Hit & Run

December 2, 2008 - my car was the victim of a hit & run just off Vanderbilt campus around 1 pm.

completely ripped my front bumper off

my car was displaced about 15 feet and at a 30 degree angle
from where I had originally parked it that morning

the Vanderbilt police officer filling out the
report while I'm on hold with Farmers

A week or so after this happened, I started to draft what quickly became a very long description of the events that followed my car's incident. I'll spare you the detailed narration and just give you the facts.

- Since relocating to my new apartment, I have found a nice place to park just off campus. It's street parking in a nice neighborhood about a mile from my apartment. I then walk across the street to the Vanderbilt shuttle lot and hop on the shuttle that takes me to my lab. On days when it's rainy or cold, this is by far the superior way to get to campus for me, versus riding my bike.
- I didn't find out about my car being hit until 9pm that night (was still in lab).
- I spent two hours in the freezing weather filling out the police report, talking with my insurance company, and having my car towed.
- I wasn't able to give lab meeting the next day, because I had spent that morning filing the claim, getting a rental car, speaking with the adjuster as well as the fools at the body shop.
- For some reason, my insurance company decided to call a towing company from Brentwood (>10 miles from Nashville). To avoid paying for my car to be towed twice, I foolishly decided to let the body shop associated with the towing company work on my car.
- When I asked my insurance company where they would prefer I take my car to be worked on, they said there were none of their preferred body shops in the Nashville area.
- I was given a rental car for the week my car was worked on.
- After braving the icy weather and Brentwood traffic to pick up my car, I quickly learned on the drive back that my heater wasn't working.
- There was a crack in my radiator that the insurance adjuster failed to notice the first time around.
- I had to return my car to Brentwood for another few days while they repaired the radiator.

This whole incident cost me hours of lab time, a few hundred dollars, and completely stressed me out. The horrible triangle between me, the body shop, and the insurance company was just a nightmare.

My poor car is always the victim of someone else's stupidity. In college, someone backed into my driver-side backseat door. After months of fighting with Geico (the other person's insurance company), it finally got fixed. A few weeks later, someone threw a rock at the exact same door while my car was parked on the street in front of my house. The rockprint is still on my door handle to this day.

"Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don't even notice it."
(Sakyong Mipham)

"Paranoid" - Black Sabbath

	Black Sabbath - Paranoid
	Found at skreemr.com