So, there I was, driving to work yesterday morning on the dirt road behind my apartment. I take the dirt road because it’s much faster than taking city streets. I was driving down this dirt road and I came upon the last turn before it intersects with the regular city street that runs into campus. As I passed the nice yellow “suggestion” sign that said 25mph, I turned the corner a little wide.
This is a right turn. My backend started sliding out to the left. I compensated (overly, as it turns out) and then started spinning the other way. I bounced my car off the left side of the road and skidded to a halt facing the wrong way. I had my window cracked, so I got a car full of dust.
After making a mental check of myself (most of my momentum was lost in the spin, not in the impact, and what was lost in the impact was lessened by the loose dirt and slight incline of the side of the road), I tried to start my engine again since it had stalled. It didn’t start.
Swearing at myself, I hopped out of the car, popped the hood and gave the whole thing a once over. Externally, I’d pretty much demolished my passanger side front bumper. And by demolished, I mean that I’d clearly broken all of it’s screw mounts and snap ins, but it was still more or less attached and kind of sagged a bit. I also popped the right front wheel well cover out. Internally, the car appeared to be ok. I had some dirt on my intercooler, but I brushed that off. No leaking fluids and no sounds of escaping gas. I closed the hood, got back in the car, and started it right up. (The ECU probably went into fail safe mode and just needed to reset.)
I drove it to work and spent the day there. When I left that evening, I checked again to see if anything was leaking from my car. There wasn’t. So I got on the road and headed home (to Pasadena.)
About 5 miles outside of Riverside I heard (and felt) a loud bump. I wondered what it was, but the car didn’t drive any differently, so I kept going. About 2 miles after that, some dude drove up next to me and started waving and yelling and pointing at my tires. So I slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I got out to discover that the large bump that I had felt and heard was in fact my right *rear* tire blowing out. Fun times!
I changed my tire on the side of the road.
The drive home was slow, but I got there in one piece. Later that evening, my dad and I finished moving the rest of the large things out of my apartment. It is now empty, save for a few cleaning supplies. As luck would have it, though, I managed to smash something against my leg while I was carrying things. My cell phone was in my pocket. The external display is now broken.
This morning, I got up and took my car in to Vince to have him give it a once over and make sure everything was fine before I had the bumper replaced. I figured, I’d just pay the $1000 for the new bumper since technically I’d already been paid for it way back when when I got in my first fender bender. Vince had other ideas, though, as once he got it up on the jack he discovered that I’d broken a radiator mount. That required the front end be removed to fix and would get pricy in labor costs. So, he recommended that I get my insurance company involved.
I have a claim number. I am only liable for $500. Yay, collision insurance. Boo being an idiot.