So, it finally happened! After years of accident-free driving I bumped the WIFE’S car

Last week I decided to use her car, as the street I was going to is narrow and busy in the early evening. First obstacle was a birthday party on the street. Most of the guys drinking know me well and moved their chairs quickly without any problems, apart from a few complaints about me not joining in the celebration.

The old me would have stopped and ended up leaving the car, taking a tricycle home later and regretting that decision the next day!

Anyway, when I was about to park further down the street, I noticed a homemade wooden bench “PARKED” in the middle of the road. Thought I had cleared it as I pulled in, but for some reason I had misjudged the size and ended up clipping the edge. Didn’t think it would be too bad, until I had a look and realized I had damaged the back door and bumper. The bench survived unscathed after the initial impact. However, it later ended up in the drainage with two broken legs, due to a savage attack by a pair of Adidas.

Got home and told the wife, who wasn’t too pleased. The car is only 2 years' old and she insisted it had to be fixed at Casa (dealership), not some local garage. She must have read my mind

Next morning, I headed off to Honda expecting the quote to be around 4-8k. Turns out I had caused a bit more damage than I had originally thought and it was 20k. My original plan was to pay cash and not bother with the insurance, as I know there is a deductible amount when making a claim. The guy at Honda suggested I speak to their insurance department coordinator and he would help me make an insurance claim. Told him our Honda (sorry her Honda) is insured through BPI and he said it would only take 5 days to make the claim. Now, I have lived here for a long time and automatically thought at least 10 days if I am lucky.

Got a bit of a shock 5 days later when they called us and said the claim had been approved, so they could proceed with fixing the car. When the car is finished we will pay the first 5k of the bill. Although the amount may vary slightly, most insurance companies will take a deductible amount from the insured. At present the car is at Casa and should be home dent-free by Tuesday next week.

We had to do the following – Xerox copy of insurance policy
Xerox copy of Certificate of Registration
Xerox copy of drivers licence
Xerox copy Residence Certificate
Original copy of Polis report
The rest of the claim was/is taken care of by Honda and, from start to finish, I was impressed with the service we received. Just glad we have insurance and it will continue that way, as long as we have vehicles