HI!
I've been totes missing the last week or so, but at my house, we're dealing with multiple sagas at the moment.
Saga 1: A piece of siding on our house has fallen off. We saw the siding in the lawn in early March, but the color looked like our neighbors house, so we ignored it, and figured that it was theirs. In early April we started chatting with said neighbors, and they asked us if we'd seen that that piece of siding that had fallen off our house?
Cut to Mike and Ashley staring, shocked, at the GAPING siding hole on our house.
The insurance company recommended someone to fix it and we promptly called them to get a repair estimate. Well, dude comes out and we don't hear from him for days. Calls go unreturned, and still nothing. FINALLY, he gives us a verbal quote with the promise that he'll email Mike an official estimate.
DAYS go by, Mike calls almost every day, and we hear nothing.
By now...a month has passed. With heavy winds, and pouring rain.
Annnnnnd, we're done.
We figure that if this guy can't return a call, or email an estimate, than he can go without our business. So yesterday, we told him we are no longer interested in his services.
Now? We're back at square one. This time using a repair company that's recommended by friends and family.
Saga 2: On Tuesday, I was driving home, when I realized we needed a few things from the grocery store. So, I diverged from my normal route. Traffic was rush hour-y, but not bad. I come up to a red light, everyone was moving slowly, so it wasn't an abrupt stop.
Since driving on the highway everyday, I've gotten into the habit of checking my rear view every time I stop so I can see imminent death coming towards me in the event of an accident. As I look in my rear view mirror and see a Ford Escape barreling towards my car, and the driver is ABSOLUTELY NOT looking at the road, or my car, or the red light. I have a very hostile and sneaking suspicion that she was texting. I hate her.
As the bringer of pain continues to drive FULL SPEED towards me, I realized "Oh sweet mother of shit, she's going to hit me."
Annnnnd, then she did. Hard. My glasses flew off, every possession I owned flew to the front of the car, I skinned my knee hitting the steering column, and my neck got jacked (don't worry - everything is fine, just typical accident stuff. I'm completely recovered today)
By the time I pulled off and walked to her car, she had already called 911. So! On top of getting crashed into, we turned one of he most traveled roads in my town into a fucking GONG SHOW (thanks E for that phrase!). There were 2 fire trucks, 1 ambulance and at least 4 police officers, and they basically shut it down. During rush hour.
My car was pretty jacked, but drivable. Barely. The bumper was demolished, my taillights were basically hanging on for dear life, I think my undercarriage was out of whack, my gas tank WASN'T where it should be, the floor of my trunk was all raised, and my trunk was crushed.
The next day, I drove my car out to get looked at by her insurance company. They assumed liability (I mean, was there a doubt!?) and told me they would get me the estimate ASAP.
Come Thursday, I receive a phone call from her insurance notifying me that they have determined that my car is a total loss, and they offered me a settlement that is $364.56 less than what I owe on the car.
At first I was pacified because I assumed the settlement would be less than that, but the more I thought about it, and all the things I now had to deal with, the less satisfied I am.
Not only do I have to pay for the remainder of my loan (which, isn't a HUGE deal, I can swing $364.56 - but do I want to?? ) but I now have to come up with a down payment for a car I had no intention of buying (which is a bigger deal).
I have no idea if I have any room to negotiate the settlement, or even how to go about doing this. I just want to explore my options, and see what kind of recourse is available. The only things I've done so far is contact my insurance company for advice, and I started drafting an email to my claim handler expressing my concerns over the settlement....but I haven't sent it.
Oddly enough, we have a family friend who is a lawyer, and his firm deals (at least a little bit) with auto accidents. When he saw my bitching on Facebook, he sent me a message that said "Don't you know a great laywer?? Call me tomorrow!"
I shot him an email with all the info in it, and I should hear from him Monday. I don't know what all of this means. I don't really know what to do, and what my next step is.
I definitely need a new car...I'm looking at the Toyota Yaris because I've heard AMAZING things about Toyota cars, regardless of their current recall/legal drama. But seriously - this is NOT how I wanted to spend my weekend.
I only have the rental paid for until Tuesday. Tonight we're going to look at cars, tomorrow I have a birthday bonanza all day, Sunday is my sister's graduation. I don't know what we're going to do.
I was all jazzed this morning on my way to work to fight the settlement, and get a spine and stand up for myself - but I don't know where to start, which leaves me feeling like a baby.
Now, the plan is to wait until Monday and hear from our lawyer friend, while continuing to research and look for cars.
Saga 3: I don't think our water softener is working anymore. My water tastes mildly salty, and not at ALL delicious. This irritates me in a VARIETY of ways.
Updates on May-ke My Life Better initiative: Complete and utter failure. Haven't gone running, haven't exercised at ALL. There's no money to budget. I don't have the spunk to blog.
I was really hoping I could get it together this month, because I can't turn 'June' into any kind of clever initiative title.
Maybe next time, Ashley. Maybe next time.
