My Chistmas Nightmare

[maxhopper]

I was coming home from my mom's house Christmas night around 7:00pm (stone cold sober). I was maybe 300ft from being in a parking space and settling in for the night. But there would be no serenity for me on this evening.

I was pulling down a side street, getting ready to turn into my apartment parking lot, when two cars passed me going the opposite direction. The third car in line seemed to take the oncoming turn a bit wide. I figured the other driver would get back in his lane. I was sadly mistaken.

The guy hit me in the left front corner of my car, and proceeded to rake the side of my car just past the front wheel arch. I expected the driver to stop, but that was not the case.

Picture of the accident scene the next morning.

After hitting my car, the other driver proceeded to flee the scene. With tires spinning, and some significant damage to his steering from the impact with my car, he was unable to negotiate the turn around the grass median; instead blowing through the median and straight into the rear quarter of a parked car.

Tire marks through the grass median and the second car he hit.

After I realized the other driver was not going to stop after he hit me, I put my car into park and jumped out of my car, running after him, to at least try and get a plate number. I was lucky that I caught up to him when he bounced off the parked car. I called 911.

The local police department came and took the driver to jail. His second DUI offense, hit and run, and driving without a license (luckily it was his wife's car and she had insurance).

Accident damage 1

Accident damage 2

Accident damage 3

Accident damage 4

Accident damage 5

So began my ordeal to get my beloved Max back. Lucky for me I had a folder full of receipts where I had purchased my suspension, replacement engine and transmission (I think the fact that I had replaced the engine and trans only 15k miles prior kept it from being totaled), as well as other parts. The insurance company agreed to replace all the aftermarket components, so I was very happy about that.

The whole process of getting the parts ordered and getting my car back took two months. I did have to send the car back to the body shop twice because I was not happy with some of the work that had been done, but they made it right. They even repainted my hood and passenger side fender (very nice to get rid of the rock chips).

The other insurance company agreed to put me in a rental vehicle so I got to drive a total of four different vehicles while I waited for my car to be finished. The first was a 08 Chevy cobalt; very uninspiring and I quickly traded out of it. The second was a 08 GMC envoy SUV. I actually like this vehicle and the 4wd came in handy when we got a few inches of snow in late January. The third car was a 08 VW passat 2.0T. I was pretty impressed by this car; good power from the two liter turbo, great suspension, comfortable and well bolstered leather seating. The only part I didn't like was the over head storage compartment and map lights obstructed the top of the rear view mirror. The last car I was in was a 09 Saturn aura. It has by far the most uncomfortable seat I have ever been in. It was a power adjustable and heated seat, but there was no adjustment for the lumbar support which was overly padded. It was like a seat made for an extreme case of scoliosis, or a contortionist. I was happy to get rid of it.

I went to court in February for the case against the other driver...what a waste of time! I met with the prosecutor and he told me that the other guy was looking at two weeks in jail, some home incarceration, about $1000 in fines, and (my favorite part) suspension of his license for a couple of years. The prosecutor looked puzzled when I asked him why he was going to suspend the guy's license when he didn't even have one. I told him I'd be happy with more jail time instead of the suspension of the nonexistent license. He just came back and said that the sentence would be about the same if he took it to a jury trial. Whatever.

So I got my baby back last Thursday, and I'm glad that it's finally over with. I hope I don't have to go through anything like this again for a long, long time.

Post repair 1

Post repair 2

Post repair 3

Post repair 4

[audtatious]

Phenomenal

Good to see things worked out. Now we need to get you some rims

[MinisterofDOOM]

Oh, man, that freshly painted front end looks beautiful.

Definitely glad to hear it worked out well. Too bad the other driver is getting off so easy.

[the converted]

That's great that you got it back looking so squeaky clean. Sucks that people can get off with a dui so easily. I hope his girl got her insurance dropped for letting him drive without a license.

[RED_DET]

Glad to see it was fixed properly. Now get some wheels, stat.

[nismo1219]

glad that everything worked out and that you werent hurt. the car is looking really nice with the new paint! i cant believe he's getting off so easy, especially as a second dui!! that's insane!!

im just glad this didnt turn out to be another story like jeremiah's...