10 January 2024
Well my morning started off badly. On my way to work I was driving down a side street and I felt a light thump. I hit something and thought it was probably a chunk of snow packed ice. It was dark and my eyes were distracted a bit on a dog that was just off the street. I brushed it off thinking it didn't do any damage.
As I was pulling up to the gate at work I heard something rubbing on my front driver side tire. First thought was oh great it did some damage. All that crossed my mind once I showed my credentials to the gate guard was getting parked and checking it out.
I get to my workplace and park. I get out of my car and immediately check it out. I see a vent cover is missing, crack on my bumper, and some areas of the bumper chewed up. Also the fender skirt is loose above the wheel well and where the bumper connects to the quarter panel is not lined up.
Of course I eye it really close for any signs for fur or blood. I knew I didn't hit that dog or another one. It did cross my mind that it could have been a raccoon. They are good size and aren't all that tall when on all fours. It would make sense it was dark and they would blend in with darkness being black and white. Anyways I will never know what I hit.
I took this shot before going into the building. I guess it was an attempt to calm myself down with my disappointment. It's a pretty wintery look to the building. The sunset reflected in the window and to be honest I actually didn't look back to see the real one. I was a little fixtated with the ice sickles though. There rather small right now, these will be touching the ground in a day or two. Well if they don't get knocked down first by a shovel or via some snowball throwing practice.
I get to my desk and log in to my computer. A ton of emails to sift through. I worked last on Sunday doing some overtime. I was off the last two days due forecasted and inclement weather. Once I was done going through emails we all went outside to check out work vehicles and equipment. This took quite a bit of time as we had to clear a lot of snow from them and had to let them run a little longer.
Once we were done with that we headed back inside to the office. I called my insurance company only to get turned over to their voice mail. It was about 11:3O when they returned my call.
I was told I could file a claim for the damages. I also found out my deductable, which is $250. That will be the amount I have to pay to fix everything. I may be wrong but I'm sure I will need a complete new bumper which will probably cost well over $1000.
They just don't make cars like they use to, right? I mean who would have thought 30 years ago they would make bumpers out of plastic? It blows my mind, cars are made cheeper but they are more expensive to purchase.
The insurance company gave me three preferred companies to fix my car at. I didn't have to use them but they are companies the insurance companies work with a lot. So it's just easier and a lot less work if I give my business to them.
The first company in which I have heard good things about can't work on my car until Monday. I initially told the insurance company I would go with the first company. The insurance company passed all my information to that company. So it was nice calling them and not having to give all my information.
I thought I'll give the others a call to see if they can work on my car sooner. The second company didn't have an appointment until 26 February! Well that will not work. The third company's first available date was 29 January. So I settled with the first one.
My lunch hour was packed with making calls and receiving them. So I talked to my local insurance agent first to pass along when I will get my car im. Soon after, I received a call from their claims department. Mostly they wanted some additional information so they passed information to a rental car business. It really is a good thing to have insurance. My plan includes a free 30 day rental. I hope I don't have utilize all those days though.
So I called the rental car company to set up my rental. They will pick me up at where I drop my car off at. So that is one less thing I have to arrange. I will have to pay a $50 deposit fee which I will get back when I return the rental. Other than that I will pay just a $1 a day for some taxes. The insurance company will take care of the rest.
I checked with my insurance company to see if I could get rental now. I found out I can't until I drop off my car. I really don't want to drive my car around until Monday. I will limit driving it and that means I will be spending a lot of time at home this weekend.
The rest of my work day included setting up requirements for an inbound aircraft arriving to us soon. I also had to leave the office to go buy some office needs. I'm the purchase card holder for my office.
Well a longer felt day at work because of what happened this morning. After work I had to pick up my son from basketball practice. While waiting for him it started to snow. We got another inch or two of snow. This little bit of snow made the roads worse.
Right as I turned into my driveway I heard something rubbing on my tire. I stopped than went forward again to hear something wrap around my tire. I got out of car to see that the entire fender skirt had come off. Oh well it's going to get fixed so I threw it in the trunk because it looks serviceable still.
Since it snowed again I had to shovel the driveway, side walk, and brush off the deck stairs leading to my house. Suppose to have blizzard like conditions from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning. So the shovel and broom will get plenty of work.
That's all I have for you today. Take care, stay safe and have a great rest of your week.