Ordinary Nothing

The story itself is a couple of months old, but since the issue has just now came to a conclusion, this would be a legitimate time to post about it. And I do expect, and hope, that this ends whatever I have to post about my car for the foreseeable future.



I was standing at a red traffic light. The car has automatic gear, and my foot was pressing the brake pedal. There were about 2 or 3 cars ahead of me. This was a four-lanes road, the single leftmost used to turn left, the other three to keep going straight, I was standing at the third from the right (that’s second from the left).

Several cars started to queue up behind me, standing.

Then I feel a light bump from the rear.

After muttering some choice profanities to myself, I pulled the handbrake, set the gear to Park, shut down the engine, and got out of the car too take a look at the idiot that crashed into me.

Which turned out to be a 50+ years old women in a blue minivan. She opens the door, come out, look at me and at the two cars, and starts with a “What the hell are you doing driving in reverse, you idiot?!“

Riiight. Somehow I kept my temper, and toldl the nice lady that I was not in reverse, but was rather standing, and she moved her car forward and bumped into me.

(I assume her car was automatic, she didn’t pay attention, took her foot of the brakes, and the car moved. If I had done the same, I would have of course not bumped backwards into her. And it’s quite impossible to switch gears to reverse by mistake.)

So the nice lady uttered a lovely skeptical “ha!”, stepped forward, and inspected both cars. My rear bumper was twisted in, her front bumper looked alright. Different materials, different ages. She looked at me and said “Well, this is of course old damage! right? Not from now! this was just a small touch!”

To which I reply that my rear bumper was in a perfectly good condition half an hour ago when I entered my car, so the damage is certainly from this crash.
And I of course got as a reply an “We’ll see. I’ll have my insurance company check that. I won’t be having you fixing your old damages on my account”. Which is quite fair, and naturally to be expected. There are some unscrupulous people out there. Having the insurance company check the claim is fine, and I said so.



So I asked to see her license and insurance details, and offered mine. To which she replied that of course she’ll want my details, but since we are blocking a main road (The traffic light has changed to green, of course, and the ever civil and polite people around where violently blowing their horns) we should perhaps cross the intersection and stop at the side of the road.

Sensible, really. As long as you don’t pay attention to the fact that there are some unscrupulous people out there. Which to my chagrin I didn’t. I said fine, entered into my car, started it, crossed the intersection, moved to the side of the road, stopped, and watched the nice lady cruising past.

Not being entirely naive, however, I did try to memorize her car’s license plate before leaving. So I promptly wrote it down, uttering some more choice expletives, only having an uncertainty about one digit which might have been either a 6 or an 8.



I kept on driving home, planning to stop by the local police station to place a complaint. About 15-20 minutes afterward, a bit before a large traffic circle, I suddenly spot a familiar looking car. I take a look at the license plate, and it matches nicely. Except the plate is somewhat smudged, so I also cannot ascertain if it’s an 8 or a 6. I switch lanes, and manipulate myself directly to the left of the car. And who is sitting behind the wheel, if not a surprising lookalike of my nice lady, one hand on a cellular phone, and another hand holding a cigarette and the steering wheel at the same time?

I honked. She looked to the side and saw me. We both opened our car windows. She had the nerve to ask me what I wanted. I replied that I wanted her registration and insurance details, which she forgot to give me after our little incident earlier. And received as a response an “I haven’t a clue who you are and what you’re talking about. I never saw you before“. She didn’t look particularly convincing, though. But then the cars ahead of us started to move, and she sped away and turned. Not in the direction I was supposed to go.

I considered doing something idiotic like crashing into her, and just following her, but decided it isn’t worth the bother. I can be too civilized sometimes, I suppose. So I kept on driving back to my city, and into the small police station.



There was a cop manning the front desk, talking with a couple of non-cop friends (well, they were not in uniform, and on the reception side of the desk). I came over, and after waiting a minutes, getting bored, and clearing my throat loudly a few times, he asked me what I wanted. I started to tell the story, at which point he stopped me, handed me a large form, and told me to fill it up.

The form did not actually have enough lines for the whole story, but I tried to be as accurate as possible. I also made sure to specify both options for the license plate number, assuming the police actually have the resources to check. The rest of the form was full of fields asking for a lot of not really relevant info, so I left most empty. I went back to the cop and returned the form. He looked at it, and informed me that I need to feel in all the info. Fine, seems pointless but mostly I could.

Except for things like “Draw the area where the incident occurred exactly and accurately“. Sure. Almost 40 minutes after the event, from a rather large junction, given my amazing photographic memory (which unfortunately I don’t have) and cartographic skill (which I also don’t have). I did know the street names, and specified in the text the lane I was in and the name of both streets in the junction. The police and municipal authorities should be able to figure out where they put all the traffic lights at, even without my help. But not according to the friendly cop. So I had to take the form home, go over a map while poring at my memory, and make a nice drawing. Stupid. Since it was late, it also meant I only came back to submit the form a day later.

I did however also contacted my insurance agency, which also said they’ll try to locate the car and owner.



Pass a little time, and my insurance agency found their insurance agency. Which promptly replied that they are not willing to take responsibility and pay for the car repairs.

I got the phone number of the nice lady’s insurance agent, and called him on the phone.

He started by telling me that she is indeed a very nice lady, and that they are insured by him for years now without any problems. I failed to see how this touches on her crashing into me.

then proceeded to tell me that:

1. Her car didn’t touch my car


2. We only touched because I reverse


3. OK, my car is automatic so maybe I didn’t reverse


4. She didn’t touch my car


5. We only touched lightly so it must have been previous damage


6. Despite me sounding to him like a nice person, she’s the client, and she thinks I’m trying to get her to pay to correct previous damages


7. Yes, it’s unlikely I’ll go on for a long time with an unopenable trunk, hoping someone will crash into me


8. I’m just trying to get them to pay for old damages


9. If it’s a small amount they won’t mind paying as long as I don’t go to my insurance agency, and don’t make anything official

We finally agreed to disagree, that I’ll get full appraisal for the damages, that my insurance company will go to them with all the papers, that they will probably refuse to pay, and that we’ll then go to court.

Joy.



Then started the long waiting period while the two insurance companies talked to each other. As an amusing (well, tragic actually, since they’re the police force I have to live with, but still) side note, I got back a reply from the police. They found the car owner! They gave me the details, which turned out to be the wrong people and the wrong car. The license plate they found was not even similar to the real one. Don’t have a clue where they got it from. Very strange. If the insurance hadn’t found the right people, I might have tried to follow up on the police’s finding, which could have turned out to be quite interesting.



And now we finally got the word that the insurance company agreed to pay.

About time, and saves everyone a hassle.

A very good friend of mine has received wedding invitation from relatives living in Florida.

They seem to have spared little expenses. The place where the wedding will be held at is quite pricey. The events will go on for three days, with food and celebrations both on the day before and on the day after the actual wedding ceremony.

The invitation themselves were very elegantly printed on quality paper. And it was not just an invite. It also contained a larger note talking a bit about both families, and an RSVP note and (pre-stamped) envelope that can be used to confirm attendance and food preferance.

And of course the invitation itself, detailing the events of the three days (I changed the dates a I write here from the originals to the 12-14, to prevent the unlikely case that someone will make a connection. The actual selection I made is not entirely coincidental either <g>)

It talk about how on the 12th of November, the day before the ceremony, there will be a big lunch, and so on.

It states that on the 14th of November there will be a large celebratory breakfast.

And it mentiones that the ceremony itself will be held in the evening of the 13th of October.

…



Did you catch that? I did.

Unfortunately, before printing all those invitations, the happy couple didn’t.

Which naturally left my friend no alternative to returning the RSVP envelope with a note saying that they regret not being able to attend an event that took place before the invitation arrived (OK, so not, this friend have a much nicer sense of humor than I have. a pity).



I’d practically pay good money to see the look the happy couple had (will have? Surely someone must have told them by now?) on their faces when they found out… And no, I’m not being very mean. It’s terribly embarrassing, but not actually damaging. So it’s alright to enjoy it.

Those were really <chuckle> really very invested and expensive invitations…

I took my car for the yearly test, required for the car license renewal.

The car isn’t actually mine, but is rather my father’s. He’s the official owner, and my mother is listed in the license as co-owner. I’m not. I just use it, fuel it, take it for repairs, and so on.

So after paying the exorbitant fee required for the new year’s license, I went to pass the car through the test.

To start with, I had to go to the admission counter, show the paid license, pay a bit more for the test, and get the form where the nice testers/mechanics list whatever is wrong during the test.

The nice lady at the counter looks at the new car license, and asks me for my ID / Driver’s-license. I show it to her, and she notices I’m not actually listed on the car license as the owner. To her credit she does notice the similarity in surnames.

“Is the car under your father’s name?“

“Yes”

“Have you brought his ID with you?“

“No”

“Did you perhaps bring your… mothers? ID?“

“No, I don’t have that either”

“You should have brought them, you know. You need the ID card of the car’s owner“

“I know, sorry. I didn’t bring it”

“<sigh> Oh, alright. I’ll accept it This time. But don’t come without their ID next time. Understand?“

“Sure. OK. Thanks”

That is, assuming that in one whole year:

1. I’ll still use the same old car


2. I’ll go to the same place to do the test in


3. She’ll still be working there


4. She’ll be the one sitting at the counter when I arrive


5. She’ll remember she told me all this one year, and thousand of clients, ago

Sure. That’s so going to happen. I just know it.



It took a lot of self control not to ask her what she needs the ID for, though. Had I remembered to bring it, I probably would have asked. But not being kicked away to come another day (or go someplace else) later, I decided not to push my luck by aggravating the lady. She probably couldn’t have given me a better answer than it’s the procedure anyway.

What is the owner’s ID good for? What should it symbolize? That I’m not taking someone else’s car, without their consent, paying the fee, and having it tested and licensed for another year?

I try to imagine someone stealing a car, and then going through the time and expense to do that… That would be some thief. Boggles the mind, actually. Seems like a totally ridiculous idea. So what can they be worried about?

The other option is that it’s done with the owner’s consent. Like in my case. Is there a problem with that? Do I need to bother carrying someone else’s ID back and forth, when it’s clear they’re in agreement?



I can’t come up with one problem that the requirement to present the owner’s ID would solve… And this time I don’t think it’s my lack of imagination…