Beware of other drivers...

I suppose that I am lucky that I wasn't injured or my car was not more severely damaged, but this situation that I find myself in is not good and I have a bad feeling that I will be screwed on repairs to my car.

Yesterday, in the rainy afternoon at 5:10 pm, I was pulling into the parking lot of my gym, the Nashville Athletic Club, and was hit by a woman driving very very fast for being in a parking lot. She was very pissed when she hit me and was pounding her steering wheel while I kept my composure and got out of my car. The redneck, Tennessean woman told me that she was "in a hurry" and "didn't need this to happen" as if I needed it to happen to may car and that my time wasn't important. I told her that I understood her hurry but I needed her insurance information.

We moved the cars out of the main thoroughfare and she gave me her name, address, drivers license number and phone number. Then I asked for her insurance and she said, "I don't have it with me but it doesn't matter because it's not my fault anyway. Call me tonight and I'll give it to you." To this I said, "You were driving way too fast in a parking lot and I'm am going to get screwed here if I don't get your insurance now." She got angry and flustered so I said, "If you're going to be that way about it, I'm calling the police."

I started by dialing 911 but they told me that since it wasn't a life threatening emergency to call another number. I dialed that number and after a few minutes on hold, I was connected to an operator. She took our names, drivers license numbers and color, make and models of our cars. She gave me a report number and started telling me about filing paperwork that I can download from their website. I asked how fault is determined and she said that since it occurred on private property, the insurance companies have to work it out. I asked if an officer would come and she said no and that even if one did, they would not determine fault.

I was in disbelief but my only other fender bender occurred on a public street so that has been my only experience in the matter. The woman who hit me is also very lucky that it didn't happen on a public street because she would be ticketed for hitting me and for not having proof of insurance. So with that, the redneck, Tennessean woman left the scene and I was left at the gym with a feeling that I would never get her insurance information and have to eat the cost of my deductible to get my car fixed.

I called Geico, my insurance company, to discuss the matter with them and they gave me some good advice on how to handle the situation. They also said that if I was unable to contact the woman, that they would assign an adjustor to do so. I really want this to work out and my insurance premiums to be worth something, but I have already called the woman twice and got an answering machine. It would actually work out in my best interest if she doesn't have insurance because my uninsured motorist coverage is better than the cost I have to incur if her insurance refuses to cover the damages which is apparently a possibility.

On the plus side, she is a member of my gym and she will have to see me again. I'm just most disappointed because I really try to take excellent care of my car by maintaining routine maintenance. Now it is no longer an undamaged car and the value that I was trying to hold has decreased. I know cars are not a good investment but Hondas hold their value very well. I only hope that there was no structural damage to the frame.

In any event, here is a photo of the damage. Like I said, it's not too terrible but it makes me a little sad that my car which has traveled almost 70,000 miles without incident was damaged by a redneck, Tennessean woman who was in too much of a hurry to drive carefully in a parking lot. Drivers in Tennessee are terrible. This is the second such incident that I am aware of in which a car was hit in a parking lot. Pretty F'ed up if do say so myself.


My Poor Car