On Why I Am Thankful I Have Liability Insurance

Yesterday I sent these pictures to my insurance agent after I spent about 15 minutes with her discussing the minor accident I was involved in last Friday morning.

Make that minor INJURY accident. Puh-lease.

When I sent the pictures, I made it clear that they were taken after the accident occurred.

It happened about a mile from work. I was trekking along, listening to Kidd Kraddick in the morning, when there was a fender bender a few cars ahead of me. Everyone slammed on their breaks and I didn't have enough time to come to a complete stop.

Brakes were slammed. Tires screeched. And I hit the guy in front of me.

You can see from the pictures that my front bumper had no damage whatsoever despite the fact that I hit him going 4...maybe even 5 miles per hour. In fact, the only damage in my car was a slight loss of diet coke.

The second after I hit the car, the man driving threw his hands up in a dramatic 'whattHECK' kind of move. I panicked that he was going to get out of the car yelling at me.

But then, sometime between that moment...and when he got out of the car, his attitude had changed. It was probably about the time that he realized this was his chance at an extra payday.

We hadn't even finished insurance information before he was complaining that his back and neck were "tightening up."

And that's when I knew.

I called Jeff and told him.

I was in a wreck.
I was fine.
The kids weren't with me.
My car was fine.
My diet coke was about 2 ounces less than prior to the wreck.
And no, I wasn't texting.
But I'd put money on the fact that this guy is going to file a medical claim.

It still gets me riled up every time I think about it even though it is technically no money out of my pocket.

You want to file a collision claim for the ONE INCH scratch on your back bumper?
I get that. It was my fault.
I should have been four car lengths behind you instead of 3 and a half.
FINE!

But you were injured? Seriously?!?

Clearly, someone did not take the 4 hour ethics course that I did this year.

***
Post Edit: I just checked my claim online. It was already closed out. The man I hit (with my UNSCRATCHED vehicle pictured above) was awarded $1,000 for "bodily injury" less than three business days later. So much for the due diligence my agent assured me of after informing me about the "injury".

I'd blog more, but I am off to submit an emotional distress claim over the loss of my diet coke. That should be worth at least $500. It was practically full before I hit him.