Before and After

I got a new car in October, but kept that news out of the social media because I wished to surprise people for the next few weeks. With a new car comes the moment when there is a "ding" of some sort, usually when someone bangs a car door into your car in a parking lot. I put all the protection I could think of on this car, including service to fix little "dings" like that.

Well, the first "ding" was a big one. On December 20 I was in the midst of the Christmas shopping and other preparations. I had been to the library, to the Good Will, and done some shopping and decided to finish the afternoon by going to Lund's to get some groceries and also another box of Christmas cards. The traffic was terrible, stop and go, stop and go, and now after 5 PM it was very dark. All of a sudden I found myself driving into the rear of the car in front of me.(In the middle of the night after this event, I woke up thinking: I never saw the brake lights. I truly think the car's brake lights didn't work, but after the event there was no way to prove that.)

We found a safe place to park after the Big Bang (I do like the TV program by that name, much better than hearing one!) snd exchanged information. I finished my shopping and got myself home.

Here's how the car looked:

Notice the hood now doesn't align with the rest of the car.

I left a message with my insurance agent the evening this happened and was in the office early the next morning. You can see the front of the car didn't look too good.

I elected to use a different body service than I have before, and I'm so very glad. Everything for fixing it went very smoothly. I took it to the "car hospital" on December 28 and got it back yesterday.

Here's how it looks now!

When I took the wrecked car for the estimate, the man helping me laughed and said, "You  managed to do this with only 1801 miles!?!" Then he pointed to the frame around the front license plate and said, "Do you see that frame with the dealer's name?" Yes. "Well, when you get this back it will be just like a new car only you won't have that frame." I told him I certainly could live without the license frame -- and he was right -- The car even smells like a new car. This is the most I've ever smashed up a car in more than 50 years of driving. The insurance agent was quite nice, and I can't say enough good words about the body shop! They even took it to their mechanical shop and recharged the air conditioner. Oh, and by the way, while the impact bar was kaput after the Big Bang, it did it's job. No one was hurt in this accident.