Enssle Family

The Honda is cursed

July 23rd, 2006

Our poor Honda Civic is cursed. Like a magnet, our car seems to attract accidents! About 8 months ago I was rear-ended while driving to work in Boulder. This caused about $4000 worth of damage and many weeks to get it repaired. Just when we thought that this vehicle had its share of body work, it was involved in yet another accident.

This weekend we were driving up to visit Neal’s parents in Fort Collins. Neal’s dad had just returned from a 3-week trip to Germany and we were going up to have dinner and hear about his adventures. We were minding our own business in the right-hand lane when a car came up from behind in the left lane and side-swiped us going at least 60 mph. Turns out it was a couple of teenagers from Greeley. The kid driving was 16 and this was probably his first car - it still had temporary plates! I’d seen this same car earlier going about 45 mph (we passed him) - the driver looked like he was dialing or texting on his cell phone. We figure he just wasn’t paying attention and drifted over the line into our lane. Neal tried to swerve, but it wasn’t quite enough. The car took off our driver’s side mirror and scratched/dented our front wheel well and all along the side of our car.

The kid was cited for careless driving - so in theory his insurance should pay for the damages. However, instead of a big insurance company like State Farm or Allstate, he has a private insurance company out of Greeley. This means estimates (multiple) and potentially fighting for our choice of body shop. Let’s hope I’m wrong. In the meantime, I get to drive around in a car without a side mirror and some alignment issues. Major annoyance - you just don’t realize how much you use the side mirror until it’s gone! Grrr…

Incidentally, we’re all fine. No injuries aside from a little too much sun while waiting for the highway patrol to show up.

Entry Filed under: Travel