I got the driver's side of my car smashed in today, while I was driving it, by a lady who ran a red light.
Traffic wasn't busy...when my light turned green, I went, and she just plain didn't stop. *I* slammed on my brakes when I saw her (and my roommate yelped when he noticed her) and was pretty much stopped when she plowed into me, but she was going probably 10-15 still...eh, I dunno, it was enough to knock my door in so I can't open it and have a nice 2-inch gap the air and rain gets through quite well.
My hubcap has a small dent in it but it seems the wheel escaped most of the damage; the body panel around it though is smushed in to meet the door where the door's smooshed in. It's like the car just folded along the seam between the door and that panel. I can still drive okay, but have to get out one of the other doors, and I've got a funny vmmming sound that makes me think the wheel might be rubbing slightly on something or be knocked out of alignment or something like that.
It had been raining today (and is again) but at the time of the accident it wasn't coming down.
So the lady is literally 75 years old (saw her driver's license) and she begged me to just call her and have her pay out of her pocket to fix my car, since her husband will get mad at her when he finds out. I'm not having any of that, as I called my insurance company and gave them all the info not 10 minutes later.
I'm supposed to drive down to Torrance tomorrow to look at a couple apartments; it's at least a 30-minute drive and it's supposed to be as rainy as it was today. The insurance guy gave me the name of a nearby repair place so I'll get in touch with them tomorrow and see if they can start working on it so I can get a rental car; my insurance will cover the rental on days when my car is actively being repaired, but maybe not other days like Sunday. If they can't start on it maybe I'll just ask them to tape up the door or something so water doesn't get through and make sure nothing's rubbing on the wheel so at least I can drive it until they're ready for me.
Mehh...I really like my car. It suits my needs well. This better not be a big problem.