that and when i got to the dealer it wouldnt start no more. so finally i got my versa, and a year had passed already so i thought there was no curse because nothing was wrong with this car so far and exactly a year and two months, it gets stolen! its a curse. i know it is. sorry for the thread jack. lol.