I took my car in for an oil change. I take mine in to the car dealership where we bought our car brand new almost 5 years ago. Even though I made an appointment for the oil change, there were so many cars in the garage. So I talked to a person who works there, did the paperwork and signed my name and headed in to waiting area. I found a spot and sat down and started to read. After a short while, I heard,
Everyone in the waiting area looked up, including myself. "That didn't sound good" I thought.
Many people stood up and headed to the garage to see what happened. I also saw many people come from the sales area and from upstairs to go see what had happened. I sat and waited for a while.
As some people came back they were saying that "Man, that didn't look good." or "Boy, I feel bad for the owner..."
I thought "ok, maybe I will go check this out myself too" then I stood up and walked to the garage. There is a large glass window where you can see the whole garage. As I was getting closer to it, I saw a white minivan and a truck unnaturally close to each other.
NOTE: Does this happen to you? In your mind you can see things and be able to process what might have happened but you are in denial and try to direct your thoughts to somewhere else? Basically that was happening in my head. Ok, you can keep on reading...
I thought well, this is a Toyota dealership, of course there are gonna be other white minivans just like mine. That's not mine.
I got closer... then I saw a rectangle blue handicap sign hanging in the middle of the front windshield. Ugh... That moment, I knew, that minivan is mine. I kept the same pace and got closer to my van and saw some damage even from behind. My van was rammed into the truck that was in front of it. When they backed out my van it made a horrible sound and revealed its damage. My jaw dropped and for a moment I could only stare at it blankly, but I took a picture and sent it to my husband with short message that said "Look at what happened to my van".
He was on his way, but in the meanwhile my head was filled with our schedule for the next few weeks. The thing is, I can't drive any other car except ours. Because I have prosthetic limb on the right leg, I have a special pedal installed in my van so I can drive with my left leg. Mr. TRH's sedan has the same pedal and I can drive it, but we bought the minivan to meet our family's needs. (I did by the way, tell them that there was a left foot accelerator that can be easily removed and to be careful.)
My boys are doing a lawn mowing business for the summer and I was helping them out to haul the lawnmower... they need to call their customers and tell them what happened...
While all this (and more) was going through my mind, many people in the garage came up to me and said "sorry this happened" or "make sure that they (the dealership) will take good care of you", trying to comfort me. I really appreciate those gestures but the storm in my head was still there and I started to tear up. Then, an older couple approached me. They were the owners of the truck that was hit by my van. Instead of being angry, they were so nice and sweet and they both tried to comfort me. We walked to the waiting area (the woman got me a tissue as well) and sat and started to talk to each other while we were waiting to talk to the dealer.
We met under bad circumstance, but as we talked to each other we found we have lots of common ground and had a very nice visit. I didn't ask their number or anything, but I really appreciated the time we spent together and their kindness to me.
So, after three hours of waiting... we were able to sit and talked to the people at the dealership. They told me that what happened was that person who drove my car was just going to shimmy the car forward while riding the brake. He accidently stepped on both the left foot accelerator and brake at the same time and the car launched forward. I always warn them about the special pedal, if you are not used to it, that could happen... it was a total accident. I am grateful that nobody got hurt because of this, it would been terrible if that was the case.
Well, a week later we still don't know what is going to happen. I think they are trying to figure out what they can do with their insurance company and all. The thing is that we bought the car brand new at the end of 2010 (it's a 2011 model) and paid it off shortly after. Our plan was to drive that van for a long time, at least until our youngest is out of the house. We were not expecting to have any car payments for years except for regular maintenance.
What is the most likely scenario for something like this? Does anybody know?
Phew... talk about a curve ball... I am just hoping and praying that things will work out ok. Hopefully I can write a good follow up post soon. :)
