Car Accident

Last Wednesday night I was driving from my house to the library. I was completely stopped at a red light, or behind a bus, minding my own business when I got rear-ended-- and I don't mean a little nudge. This person was moving pretty fast and hit me hard, considering I had been completely stopped for a while before they hit me (meaning that I didn't initiate it by slamming on the breaks). They hit me so hard my ponytail was knocked out of its elastic and my garage door opener fell off the sun visor onto my head. My car got pushed 5-6 feet into the car in front of me. The man in that car turned around angrily because he thought I hit him. He jumped out of his car and started walking toward mine. I opened my door and was about to get out of my car when I got hit again. At first I thought it was a multi-car pile-up and that someone hit the car that hit me, but it was actually the idiot who hit me trying to get away. In their escape attempt, the person almost hit me and took off my car door. I immediately jumped up and started yelling the license plate over and over. The guy in front of me and I both wrote down the license number. (FYI, I was proud of myself for having the reaction to actually get the plate number of the person who did the hit-and-run.) But I was also ticked that someone had the nerve to hit my car a second time to get away. I can understand how someone might make a mistake while driving and not be paying enough attention to rear-end someone. But to make the choice to ram the car a second time because you don't want to accept the consequences for those actions is appalling. After calling the cops and dealing with their rude behavior, I had had enough with Milwaukee. I just kept thinking, "Add another reason to my list of reasons to love Milwaukee. Not!"

Anyway, keep reading because there is a good ending to this story. About 1 hour after the accident Isaac called the Progressive Insurance people. (Background: Originally we had a Utah insurance provider, but we had to change it when we moved to Wisconsin. We did a price comparison and went with Progressive because they had good rates.) We were worried that the insurance wouldn't be very good, but we have loved their service. (For those of you who know me well will appreciate what a compliment I am giving because I am not easily impressed.) That night, the woman Isaac talked to on the phone was very nice. She said a rep would call us the next morning to discuss what we had to do next. At 9:00am I received a call from another man. He was very kind and helpful. He scheduled my car to go to the Progressive appraisal shop where they access the damages, and then ship the car to one of their repair shops. They also have an on-site rental company, so we could get another car. Isaac just pulled the car up, they came outside and said "Are you here for Marcy? Just sign here, and here are the keys to your rental". Within a week they had the entire back bumper replaced and back to us. The car now looks great. On top of that, when they brought out my car from the shop I noticed it was clean. They washed my car, polished my tires (who does that?), and even vacuumed my floor mats! They also worked with us regarding our deductible, so that after the repairs and having a rental car for a week we owed $0. So after all that, I highly recommend Progressive.

To close this post, I have a few vindictive words to say: I just hope the cops can catch the idiot who hit me. And I hope they have to pay for all the damages (oh yeah, and when they hit me it cracked their radiator and leaked fluid all over. Ha Ha), get a ticket, and get fined, have misdemeanor and/or jail time for the hit-and-run.