Accidents Happen by Barbara Quinn

Last weekend I was sitting in a restaurant when the door opened and a nervous man walked in and asked:

“Who owns the gold Infinity in the lot?”

I looked up, not sure what to expect, my stomach churning a bit. “That’s mine.”

“I just hit your bumper and dented it.”

Wow, I got into trouble sitting in a restaurant for dinner. And so my weekend went from being a relaxing one to a busy-with-the-details-of-getting-the-bumper-fixed one.

The gentleman who hit my car, was just that. A gentleman. I was so grateful that he didn’t run off and leave my car out there without telling me he had damaged it. He did the right thing and I am lucky for that. We exchanged information, insurance, and license numbers. I used my cell phone to take some pictures of my bumper and his. (That’s something to remember to do if you are in an accident. Better to have some record of what the car looked like where it was hit.) He had an SUV and it really did a number on my bumper. I called my insurance company to begin the process of the claim in case it came to that. Yeah, it was a headache to do all the calling and then to bring it to the body shop this week for an estimate of damage (ohmigod, bumpers are expensive to fix!). But the gentleman decided he didn’t want to go through insurance and he paid me directly. I deposited the check and it cleared and I dropped my car off to get fixed. Luckily I was going away so it was not a problem to lose it to the auto body place for a few days.

All in all it was a most civilized accident. Not nearly so bad as say a root canal.

It did restore my faith in humanity. For that, and for all people who do the right thing, I am grateful.