Saturday, March 04, 2006

a new addition to the family AND the crisis of a lifetime

we weren't planning on getting a new car for another six weeks or so, but the mister's car broke down on the freeway on our way to the Laker game Wednesday, so we basically had no choice. originally we were looking only at 2003's, and if you know my mister, that makes perfect sense. but something happened today...the stars aligned or he was inhabited by aliens or something...because by the end of the day we purchased a brand new, zero miles 2006 Honda Civic (Motor Trend's car of the year, which is apparently a good thing.) i had been pretty intent on getting a jetta, but we heard an abundance of negative stuff about them, so that was that. here are some pics of the new car. we got it in "galaxy grey." if you're in the area, i'd love to give you a ride! there are some cool features i haven't seen in other cars (which doesn't mean much i guess). anyways, i love it.


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Pay close attention to how awesome it is that the MPH is shown on a higher display. they said something like it's only a ten degree vision adjustment to look at the spedometer, rather than having to look all the way down to the steering wheel. something about being modeled after some kind of jet. i don't know. i just think it's cool.

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Now for the crisis. and i better get a zillion comments of "oh my god, i can't imagine! how horrible" and the like, because this is about as bad as it gets.

so we're at the car lot, after having been to three HORRIBLE places earlier in the day. Finally, this lot has the exact car we want. the guy grabs the keys and hands them to me. this is my fourth test drive of the day. keep in mind i have a nearly SPOTLESS record. i climb in the car, and you know how car lots are SUPER crammed, well i'm trying to make a turn to get off the lot, and i realize i don't have enough room, so i back up a little to try again. i say "i don't think i've got space" and the car lot guy says "you're fine. go ahead" so i start to turn and HIT A METAL POST, which causes the back right tire to POP, actually POP immediately, and scrapes along the side of the car. we're talking a car with zero miles, still plastic on everything, fresh off the truck. so i start crying HYSTERICALLY, having NEVER HIT ANYTHING BEFORE IN MY LIFE (save that small bump into the handrail at work, which hardly counts). It takes me over two hours to stop crying, and i'm still shaking at this moment. the car lot guy that was helping us was super great about it, but later when we were working on buying the car we ended up with, some other dude came out of the office and was like "hey, you're the one that wrecked the car!" which brought on another bout of tears. this is like my biggest fear...i even asked the mister about this very type of situation this morning. so i don't know what's going to happen. they car lot folks assure me it's no big deal to repair and so on.... but i'm horrified.


you may now leave me words of comfort and acceptance. please don't tell me if you laughed out loud. i don't want to know.

17 comments:

James T Wood said...

There, there, it will all be ok. The bad men who laughed at you will all go straight to hell.

Would it make you feel better if I told you my bad wreck story? It will, good.

So me and Tim L. and Tim S. are on our way back to C. College from the North of there and it starts to rain, like a lot, like the wipers on high can't keep the windshield clear. It's night and there are no street lights so I feel like I should get over and pull off the road. I check my blind spot on the right and then flip on my turn signal to get over. At this moment the Tims erupt with shouts informing me that there is infact a truck next to me (it was a flat-bed truck and I didn't see it when I looked - the running lights may have been out or something). I swerved to avoid hitting the semi - this set the car to hydroplaning (when you just skid across the top of the water covering the road and you don't have any control) and we ended up bouncing off the median into the semi and back into the median. No one was hurt, the car was totaled, and we broke several bottles of Big Red. We also ended up causing a huge traffic jam on I-5 at the end of Thanksgiving weekend - I bet everyone was pretty pissed.

I knew that would make you feel better.

Nice, car - can I borrow it for a trip . . .

breanna said...

hamay-

um...firstly, that made me mostly nauseous. secondly NO. i can barely bring myself to get into my new car at this point, much less allow a big-red-breaking-hyrdoplaning-tim/tim-loving-fellow such as yourself borrow it.

let's still be friends though, k?

LoriLoo310 said...

I totally understand, I really do. I probably would have cried too. Damn car dealerships are so indimidating and stressful. I hate buying cars. I always feel like I got ripped off.

Tim said...

Welcome to the new car club! It's even almost the same color as our new Toyota Matrix. We walked out of there feeling that they tried to rip us off but we got a good deal in the end, thanks to my wonderful soon-to-be wife. When in doubt, play the bride-on-the-warpath card.

James is bringing up memories. Luckily the airbag went off as it was supposed to and none of us were hurt. When we got out I looked at the right rear door and it had a huge tire print where we bounced off the semi. We caused a huge traffic jam, but the semi just kept going.

I've been in plenty of accidents, never my fault. People started making jokes that just having me in the car increased your chances of having one.

Paula said...

Dear friend,

Congrats! Having a new car is fun! Speaking as someone who has totalled a brand new car within 6 months, please, oh, please tell me you got gap insurance?

breanna said...

um...i'm pretty sure all the insurance is fine and in place...the weird thing is that no one really said anything...i left there having no idea what any of it was going to amount to. so we'll see. i've been advised to contact the police and ask if i should file a claim, and contact one of those car accident expert lawyer people to see if i'd have a case or whatever. basically i'm scared of all of it. i'm scared to drive the new car, scared to make any calls. i'm still mostly in shock.

any ideas?

tabitha jane said...

i would have cried too . . .

does this mean you are driving to sushi from now on? and if we aren't going to sushi anymore . . . we must find a new place to be regulars at that is veggie friendly . . .

Paula said...

I meant gap insurance for your new car... because you know how the value drops significantly as soon as you drive it off the lot? So, if you totalled your car within the first couple of years, you wouldn't get back as much as you owed on it. Gap insurance covers the difference so you don't get stuck making payments on a car you don't have anymore. You can usually buy it from the dealer, and it only added about $5 a month to my payments.

rebecca marie said...

So your girlfriend rolls a Honda
Playin' workout tapes by Fonda
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda

rebecca marie said...

I DECLARE MARCH THE 7TH 2006 TO BE:

TAKE EVERY THING BACK TO SIR-MIX-ALOT DAY!

happy take everything back to sir-mix-alot day.

breanna said...

so, i had the courage to drive the car today. i was a paranoid freak the entire time, but i did it. baby steps.

in celebration of take everything back to sir-mix-alot day, i offer the following:

A rappers reputation, got a rappers reputation
Bring it on down. A rappers reputation, bring it back
A rappers reputation, that's what I got. A rappers
reputation, peace.

Tim said...

My posse's on Broadway!

rebecca marie said...

oh man... tim

me and kid sensation, that home away from home in the black benz limo with the cellular phone.

tabitha jane said...

i missed sir-mix-alot day.

drat.

rebecca marie said...

i may bring it back later... watch for it.

breanna said...

so, today i had to take the car in to the dealer to have them add some stuff we bought...and i nearly vomited when i pulled in the VERY LOT where you-know-what happened barely four days ago. too soon. PTSD all the way.

the plus side: i've now been driving the car for two days, and haven't wrecked it yet

emilykaypeters said...

I'm not sure if I have ever heard of this happeneing. You should be very privaleged because in their "car selling meetings" they're going to use you as a what to do when someone does this. You'll be in the history books forever. Hey, Ryan and I are going to have a baby. Check out my new blog