So, the day before my mom and my brother came into town, I was driving to the doctor's office and I got in this super lame fender bender. Luckily I had just dropped the kids off at a friends, so they weren't in the car with me. We have these lame/nice frontage roads in Texas and they're by every freeway, so yielding to freeway traffic can be a little....frustrating at times. It's hard to see people coming in our van, so we really have to look and be very cautious. There was a car in front of me, which I saw. She was going slow, but I knew she was there and no one was coming off the freeway. I had glanced over to see if there was any off coming cars, and when I turned around and saw that she had stopped for no one, I slammed on my breaks, but it was too late. Her's wasn't even a quick stop...like a stop and go. It was a stop and sit. I wasn't going very fast, but I hit her maybe going 15-20 MPH. I was super bummed, but we were both ok and that's what's important. I actually barely felt it, so when I got out and saw what my car looked like, I was shocked. It was so much worse than I thought. Maybe it was the angle I hit the car?
Awful way to start the day, but my car still worked, so I drove to the doctors and made arrangements to take the car in a week later after my mom and brother left. I needed the van to fit everyone in one car while they were here. It still worked, so I saw no rush.
After we drove my mom to the airport (5 days later) and remarking that I felt the transmission was shifting weird, things started to get a little crazy. I've had a transmission go out before and I've also had the transmission repairmen misplace cables, which then burned through on the hot engine and made driving scary and crazy. This was the same feeling. We were all driving home from Brian's work praying that we'd just make it home. The car wasn't shifting gears, felt like it was going to quit at any moment. We had 6 people, 15 miles away from home on the freeway, and it was nearly 100 degrees outside. Not really a big deal as far as life in concerned, but it would have been majorly inconvenient. So, we made it home and it died in the driveway.
Had the car towed the next day awaiting inspection. I really thought that the repairs would be no big deal, but now I had this pit in my stomach and really wasn't surprised when they called to tell me that my big, beautiful van was totaled. Sad news. A real bummer. Insurance adjuster said that he couldn't believe I was ok because the front of the car went under the battery, punctured a hole and leaked battery acid all over the engine. AND I DROVE IT FOR A WEEK! I didn't tell him that I drove it around tarnation, but chose, "Wow! I can't believe I drove away from the accident" instead. He agreed and we started our hunt for our next car. We had very limited time because our now 1 car was a rental and we had a very small window to shop. We bought a car the next day....very fast purchase. I don't like buying a car that fast nor would I want to do it again unless I had to. I like shopping around and looking at various options.
I'm pretty happy about it what we got and we just pray that it lasts us longer than one year. :) I miss my blue van, but this one is pretty much the same, a year older, a little more miles, and a different color. The kids were excited for a new car and said, "But it's the same!" as soon as they got inside. Yes, dear children, nothing exciting for us. Haha.
I wish I would have gotten a picture of the outside with the bumper on, but I was too upset about the whole ordeal to take a picture. It made me really upset. There is supposed to be space between the battery and the radiator....there's not. There's also that huge tube that's supposed to be connected and it's not either. Don't know how I drove it for a week....
The inside. Totaled and in awesome condition. Insert small sobs.
Goodbye old car, hello, "new" car.
