Car karma

Yes, it's come back to bite me in the ass yet again.

When I left for State College last Friday, I left my house keys with JP for some reason. I had totally forgotten this until he reminded me and he graciously agreed to go to my car, which was parked near the busway, and put them in there so I could get home while he was at kung fu with his father. I had forgotten to tell him that I was parked not at the Park&Ride, but on a side street. So he calls me and asks where it is. I'm directing him, and he sees my car. He asks, "Did you park on the sidewalk?", and I'm a little confused. I guess there's a chance that I had gone up the curb, but...

He hands the phone over to Joe and I say to Joe, "Maybe I forgot to put my parking brake on, and it drifted onto the curb?" He falls silent. I hear "It's not ok." So Joe tells me that my car is indeed smashed up, and they will skip kung fu to call the police. I immediately leave the office and run to the bus stop, thinking "Not my car, not my car, not my car...please not my car...I love that car..." Get on the bus. Get off the bus. Run down to my car.

Sadness. Random guy in big truck was trying to pull out of the water authority's parking lot and hit me. I know this because he did call the police, although I'm getting tired of everyone praising this guy for doing the decent, legal thing. Once I upload them, I'll put up pictures, but essentially my entire front quarter panel has been ripped in half and smashed against the wheel. He also got the rear quarter panel, also smashed against the back wheel. So hopefully this won't cost me anything other than the time I've had to invest. Oh, and the fucking gas money I need to have to get my rental around. Right now, I am driving THIS:



Enterprise didn't have any actual cars this morning when I called. They told me my choices were a pickup truck or a GMC Envoy, which is the largest SUV ever. I asked when I could have an actual car. They told me 2pm.

Sooo, 2 rolls around and I go to Enterprise. No cars. They offer to drive to a local dealership to borrow one. Yes, please! They come back and tell me that is the smallest they can manage. Are you joking? It gets...wait for it...22 mpg on the HIGHWAY. My car gets that in stop and go traffic. My other choice is to wait until Monday. Grrrrrrr.

So I drive the monster to Oakland and manage to parallel park it. Shannon has written a nicely worded note for me to put on it:

"Dear fellow environmentally concious citizens,
I am not an eco-terrorist, someone smashed my earth friendly car and I have to drive this gas guzzler around for awhile. It is a rental, and I assure you I am not a republican.
Love, Freya"

Oh, and the best part? My insurance adjuster calls me to tell me that I still have to pay my deductible, but they'll be happy to work hard for me to get it back from the other insurance company. Uh-huh. And how long will that $1,000 collect interest on my credit card while you work hard to do that? Anyone have a spare $1,000 cash at the moment? Yeah, us either.

UPDATE: Enterprise called me. They have a smaller car. Can I drive back to switch them? Um, no. I just left work for an hour to come there the first time. Not doing it again. But I have to trade it in. My insurance doesn't pay for the free upgrade they gave me. So they volunteer to come to me. Fine. They show up at my parking spot, hand me a Stratus and leave with the big honking thing.
Is it regular practice for them to inconvenience their customers so much? This is ridiculous. I'M THE GODDAMN VICTIM HERE.

p.s. I'll post part 2 of the other wedding entry at some future point. I'm too pissed to write anything now.