Thursday, December 11, 2008

End of an Era

After nearly 12 years of faithful service and a very scary accident on 285-W this morning, it looks like the Car-Craptastic is finally going to go to her final resting place.

I was heading from Gwinnett this morning to pick up kidlet from his dad's. I usually take 85S on Thursday mornings but the traffic report said the traffic was heavy so I took the outer loop instead. Just past the Ashford-Dunwoody on-ramp is where 'it' happened. Apparently he was going too fast for the conditions and when he came off the ramp, he lost control of his Jeep Journey. His vehicle started to spin and he did 360's across all 4 lanes of traffic. There was no way not to hit him. One moment he wasn't there, the next minute he was right in front of me with no way to stop.

He ended up on the left side of the freeway facing the wrong way. I was able to pull off to the right and called the police to respond. They sent an ambulance as well but I declined transport at the time.

The guy who caused the accident couldn't have been nicer (which meant a lot to me because you hear so many stories about people who are at fault and are total assholes and/or completely refuse to accept responsibility). When he finally got HERO help to get to my side of the road, he came over and hugged me and made sure I was ok. He also stated he was very glad I wasn't a semi (which was fortunate for him that he wasn't hit by something larger).

I've been asked over and over today by health care and insurance workers if my airbag deployed. No. Don't have one. I was saved by the fact that the car is a tank and, goddess willing, I will buy another tank. I hit him fairly hard and the front end is smashed in, but nothing sprang a leak and I could have driven it away except everything is pushed back into the wheel well which is not good for driving generally.

The tow truck driver took me to a gas station just off the nearest exit and waited with me til DS's dad could get there to pick me up. I called my doctor to get something for the muscle pain but she sent me to the ER for a better safe than sorry check. I came out clear except for contusions and muscle damage and was given lots of fun drugs which I can't take yet because I have an answering service shift tonight (I would have taken it off but I'm working so everyone else can go to the company Christmas party. I'm making double time and they agreed to cover my shift tomorrow instead because tomorrow, apparently, I'm going to hurt a hell of a lot worse than today.)

I'll pick up a rental car tomorrow (they weren't going to have one til late today so there was no need to bother) and see where things go from there.

Odds are, it's going to be totaled. It's a '93 Chevy Cavalier. It has over 243,000 miles on it.

I'm more upset about the car than anything else. I can hardly write this without crying. I really can't afford a car payment at this stage of the game and what I'd get on my car being totaled won't even make a decent down payment on something used.

She was an old car, but she was faithful. She ran well and solid and has been a godsend to me. She looked like crap on the outside, but was more dependable than any other car I've ever had. I'm devastated to lose her and now have to figure out how to afford another car.

So if anyone knows of a REALLY cheap and reliable car for sale and/or you want to donate money to the "Val needs a new car for Christmas fund", feel free to shoot me an e-mail or leave me a message on MySpace or Facebook.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Posted by Valerie at 6:53 PM