Car in the shop

Well, my pretty little Matrix is in the body shop. No, I did not plow into the side of a semi again, I did not rear end another ambulance (medical transport vehicle actually), and I did not slam into the guard rail again. No, this was a much simpler feat. I hit a rock in the road. Don't laugh, there are some pretty good sized rocks up the mountain, and a lot of them end up on the road after three days of wet weather like we had last week.

I was driving up the hill, just minding my own business, when a car in the lane next to me (also heading up) started to drift into my lane. I did not feel like letting him drift into me, so I swerved a bit to me left, into the medium strip. This is when I heard a thunk, and felt my car lilt to the left. I pulled over and check out the damage. I saw that not only was the tire flat, but my sporty rim was also cracked.

I called my friends at Toyota of Redlands to check on getting it repaired there, without turning it in to insurance. I found out the rim itself was $445, and probably another $100 for the tire. So I turned it in to the insurance where I have a $300 deductible. Took it to the body shop, and since I was driving on a donut spare, they arranged through the insurance to get me a rental. Hope they can get it fixed before U2 this weekend, I'd like to go to the concert in my own car.

Oh, almost forgot the funniest thing. I called the insurance, and told them the whole story of swerving, and hitting the rock. One of the questions was, "Was the rock okay?" I told them that in my concern of getting my car safely off the road, I had failed to check on the condition of the rock.