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My daughter's first accident.

gjh2007

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Well, she beat the odds, 1=1/2 years an about 7,000 miles with nothing but a dink in her bumper backing up in neighbors drive ways. But Tues night I get a frantic call, almost unintelligible that she had an accident. First question, "was anyone hurt?" fortunately no, then "what happened?" She was on her way home down one of our narrow historical streets that allow parking along the sides & drifted to the right & caught the rear of a parked Chevy S10 pickup with her fender & mirror. I told her to sit tight & we'd be there in 15 mins, or call the local Police & wait for us. We got there & the blues were flashing, so I approached the officer, my wife consoled my daughter & I chatted with the owner who came out of his house. Profuse apology on my side & we surveyed the damage. Fortunately just a broken taillight & scrape on the bumper. He was very nice & said he remembered his first accident & said he's just get a new taillight & call me with the damage. Perfect, no ins. co involved. So I then looked at her pretty nice Volvo 850 turbo wagon. Crinkled fender, stripe down the side to the back door, busted mirror. Drivable, but not too pretty. I guess at least $1,500 damage, for which I am not going to shell out. I stopped by my local Volvo mech & he said he would look for a mirror & front door, poss in same color.

So I was able to polish out the big black stripe down the side which improved the looks considerably; but still a slight crease that was somewhat noticeable. Now, really a new mirror & some banging on the wheel wheel & some touch up & I think the car will be presentable.

As bad as this was, it was a good lesson for her; no one hurt,how understanding other people can be,& the cost of a minor accident.

Glad she wasn't driving my car, or the wife's!

Another life lesson; for a child & parents.


Merry Christmas everyone! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif
 

Mickey Richaud

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Glad she's OK, Gary. I remember my first one. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! Backed into a bread truck as I was leaving a convenience store near the house in the "family" car, a '60 Karmann Ghia! Talk about egg on a 15-year-old's face! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Yes, in Louisiana, that was the magic age for a driver's license.

Hey - another idea for a thread - "How Were You Christened?"

Mickey
 

Bugeye58

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[ QUOTE ]


"How Were You Christened?"

Mickey

[/ QUOTE ]

Ouch! I creased the right front fender of a Healey 3000 parking a friends '53 Plymouth. A whopping $40 worth of damage, which seemed the end of the world given the state of my finances in 1964.
Jeff
 

prb51

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Going down the road in my pick up after night ROTC classes. Pulled up at a stop sign and 'wham'....look in the rear view and it's my wife.....waving
 

Cheapsnake

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Glad your daughter's OK and the Volvo...well, those things can always be fixed. It shouldn't even be worth a mention, but I do want to commend your daughter for actually stopping and fessing up to the incident. It sounds like it would have been easy to just drive away. How many times have we, or know someone who has experienced a parking lot hit and run? She was raised well.
As a father of a daughter with a lot of little fender benders, I feel your pain, and your pride. Merry Christmas.

Tom
 

martx-5

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Glad everyone's OK. It can be a very frightening experience when you get that call "I've had an accident". I remember getting that call from my daughter one night. She was alright fortunately. She was going to make a left hand turn and was waiting for traffic to clear when she was slammed in the rear by another car. Her car was a freebie that a friend gave me because it needed a head gasket, and he didn't want to pay to do the job. When I got there, the car was a total, and could not drive because the sheet metal was pushed into the rear tire. Some hammering and crowbaring got the wheel free, and I drove it home. The other fellows insurance company started giving me a hard time. The book value on the car was about $2300, and that's all I really wanted, so we could get another car. They were makeing offers at about half that, when I told them that my daughter was experiencing neck pains. They paid the $2300 real fast. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif
 
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gjh2007

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Thanks all, & so right, it's only a car. One of the reasons we have drive Volvo's for almost 20 yrs, not that this required the safety they offer, but one of the things we really thought about when she was getting her first car (1/2 money from gram & gramp & 1/2 from her two summers working at my office) was safety & service. One of the advantages of the '95 turbo is it had 6 standard air bags. Not that I mind the turbo! I have an independent Volvo only guy who takes car of all our Volvos, be it my wife's 02 wagon or our orig 225,000 740 we sold. He is smart & started selling used Volvo's from $3500-$30,000. I can't tell you how many parents I see in his lot looking for their kids first car.

My wife was T boned in her '87 240 wagon 5 yrs ago by a F350 6 wheel dump, spun her 180 deg & ran down the whole side of the car. Only the woman with her in the car banged up her leg. Car would have been drivable if we bent the fender off the tire. Another Volvo sacrificed it's life for it's owner.
 

Brosky

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Gary, I'm glad she's OK. Cars are secondary.

Try one of the paintless dent removal companies around NE. You'd be amazed what they can do for less than $100.

Like this company: https://www.dentwizard.com/Locator.aspx?zip= There are many more out there, just google for a list.

Most new car dealers have them in house as well, but may be higher priced than the independents.
 
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gjh2007

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Thanks:

Unfortunately its a long crease, but will check them out. My mech owes me a door anyway, so if he has a white one we are all set.
 

NickMorgan

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First ...
scan0068.jpg

then ...
scan0044.jpg

And there was one in a Mini in between, but I can't find a picture of that!
 
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gjh2007

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Ouch, much harder to find a wing & valence for that then the 850.
 

swift6

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Anyone one seeing a pattern on Nick's accident photos. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif
 

Bugeye58

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[ QUOTE ]
Anyone one seeing a pattern on Nick's accident photos. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Crowding the center of the road a bit are we?
Jeff
 

NickMorgan

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Well, you know the roads are narrower here!
The accident in the TR4A was the result of a lady in a Volvo rounding a blind corner on a single track road too fast. I stopped before she hit me and she pushed the TR about five feet backwards.
The poor old TR3. That was my fault. I picked it up from the body shop after having the rear end rebuilt (PO's poorly repaired accident damage). Within about an hour I spun it going round a corner in a sudden downpour of rain and hit a stone wall. An hour later it was back at the body shop. I took some ribbing for that. They kept asking me what I was going to do next to get the middle of the car resprayed! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 

jerrybny

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Glad your daughter is OK. A car can always be fixed or replaced but a offspring is much more dear. Good Luck.
 

CaptDon01

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I remember my first accident.....stolen 63 VW bug, (me) vs 69 Chevy Impalla SS. I lost...... Paid dearly for that one for years! Both my girls have totaled 2 cars. Thank God for air bags! No injuries.....

Don
 

R6MGS

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My first; I was following a girl to her house and it was raing a bit....my MGA slid into the back of her car at a stoplight...No damage to her tanker, knocked out my headlights. Second; a drunk in a cargo van ran a red light and I slammed into him with my Etype at about 45mph...Face went through the wood steering wheel and I've still got scars to prove it. third: In almost gridlock traffic another Camaro pushed my Camaro into a Civic....No damage to either Camaro, Civic totaled.

My son's had his lisence for almost a year....so far so good...I saw him bump the TR6 in the driveway a couple weeks ago in the Sonoma(but I didn't mention it....I've actually done the same thing a few times as parking is pretty tight in my driveway), those big rubber block bumpers are good for something!
 

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