Car accident and/or rental car story thread

[Mary Ann]

In 1991 I was driving a shitty little Chevrolet Sprint and slowed down at a pedestrian crosswalk. Shame the moron behind me didn't (no pedestrians were hurt in this incident). I saw him in my rear-view mirror and he only stopped at the last split-second, and I had nowhere to go, so he sent my skidding over the crosswalk, totalling my car. The car, a 3-door hatchback, was not so much crumpled as folded; the spare tire in the trunk was at a 45 degree angle but the hatch wasn't buckled. By some miracle I only suffered sprained abdomen muscles, Four years later I was in my dad's Volkswagen Jetta (loved that car!), the second of 3 cars waiting at a red light, and a drunk crashed into the car behind mine, sending the hit car cascading into mine and me into the car in front. Again, no-one was hurt, but the Jetta was totalled.

When we lived in the Netherlands in the early 1970s my mother drove a Daf 44, a car that would make a Lada feel luxurious. It was my mom's turn to do the school run carpool but as when we walked to the car one front tire was completely flat. Still, we all got in the car and drove off. It was the most lop-sided, bumpiest car ride I've ever had. What struck me, though, even at the age of 5, was how many people on the street were frantically pointing at the flat tire as if we hadn't noticed something was wrong. Once the older kids were dropped off at their schools my mom drove the car to the garage, where the nice men fixed the tire.

 

[Captain Ice]

I've had two near misses in recent years that have really scared the shit out of me.

The first one was 5 years ago. I was driving northbound on a moderately busy main drag. Southbound traffic was stopped because a moving truck was trying to get into a gated apartment complex on the west side of the road. To make the turn, the semi had to swing wide. At the end of his turn, his cab was at the box used to dial the resident for entry, but his rear end blocked both southbound lanes of traffic. As I passed the semi, I was in the far left hand lane. A woman about 8 to 10 cars back suddenly whipped out into my lane and was coming at me head on. She passed me on my right with about 6 inches to spare.

The other was far, far more frightening. I was heading northbound on a local freeway driving one of the company's box trucks. There was no traffic in front of me at the time and I was in the far right lane after having just merged onto the freeway. I signalled and moved into the middle lane and the Suburban behind me did the same. As I moved into the middle lane, I noticed a sports car in the fast lane moving into my blind spot. The Suburban behind me continued to signal left, and started to move into the left lane without noticing the sportscar. A half second later, they collided and the sports car started to spin hard right. I noticed that if I didn't do something, he was going to collect my vehicle, so I floored my accelerator.

My empty truck went from 60 to 95 in about a second and a half. As soon as I was clear of the sports car, I started to brake and move into the median to park. The sports car shot past the rear of my vehicle, collected a Tahoe in the right lane, and the two of them shot up the right hand embankment. The Suburban went hard left, crossed the median over the cable barrier somehow, and hit a southbound F150 head on. Two other cars on the southbound side also collided, but I did not see how.

This made for a nasty mess, but by some miracle the only person injured at all was the driver of the Suburban. I wound up being there for almost 90 minutes...

 

[Holdfast]

So this one time I'm in my small pickup truck leaving Orlando airport...

I so knew that was coming from someone.

My scariest incident driving was the time I was driving along a flat two lane road (one lane in each direction) and an oncoming car passed me with at least three feet of altitude. Yes, it was actually airborne. At the time I thought it was a good idea to keep driving.

TURBO BOOST!

... my mother drove a Daf 44, a car that would make a Lada feel luxurious...

That alone is enough to send a shiver up my spine.

The other was far, far more frightening. I was heading northbound on a local freeway driving one of the company's box trucks. There was no traffic in front of me at the time and I was in the far right lane after having just merged onto the freeway. I signalled and moved into the middle lane and the Suburban behind me did the same. As I moved into the middle lane, I noticed a sports car in the fast lane moving into my blind spot. The Suburban behind me continued to signal left, and started to move into the left lane without noticing the sportscar. A half second later, they collided and the sports car started to spin hard right. I noticed that if I didn't do something, he was going to collect my vehicle, so I floored my accelerator.

My empty truck went from 60 to 95 in about a second and a half. As soon as I was clear of the sports car, I started to brake and move into the median to park. The sports car shot past the rear of my vehicle, collected a Tahoe in the right lane, and the two of them shot up the right hand embankment. The Suburban went hard left, crossed the median over the cable barrier somehow, and hit a southbound F150 head on. Two other cars on the southbound side also collided, but I did not see how.

Proper pile-up.

Someone was watching over you that day. Shame he wasn't driving the Suburban though....

 

[thestrangequark]

I have been in a few real accidents, the worst of which when I was 12. My mother was driving me to school, just me, as my little sister had a fever that morning. We were in the far right lane of a four lane road, a man in a truck pulled out of the parking lot on the opposite side of the road, crossed three lanes of traffic and a double yellow line to try to pull into the parking lot on the other side of the road, and smashed into us at over 40mph (coming out of a lot!). The car spun one and a half times, ended up facing the other direction. I'd closed my eyes when the impact occurred, and though I'm sure there was plenty of noise, glass smashing, metal crunching, all I heard was the Harry Nilsson CD going "...put the lime in the coconut and drink 'em both together, put the lime in the coconut and then you feel better..."

The back half of our station wagon was torn half off, so that behind the passenger seat, where my little sister always sat on the way to school, there was nothing. What fortunate coincidence she was sick that day! My mom broke her collarbone and I had concussion from banging my head on the window, but other than that we were both fine.

 

[SicOne]

Couple of times a year, I drive from Omaha down to Kansas City to visit with an old friend for a day. I always stop at a convenience shop just off the Interstate for a big ol' 64-ounce fountain pop to sustain me on the journey. Getting back on the Interstate, you have to zip across four lanes of traffic to be in the correct lane to continue across the river to Iowa.

This particular day I did so, only to find all traffic in my lane decided to stop on a dime. Unfortunately, I could only stop on about nine cents. Happily, the SUV I rammed had also slammed on his brakes and the ass end of it was up in the air and I more slid under it than I did ram it dead on. Buckled my hood and punched in my grill a bit, but didn't even reach as far as my radiator or engine; just body work fixed it.

Needless to say, my soda went everywhere.

We stopped right in the middle of the Interstate and the first thing I noticed was a car seat behind the SUV's driver seat. I was horrified and hoped everyone was OK. Traffic did give us a bit of a berth to get out and examine the damage, and I was gratified to discover there were no kids in the car, just an older gentlemen in a suit. I noticed the suit and briefcase and thought, "Fuck me, I've hit a lawyer!" Fortunately he was not a lawyer but a college professor on his way to a lecture and he was not hurt. We exchanged insurance information and waited for an officer, who arrived in just a few minutes, and I fessed up that I was in a hurry (yeah, yeah, I know, never confess...but it would have been wrong not to)(unless there are mitigating circumstances, in general Nebraska cops will issue a citation to the driver who struck another).

Fixed my car, paid my fine, my insurance guy talked to his insurance guy...and waited for the professor to sue me. He never did. Three months later, I sent him and his wife a nice gift card from Outback Steakhouse. A few weeks later, I got a thank-you card from his missus. He could have put the bite on me and he didn't.

Good karma, perhaps? Since I fessed up?

 

[ed629]

Two years, I was with my sister in her truck. We were the 3rd car back from a light, we heard a BANG, then we got hit almost instantly with another BANG, then we hit the car in from of us.

Turns out a 2 door Jetta rear ended a Nissan Armada, then they were pushed into my sister's Ranger extended cab, and then into the Honda CRv. So he was going fast enough to hit a 5,8000 vehicle, knock it 6-7 feet into a 3,700 truck and knock that another 5-6 feet and then push a 3,000 vehicle 3-4 feet.

He then walks up to my sister's truck, looks in and says "Whoa... I fucked up your ride too?"

 

[Mary Ann]

... my mother drove a Daf 44, a car that would make a Lada feel luxurious...

That alone is enough to send a shiver up my spine.

It had no radio, and heating was an optional extra (my dad splurged on heating, bless him). The bizarre "variomatic" gear system, which was not much more than a big rubber band, gave the engine a unique high-pitched sound. My family has fond memories of Dafs because most of my aunts drove them as well, and the cars were such utter crap that they were comical.

 

[dupont_esteban]

The only time I ever had an accident was when I was waiting outside the supermarket for my mom and this old lady, miscalculated while backing and ended up right into my car. Now the clincher is, her insurance had expired and she had no idea! Luckily I had a full coverage on my car insurance, so my car insurance stepped in and I got a nice set of rental wheels during the time my car was with repairs. Anyone tried drag racing with a set of rentals yet? That is so much fun

 

[sojourner]

^Your not a car lover if you don't hoon a rental.