Car Accident


Blog / Wednesday, February 26th, 2014

As I left for work a couple of weeks ago, I got into a minor fender bender on my way out of my apartment parking lot. Initially, my emotions soared as I do not like when other people mistreat my expensive things I meticulously maintain. You see, I was driving out the last straight shot of the parking lot and I saw the girl’s backing lights turn on and saw the car start moving, so I stopped  and started honking to let her know I was there. But I stopped still in her path and she didn’t see me and she ended up hitting my front fender. Had I kept driving, she would have backed into the side of my car. Really, not much damage was done, the front fender was scraped and dented but I got her insurance information and filed a claim with my own.

After a couple of days of spending my lunches on the phone, it was declared she was at fault and her insurance would pay to fix my car. Rightly so, if you ask me. Before that could happen, I had to get my damage assessed by both insurance companies which took a bit of time. After that, I had to wait for a slot to open at the body shot which was preferred by her insurance company. I’m glad that I did.

You see, I went to Marshall Auto Body which isn’t too far from my home and they treated me really well. They assessed the damage and made sure both the cost of repairs and the rental car were billed to the insurance company (no hassles). When I asked for an estimate on how long it would take to repair, knowing full well that the amount of time needed might change, I was given an estimate and not some beating around the bush. That alone won me over.

When I dropped off my car, they had the rental waiting for me. It was a 2013 Nissan Altima 2-door. I would not recommend it. It felt like I was driving a boat that was very large on the outside but tiny on the inside. There were other things about it I didn’t like, but that’s not what I’m writing about.

While the car was being fixed, they kept me updated on the progress with phone calls and text messages sent from their customer tracking software. It was nice to be in the loop. I also got a call about some extra damage to my car they found which they wanted to know if they should repair, on my dime. I knew about it because I saw it while changing my oil and since it wasn’t affecting my drive, I let it be. I’ll see if I can do anything about it come warmer weather (if that happens).

When I picked up my car today, it was gorgeous. Freshly washed. I had forgotten that my car could shine because of all the salt the county throws down to keep the roads from being icy had turned it a disgusting white color. They had replaced the fender and painted it to match the rest of the car. Additionally, they had noticed that the pin-striping on my car didn’t extend to the fenders so they had that all did up for me (the guy handling my car suspected that the dealership I bought it used from had repainted the front end to get rid of some road rash and forgot to re-pin-stripe it). That went on the insurance company’s dime. Woo!

The last bit of goodness was that there were some cookies left on my seat for me as a thank you for my business. It’s like they know me.

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