Smash, bang, new car time!

What was likely the last journey of my trusty reliable Toyota Corolla that I’ve had since 2001 was very short, maybe between 2 and 3 kilometres. Driving part of the way to work this morning as I often do before parking and walking the rest of the way, I had to stop due to banked up traffic behind someone turning left, but as soon as I did there was a mighty BANG from behind, and next thing I knew was I’d hit the car in front and my seat back was lying flat, all the way back. The guy who rear-ended me was very apologetic, said he hadn’t seen me slam on my brakes, didn’t know Sydney well and was from somewhere with an entirely different level of traffic to this mad city, so I had to have some sympathy for him. Never mind, I said to him and the guy in front of me, we’ll just all get each others’ details and the insurance companies will sort it out (luckily we were all insured). One of them suggested turning into the side street in front of us to get out of the traffic – good idea. Thankfully our engines all worked and our cars could be driven this short distance. Physically I am fine, I have no injuries, and the other guys are OK too.

 

After the formalities I caught the next bus, got to work slightly late and called my insurance company. They found my car and towed it to their motor morgue somewhere a long way away. Since it had damage to the front and back, their preliminary assessment is "total loss". As will be seen from a future blog post, this is not a very good time for this to happen. I can afford to replace my car but the money from the insurance probably won’t cover the cost of a satisfactory replacement, I’ll be out of pocket a bit. Now comes a time of getting reaquainted with the process and pitfalls of aquiring a motor vehicle.

 

On the way home from work I dropped off the keys at the insurance company’s branch near my home. My car was not there, it had been taken somewhere else. I was told that my things that were in it will at some time be taken out and returned to me. In reality it could be repaired and be useful again, but probably for more than it’s insured for. This is quite sad when I think of all the journeys I have shared with it. It was getting a bit old but was still going as well as ever. A sad loss. On the walk the rest of the way home I naturally gravitated to the many car yards near my home and had a cursory look. There will be a lot more looking to do in the next week or two.