Altimate Mayhem: Part 2

I fear I left my readers hanging for a bit on the saga of my car accident. Where was it that I left off? Oh yes, I was preparing to do battle with two insurance companies to make sure that my car didn’t end up a little square bit of metal in some junk yard. I was also just starting to get sick. Well that sickness, along with other unhappy symptoms, included full fledged laryngitis; which was just what I needed. Even with all the phone calls and people I wanted to scream at, as of that Monday morning I had no voice what so ever. Nothing more than a whisper could I utter, which was neither menacing enough to conduct my business nor plausible to call someone on a cell phone with. I was completely stuck!
In the end my genius plan was to get a friend of mine to make some phone calls to my insurance company for me, asking for another form of communication like email. Of course even that had to be a complicated affair because the company had to invite me to use their system and they had an old email address. After all that got worked out, I was now reduced to conducting business through a weird closed system email. Talk about having my hands tied! Two entire days off to deal with whatever business that needed to be dealt with and I couldn’t do it.
What I did accomplish was getting a ride down to the auto body shop with some boxes in order to bale out more of my belongings from the car. I wanted to think positively that I was just getting my stuff out of the way while it was repaired. The chances of that happening were just as good as them totaling out the car again and this could be my one chance to get my stuff out while I still legally owned the car. All very depressing stuff!
Facing the damage on the car again while I removed all my belongings was awful. I felt like I was abandoning my car. As much as I was trying to fight for it, I really had no idea if I would win. What other options did I have? What else could I do? For now I could only clear out the disco ball and loose change, hoping for better days with the car were in my future.
The next several days were terrible because no headway was being made in my “email a day” progress with my own insurance company. The other insurance company apparently proved their client to be a total liar and had left me with their inability to pay the total worth they had estimated my car to be at. I was happy enough to stop dealing with that company all together anyway. I didn’t like the guy that was representing the other side and they were better masters at giving the run-around, than my own insurance agency.
I lived through several days waiting in suspense. All I kept hearing in my head was that manager from the auto body shop telling my father and me that the parts were on order and that the car would be painted and good as new in two weeks. More than that had passed in just this exchange alone. I longed for resolution to my situation and I was starting to lose hope. Yet, if the adjustor was taking this long to examine the car I desperately wanted to think that had to mean repairs were still a viable option being seriously considered. The last time it was totaled, that decision seemed to come quite immediately. What I wouldn’t give to hear from the auto body shop that the new hood and fender had arrived and were being painted. What glorious news that would be.

Since the beginning of this fiasco my work ethic had seriously suffered from my standpoint. I was constantly tied to either my cell phone or the work phone waiting on a call or arguing with someone. All the trips upstairs to use the fax machine meant I was off the floor and not there for my crew. The roller coaster of emotions I was going through with each new twist in this saga has made me a real space cadet. Getting to and from work was also trying for several people. I had to get a ride where ever I went because my own insurance policy didn’t include a rental car. I didn’t have the money to just throw away on that and at the time I had been thoroughly convinced that in two weeks I’d have my car back. A month was passing me by and I was still operating on someone else’s kindness, or lateness as it worked out several times. It truly sucks to no longer be in control of your physical destiny as it were. But I have to give much love to the people that have put up with me thus far.
Anyway, even though I was trying desperately to keep my mind on work while I was there, I was still waiting for a decision to be made about the car. Was I going to have to start shopping for a new one? How much longer was I going to be living on other people’s ability to drive me places? The phone call from my auto body shop was one that I immediately ran to the work phone to call back. The fight was over, my insurance company had …. denied my request to repair. The car was totaled.
I had made up my mind before making this call that if my insurance company decided the car was totaled then there really wasn’t much more I could do. I had to let go. Now that I was actually faced with that reality I had such a terrible time walking away from it. I felt like a parent walking away from a child with cancer or something. Sorry, mommy couldn’t afford to get you chemotherapy. I’m just going to let these nice people take you away now. I know that’s a seriously exaggerated example but you have to remember, besides the severe financial difficulties I was about to face with the loss of my vehicle, the bottom line is I LOVED THAT CAR!
The next week I got a call from my insurance company and talked with an entire new person than the one I had been talking to this whole time. That was a little unnerving. Now that the fate of my car had been settled, the woman I had been working with was no longer in the picture. This guy seemed nice enough and yet it was extremely surreal to be discussing my car by its marketable value. Excellently maintained engine and transmission, perfect interior, four brand new tires, brand new breaks (thanks James), and all sorts of details that I never pondered the car having until he read them off as a list of merits toward the amount they were going to award me. I felt a bit of pride as he rambled off that list, feeling glad too that I had taken such great care of the car even if it had come down to this.
The price they quoted me was close enough to the Kelly Blue Book my boss had looked up on the internet as a point of reference. It would more than pay off what I owed on the car and still give me a respectable down payment toward the new purchase. The next step in the whole process was signing the power of attorney paperwork that would give them the ability to take over the car and decide when the car would be towed out of my life permanently. The gentleman suggested the twenty-eighth but I was very hesitant that I could fit that into my schedule. Already being the twenty-fifth I was hoping to at least have till Halloween to take one last look through the car to see what I had missed. I knew that I had neglected to take the CD from the player or retrieve my Clubbing Queen license plate holder. With the understanding that I still had belongings in the vehicle it was agreed that the insurance company would wait until Halloween to tow the car. I was instructed to let the auto body shop know that the car would be towed out on that Monday.
I realized too late that after I had made the agreement of Halloween being a better day, thus giving me more time to get a ride down to the auto body shop, I was still facing the problem that I worked every single day between now and then. I was going to miss more work to deal with this stupid fiasco.
Taking the morning off I finagled a ride from a co-worker that worked the lunch shift and we both headed down to the auto body shop with the sad deed of saying goodbye to my car. Walking into the lobby I was so depressed, but I knew I had to deal with the situation. A problem quickly arose when the reception staff had no idea what car I was talking about. After some calling around I got the most interesting news. “Oh that car was already towed. They towed the Nissan out of the lot on the twenty-eight.” WHAT! WHAT THE FUCK! I did my best to hold my temper because it wasn’t receptions’ fault. The huge problem I am now facing is the fact that it was Saturday when I wanted to yell at my insurance rep about this huge fuck up. She doesn’t work on Saturdays, or Sundays for that matter. I have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what the hell happened and where my car has ended up.
I never even got the chance to say goodbye!