The Scene of the Crime

Last night, I headed out to my car after a long day at work. As I approached my midnight plum Honda Civic, I thought that the front bumper looked funny, and as I got closer, it became quite apparent that I had been hit by another vehicle.

I’m no mechanic, but I wanted to make sure my car was drivable, and so I checked things out more thoroughly. [Read: I just walked around my car a bit with a puzzled expression.] The left front bumper was cracked and had taken quite a crunch. But other than that, my car (Madison or Maddy for short) seemed fine. I got in, and she started right up. So I just sat there for a minute. I’ve never been hit before. I’ve never been in an accident period. What was I supposed to do? I tried calling 2 of my co-workers that I thought were still in the building, but no one answered, and so a bit flustered I started on my drive home.

As I was driving, I made a call to my sister’s house, and her husband answered and suggested that I call my insurance and office security. I called security first:

1. The plan is that Security will review the security camera footage from my parking lot and get back to me. Maybe just maybe the crime was captured on film.

2. I was told that I probably should call the police and get a police report.

3. I need to complete an incident report at the office.

When I got home, I called my insurance company. My first call for anything like this, but Melissa was very kind and patient and walked me right through the whole process. I was told that:

1. I didn’t have to call the police in this instance. Often the police will not write up a report for minor damage such as mine.

2. My policy won’t be adjusted simply because I have a claim. I would need to talk directly with my agent about my numbers if there is a payout made.

3. Photographs could be helpful. Naturally, I had already taken them. It was the first thing I did once I got home.

4. I would be contacted my someone in the claims department within 24 hours.

I got off the phone and started fixing myself dinner, but then the emotions and the drama swept over me:

1. STUPIDITY: How come I don’t know what to do in this situation? Why don’t they have pamphlets on this stuff like "What to do at the scene of a crime"? I feel like an idiot.

2. FRUSTRATION: I’m saving for my England trip, and I really don’t want to have to pay off some high deductible especially since I was completely not at fault here. Someone else hit my car, but I’m probably going to have to pay for the damages out of my own pocket. UGH! That's so annoying!

3. DISAPPOINTMENT: One of my co-workers that works in my building hit my car and didn’t even have the courtesy to leave a note. So now I know that I work with someone who doesn’t seem to care that they just banged up a fellow co-worker’s car. Someone doesn’t believe in taking personal responsibility for their actions.

4. SADNESS: My poor car! Madison has been a great car since I got her brand new in 2001, and I’m very sad that someone crunched her bumper and felt no guilt at doing so. That wasn't very nice at all.

5. ANGER: I wish I had seen the crime. I would have...well, I would have talked severely to them or at least glared at them and chased them down. Maybe I would have gone all Tae-Bo on them.

6. GRATITUDE: Well, I guess I should be glad that I wasn't in the car, LORD. I don't even have whiplash to complain about. I'm trying to take comfort in that. And maybe it's best that I don't know who did it. It annoys me, but knowing would probably irritate me more.

Thanks for watching out for me once again, LORD, and thank you that the damage to my car doesn't seem too bad.

Today I returned to the scene of the crime. We don’t have assigned parking, but I tend to park in the same general area every day. I pulled into a similar spot, but I backed up a bit leaving a LOT of room around me. I don’t want to take any chances. There is a criminal in our midst, you know. I'm considering starting my own internal investigation...checking out each and every vehicle in the lot this morning, hanging up some posters of my car's front bumper at each entry way with the caption "Did you do this or know who did?," etc. Hmmmmm...