car accident

Mr. D was in a car accident trying to get from Center City to our neighborhood for Doodle's Christmas concert on December 23rd.  He was stopped behind a city bus that sat through two green lights.  Everyone was going around the bus (it was on a two-lane one-way street) so Mr. D followed the crowd, but he misjudged the width of our car and side swiped the bus.  Our passenger side doors were dented but the bus was unharmed since it was standing still and Mr. D was going 2 to 5 mph.  All but one bus passenger got off and caught the next bus, which came only two minutes later.  One passenger hung around looking for a free pay day and told Mr. D that he was going to go to the emergency room after he picked up his son and was planning to sue Mr. D.  When the police arrived they asked for our car registration and proof of insurance, which was not in the car, though I assured Mr. D several times that it was in the car.  He started getting really concerned that we botched our attempt to register to pay our insurance premiums on line and that we were in fact uninsured -- with a guy threatening to sue and a car that needed body work. He got a ticket for not having an updated insurance card and the ne'er-do-well requested the police report from the officer and took down Mr. D's name, license plate number and insurance information.

Mr. D walked in to Doodle's school just as the concert was ending.  He was so distraught and annoyed and depressed.  We talked it over and he realized that he had received an email from our insurer a few weeks earlier that he hadn't opened.  I drove our damaged car home and Mr. D walked Doodle and Pancake home.  Since I got home first I quickly got on the computer and found the aforementioned email.  It said that our credit card would be charged our bi-yearly fee and to print out our insurance card and keep it in the car. As soon as Mr. D arrived home I greeted him with the good news.  He then called the insurer and found out his marching orders.  The car spent almost two weeks in the shop and we had a rental car during that time.

I was unaware that Dodge still made cars, but apparently they make crappy cars that are so awful they're mostly only rentals.  The 2010 Caliber is what we had -- a cheap metal box with tiny windows.  I got the call today to pick up our good old Accord.  It looks great.  They even cleaned the inside which anyone who has kids knows is a huge value.  I'm happy to say that our Accord is much more to my liking even though it's nine years old now.

I'm also happy to report that the insurer has not heard from the guy who said he was going to sue, though he legally has two years to file a claim.  He doesn't seem like the type to follow through.