And Thelma was her name (actually it was Thelma’s daughter Myrtis driving the car.) Donna and I were on our way to work, minding our own business, stopped at a light when Myrtis, while driving her kids to school, wasn’t paying attention and tried to subvert the laws of physics, to wit, no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time.
She says she was stopping and started to fix her son’s shoes or something and must have felt she would stop in time and just misjudged. She hit us at less than 5 MPH I bet. No one was hurt because of the low speed and we were all buckled in. I’ve got a bent trunk and there is nothing wrong with her vehicle, a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a brush guard on the front (see picture in the more section below.)
I got on the cell phone and called Johnny Law. After a minute or two, a passing off duty fireman pulled up behind us and put on his flashers so no one would plow into the back of Myrtis. While we waited we exchanged information and chatted about the world. Because Aiken is such a small town we both had to assure several friends of ours that we were fine as they passed by on the way to work or whatever.
A city police officer showed up about 10 minutes later, took our paperwork and filled out an accident report. He didn’t ticket her, but did put a check mark in the box labeled “Contributed to Accident” on her side of the form. The only possible negative in the whole thing is that her mom’s insurance card was out of date. Let’s hope it is a simple oversight.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 94
It’ll never be as good again – better trade for a new NC.
I like the cyclist lic plate tho.
I guess this shows one of the advantages of living in a small town. In the Dallas/Fort Worth area, most police dept’s will not even fill out an accident report unless the damage is MAJOR or someone gets hurt. But I feel for ya, guy — the emperor is a class machine, and now it needs new clothes…
Mr VFR – I tried that idea out on my wife, but he wasn’t buying it (literally.)
Brian – The owner of the car did have current insurance, so the Emperor will get the same old outfit, just cleaned and pressed nicely.
Ouch! So sorry to see this, Brian. Glad no one was hurt, though. Can you get away with just a repair & respray of the trunk lid or will more paint work be required? Keep us posted (as I’m sure you will). Good Luck with it!
What a sad sad day!
Hopefully they can get a good paint match.
For giggles I stopped at a place who painted the spoiler for me and got an estimate – $1300. A new trunk is $570 without paint. When I first looked at the car it seemed like that just the lid was damaged, but now that I’ve had a while to look at it, the bumper has got a couple of dimples in it in separate spots. I don’t think that estimator noticed them.