Next time you’re driving, notice how many cars have dents and dings. I didn’t until recently, after Kathy and I fell victim to highway slobbery. We were minding our own business at a red light on California Blvd. in Pasadena on a weekday evening when another driver — in a white pickup, I think — slammed into us. He was probably suffering from the common affliction of being unable to text and think at the same time. I turned right onto the cross street, thinking he’d follow me and give me his information. Alas, the dude wasn’t riding with Jesus.
The impact caused a couple of small tears and dislocations in the plastic bumper of my 2020 Honda Accord. Maybe hit and run Harry didn’t think he’d done any damage. Or he realized he could get away with it once I turned. He’d have had to gamble we hadn’t gotten his plates.
The estimate was just under $1200, which is not much for body work. But I’m hesitating. I have my shares of smaller dings, several self-induced. Just recently I got too friendly with a concrete support in an underground parking lot. People now keep their cars for an average of 12 years, meaning the mighty Honda, if I treat it right, is only 35, according to car years-dog years logic. I’m still deciding how pristine I really need it to look and whether fixing it is the highest and best use of my $250 deductible and the insurance company’s grand. According to YouTube, I can fix it myself, but that is not my area of gifting.
At Kathy’s suggestion, I began paying attention to other cars on the road. Verily, I looked with fresh eyes and suddenly beheld all the smushed bumpers, pockmarked doors, flapping fenders, and side mirror reattached with duct tape in the land. Our busted-up rides are perfect metaphors. Life is a devolution derby. Every day we compete, we shed capacity and authority over our futures. Most of us are already walking around with significant damage, though you can’t always see it. Maybe I should be proud of the gashes in my superstructure and give thanks that, at 70, I haven’t been totaled yet.
Meanwhile news came that one of our daughters was rear-ended recently as she waited to leave a parking lot. Getting hit while standing still must run in the family. The driver, who caused over $10,000 in damage to her SUV, unsuccessfully pressured her to handle it off insurance. I guess she should feel lucky he didn’t hightail it. Perhaps this is the way of the world when we’re urged not to call the police in the event of no-injury accidents. In the age of Trump, just another invitation home to the state of nature.
I’d be interested to know of others with stories about people engaging you in games of two-ton tag and leaving you with visible damage and the bill. Or maybe you were mean to your car yourself. Did you repair it — or decide to wear it?
(Photo: Neither car is mine!)