Yup, got into a minor accident last Thursday on my way to work. It's been 17 years since my last car accident so I'm kinda new at this again.
I was in Sta. Mesa on my way to Ortigas when I was rear-ended. The car behind me lost its brakes and slammed into me. The force was strong enough that I rear-ended the car in front. It's minor, not really a debilitating / car-crumpling accident. It's just annoying, though... Repairs and time and all that jazz. The result: broken bumper, broken luggage compartment post, misaligned luggage compartment, dinged / scratched and misaligned hood.
One worry everyone had was if I sustained whiplash. I think the bump was strong enough to jolt me but not enough to do damage. Anyway, I could describe the impact as two to three times the force of riding those Wild River or Log Jam water rides when you hit the water after a drop. Definitely stronger than a roller coaster, but not as strong as the force of the side-on collision I had in 1990. That one crumpled the whole front of the old red 1978 Lancer and broke the front axle. For this accident I couldn't help but feel that I got the raw end of the deal. Heck! I was sandwiched between a Honda City up front and a Nissan Sentra at back. The Mitsubishi Lancer received damage on both sides!
As the guy in front of me and I got out of our cars, all we could do was look to the guy at the back of the line in disbelief. All I could mutter was "Ang lakas nun!" No one lost their cool. We were all civil about it. The guy in the Sentra was apologetic and said he'd pay for the damages, he admitted that he lost his brakes. We all exchanged cards and contact info.
Yesterday, Saturday, our family friend Jun, who sold us the car saw the damage. He also has a talyer. I thought that he could do the repair work since I know the car will be in good hands and that the paint job will match. I brought the Lancer to his shop that same day. Conservative estimate: around PhP7,500. Estimated completion: Wednesday. So I'm without a car for half a week.
I have this ritual when it comes to car repairs. When the car is going to stay long at any shop in Las Pinas, meaning a whole afternoon or overnight, I pack a knapsack, a Gatorade and take the long walk home from the shop. It's exercise. It's zen. Makes me think things through and appreciate the fact that it wasn't any worse. This walk took about 40 minutes in the noon day sun since the shop was in Lopez, on the other side of BF (I actually crossed the Parañaque / Las Piñas border).
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