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It has been a long week, all things considered. The biggest news related to my collision last week was that my insurance company deemed my Honda Civic a total loss. I was aware it could be the case, but I was also optimistic that it would all be recoverable, though perhaps “ugly”.

Photo of the front of my 2014 Honda Civic after a collision with the front bumper wrecked.
Wrecked front bumper on my 2014 Honda Civic.

I have to believe much of the unexpected costs that contributed to this total loss evaluation is in part due to the computers that come in modern cars. Alas, it is what it is at this point.

They valued out the rest of what remained, applied my deductible, and came up with a figure that they offered to essentially purchase the car from me. I have taken that offer.

Payment parts

The first part of the offer was a payment for the remainder from my original loan. I am and was proud to say I was less than $1800 out of an original $15,000 and this is not how I would have preferred paying off the rest.

The second part of the offer is a total from the remainder of the total calculated, after the loan payment. This total is a hair shy of $8,000. I am holding onto this in the check form until I’m ready for a next move.

What’s next

What feels most obvious to me is beginning car shopping. I know that with whatever I choose, I’ll have a heck of a down payment to present upfront.

I also know that I have family who is willing to lend some finances to help, and I would simply owe them back. I appreciate the gesture, and I haven’t said no, but a fair part of me also doesn’t want to say yes. This would be interest free, bless their hearts, but both of my parents are also recently retired so I’d prefer not taking away from their funds.

That said, I believe my plan is to aim for a vehicle that has a price tag that is not much higher than what I got this Honda for, which is in the $15,000 range. I could see myself considering $16,000 and treat it as me down paying half upfront, and paying over time with a new loan for the rest of it.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I borrowed my brother’s vehicle long enough to visit the location that housed the Honda long enough to pick up the license plates, and all the remaining personal items. Excluding the license plate, these wouldn’t have been much for things of value, but at the same time it was a lot of my old artwork from college, so there is definitely memories stored in them too. Lastly there was CDs and windshield wiper scrapers and general misc like that.

What I’m potentially looking for

I really liked Honda and based on my past research and with everything everyone’s always told me, they make pretty solid cars with not a lot of complaints. So another Honda vehicle is definitely being kept in mind. However I’m exploring my options.

I’m also slowly constructing a list of must haves and love to haves. The must haves are a good amount of leg room because I have decently long legs and am not small. It also must have Bluetooth capabilities as I have done a lot of podcast listening while driving and would much prefer to resume that. A love to have would simply be a rear windshield wiper. I live in South Dakota, we get snow. We shall see as I start browsing in greater earnest going into the weekend.

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Figured I would post and document this while it’s still fresh enough in my head.

Earlier this evening, I was in a brief car accident. I was doing all my usual routines for an evening. Go out to coffee not long after my usual workout during the week, hang out there for a bit, and then return home.

I reach a stoplight, like one is apt to do when driving around their city. The light turns green, I start to drive forward like expected, and I happen to look down momentarily. Next thing I realize I’m running right into a 4×4 truck that pulled out in front of me, who was trying to turn left.

As I had just started accelerating, I was not at a very high speed, but it was still more than enough to deploy the steering wheel air bag. So, that will cost me some.

Of course I’m stopped and just sitting there in the middle of the intersection. Thankfully I had some people who were willing witnesses and could vouch for the green light and right of way.

Regretfully, the person that I collided with decided to not stick around, even with a newly broken wheel. One that was at an angle making it not fit to drive on. Yet they didn’t stick around. Speculate why on your own.

So, authorities were called, I gave my statement, a witness who stuck around long enough gave their statement. Thank you for that. I have my front bumper sitting in my trunk. Due to the airbag deployment, I was not legally allowed to drive very far, so my car is presently resting in a church parking lot. I’ll be letting them know what happened tomorrow.

All in all, I feel fine enough. Obviously I’m a bit tired, but more frustrated at what I know will be incoming automobile costs. Hopefully insurance will cover most of the costs, but we’ll see.

I’ve had a pretty good driving record over the years, and only recently have I really been in any sort of accidents. The last one was I think in the summer of 2016 or so, which led to me getting my current vehicle in the end. That was was even more minor than this one, that I didn’t attempt to collect on any insurance money at that time. This time I definitely will need to.

Perhaps my biggest downer is that I was planning to start putting extra money towards some other bills I had, to get those completely paid off soon. That may be on hold for the moment outside of minimal payments. This included paying off the remainder of my laptop here, the remainder of my cell phone so that I could upgrade that sooner, and then the rest of my car loan. Less than $1800 left on that last one, but well…shit happened.

Guess who’s probably not traveling very far from his apartment for the immediate future.