Here's the accidents Archie has survived since I bought him in 1988:


 


Creep Cherokee - Other vehicle received $1500 damage,
mine received broken trunk lock and scratched bumper.
Photo of damage to my car.

This was the first time I got rear ended. I was on my way home from work.
I stopped at a red light before entering the freeway. It can be a very
dangerous coming to a complete stop during right-turn-on-red situations.
I think that the guy behind me saw that no cars were coming and assumed
I would only slow down (the famous "California stop") and then blow through
the light. Big mistake on his part. He hit me at about 15 or 20 mph. Ouch.
The settlement paid for my doctor bills, plus enough to equal the initial
purchase of the car, plus all of the maintenance, repair, insurance and
registration fees I had incurred since owning the car! Not a bad deal I guess.



Bored Mustang - Other vehicle received  $800 damage,
mine received very small dent on bumper.
Photo of damage to my car.

I got a raw deal on this one. I was driving through the parking lot of my
apartment complex when I got stuck behind the Mustang travelling at
about 1 mph. Why would someone buy a sporty car and drive it 1 mph?
Anyway, she (the driver, not the car) decided to start veering off to the
left...in the same exact spot where another road branches off. I continued
going straight, when she turned to the right real hard and now I'm barreling
directly toward her passenger door. I would've really crunched her door,
but I did manage to slow down a little, and also I hit the beam in front of
the door instead of the door itself. My insurance rate never did increase,
but it was determined to be my fault. A sad day in the history of my car.



Cadismack Seville - Other vehicle received $500 damage,
mine received no perceivable damage.
Photo of damage to my car.

This guy was a jerk. He was tailgating everybody on the freeway. Must have been
late for some real important meeting or something. The freeway was stop and go.
Seeing as how he wanted to go, as soon as he was behind me, I did my best to go,
go, go...up until that instant that I had to begin stopping to avoid hitting the stopped
car in front of me. I came to a rapid but controlled stop, leaving enough room in front
of me, in case he actually did hit me. Duh. He really hit me. What a dummy. I had
rotten brakes at the time and he was in his fancy Northstar whatchamajig. Remind
me not to buy one of those! My car suffered no apparent damage. But he was
having trouble getting his windows to roll up or down. And the front of his car
looked a little bent. You can't crash plastic into metal and expect the plastic to win!



Spew-ick Century - Other vehicle received $400 damage,
mine received no perceivable damage.
Photo of damage to my car.

Decided to test the woman's brakes behind me. She failed. She said she
knew her brakes were bad. Then why was she driving? Oh, like I've never
driven with less than desirable brakes. Enough said...



Assan pickup truck - Other vehicle received $300 damage,
mine became 2 or 3 cm shorter than before.
Photo of damage to my car.

They have these metering lights on the on-ramp to the freeways here. I think
they're supposed to limit the amount of cars entering the freeway at one time,
in order to keep the traffic moving freely. They are a death trap. Most people
fly right through them. They time it so that they're going 50 mph as it turns
green and then they floor it right through. I stopped. I got hit. There's a big
flashing sign 200 feet before it which says "Metering light ahead". Then,
at the light itself, there's a sign that says "Stop on Red". It doesn't say
"Fly through on Green!". It says STOP. Once, a van almost hit me at about
50 mph when I stopped for one of those. They managed to swerve around
me at the last second, and I just can't see how they found the room next
to my car to do so. It was a close one!



Bored Aspire - Other vehicle received under $200 damage,
mine received no perceivable damage.
Photo of damage to my car.

This was my first accident in the car. An old woman was driving a rental
car. She wasn't too good at driving a stick. I was behind her during a right-
-turn-on-red situation. She stopped and then pulled out onto the road. I
looked to the left and saw that nothing was coming, so I started pulling
out after her. What happened is that, just after I took my eyes off her
to check to the left, she stalled, which brought her car to an abrupt stop.
I nailed her at about 2 mph and put a hairline crack in her bumper.



Bored pickup truck - Other vehicle received a slight ding,
mine received no perceivable damage.
Photo of damage to my car.

Was pulling into my apartment complex when I got rammed. The
girl driving said she hit me because she thought the driver behind
her was about to hit her. Huh? Where did you learn how to drive?



Chevy Citation - Other vehicle received a small scratch,
mine received no perceivable damage.
Photo of damage to my car.

This was certainly the most entertaining accident. There was an old
woman stopped behind me at a red light. She decided she needed
to get in the lane next to me, so instead of backing up or waiting til
traffic started moving again, she turned her wheel, gave it some gas,
and pushed me out of her way to get around me. That was weird!


Anybody else care to tango with the beast?

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