I've been lurking here for a while, and I hoped that my first post wouldn't end up being something like this...
My black MSP got rear-ended yesterday on the east/south-bound 183 access road, just past the Burnet intersection. I wasn't hurt, just a bit of a stiff back. The two guys that were with me were ok also. I had come to a stop for a railroad crossing (flashing lights, no barricade). When I saw no train, I drove across the tracks, only to find a huge pile of nails/bolts/metal scraps in the middle of the road. Having just had to patch a tire for picking up an allen wrench in it, I didn't want to drive over all that crap. I looked over my right shoulder to pull into the other lane, when I saw some guy in an old beat up Cougar flying up behind me. He wasn't paying attention, ran through the railroad crossing, and looked up just in time to slam his brakes and do a mad nose dive and get up under my car. He was probably still going 25-30 when he hit me. Amazingly my trunk (and the new golf clubs, laptop, and digital camera in it) were basically unharmed, sans a little paint scrape where it got torqued. My bumper and rear skirt are toast though. I'm hoping there's no damage underneath, but I guess I'll find out soon enough.
The guy had no license and no insurance. It took the cops 30 minutes to get there, but they ended up giving the guy 4 tickets (no license, no insurance, failure to stop at a railroad crossing, and failure to maintain safe distance). There was a guy walking over with a broom and dustpan just as I got out of my car - he had driven past, saw the s*** in the road, and came back to clean it up - too late for me though. He was cool, he stuck around and vouched for me to the cops. Fortunately I have uninsured/underinsured coverage on my policy, so everything should be taken care of.
Any recommendations on quality body shops here in town? I was thinking of taking it to Premier in Georgetown where I bought it since I'm not paying for the work. I figure they would have a better grasp on parts and matching the paint, etc. Funny - I was just going to take it in next week for my second oil change and have my rear suspension looked at - I guess this takes care of that. The mark I had on my rear bumper from some idiot's horrible parallel parking job will get fixed now, but I also had some jackass in an SUV dent my side with his door in a parking lot on Saturday - no paint damage, so I figure I'll ask to have that pulled out while I'm there. Just washed the damn car on Saturday....while I was filling out the report with the cops, I looked up to see a nice Spicy Orange roll down the street, and all I wanted at that moment was my nice clean, shapely car back the way it was
This was my first wreck, so any advice you guys have from past experience would be helpful. Sorry for the long post, I'm still kinda out of it, making lots of phone calls and filling out lots of forms. If I missed anything I'm sure y'all will bring it up.
My black MSP got rear-ended yesterday on the east/south-bound 183 access road, just past the Burnet intersection. I wasn't hurt, just a bit of a stiff back. The two guys that were with me were ok also. I had come to a stop for a railroad crossing (flashing lights, no barricade). When I saw no train, I drove across the tracks, only to find a huge pile of nails/bolts/metal scraps in the middle of the road. Having just had to patch a tire for picking up an allen wrench in it, I didn't want to drive over all that crap. I looked over my right shoulder to pull into the other lane, when I saw some guy in an old beat up Cougar flying up behind me. He wasn't paying attention, ran through the railroad crossing, and looked up just in time to slam his brakes and do a mad nose dive and get up under my car. He was probably still going 25-30 when he hit me. Amazingly my trunk (and the new golf clubs, laptop, and digital camera in it) were basically unharmed, sans a little paint scrape where it got torqued. My bumper and rear skirt are toast though. I'm hoping there's no damage underneath, but I guess I'll find out soon enough.
The guy had no license and no insurance. It took the cops 30 minutes to get there, but they ended up giving the guy 4 tickets (no license, no insurance, failure to stop at a railroad crossing, and failure to maintain safe distance). There was a guy walking over with a broom and dustpan just as I got out of my car - he had driven past, saw the s*** in the road, and came back to clean it up - too late for me though. He was cool, he stuck around and vouched for me to the cops. Fortunately I have uninsured/underinsured coverage on my policy, so everything should be taken care of.
Any recommendations on quality body shops here in town? I was thinking of taking it to Premier in Georgetown where I bought it since I'm not paying for the work. I figure they would have a better grasp on parts and matching the paint, etc. Funny - I was just going to take it in next week for my second oil change and have my rear suspension looked at - I guess this takes care of that. The mark I had on my rear bumper from some idiot's horrible parallel parking job will get fixed now, but I also had some jackass in an SUV dent my side with his door in a parking lot on Saturday - no paint damage, so I figure I'll ask to have that pulled out while I'm there. Just washed the damn car on Saturday....while I was filling out the report with the cops, I looked up to see a nice Spicy Orange roll down the street, and all I wanted at that moment was my nice clean, shapely car back the way it was
This was my first wreck, so any advice you guys have from past experience would be helpful. Sorry for the long post, I'm still kinda out of it, making lots of phone calls and filling out lots of forms. If I missed anything I'm sure y'all will bring it up.
