To add insult to injury, after I got home from my vacation, still not 100% healthy and feeling pretty disappointed over not running my half marathon, I got a phone call from my apartment management office saying that my car had been hit in the parking lot and they had all the other driver's insurance information for me.
Immediately, I asked what happened and when. While on my way into my building, lugging my suitcase, I had passed my car, and while I didn't stop to inspect it, it didn't look like it had been hit. Apparently it had happened earlier that afternoon. An elderly woman had confused her brakes with her gas pedal and backed into my car and another car. I went back outside to examine my car. Two small scuffs. Not a big deal, considering that my car lives in a parking lot and has gotten pretty beaten up out there, being hit by wawyard shopping carts and idiots who either back into it, smack it while opening their car doors, or scrape it while pulling out. (These things used to frustrate me. Now it's just a way of life.) I was surprised and pleased that this woman reported it.
I debated whether or not to file an insurance claim, but decided to try it out and see what happened. I figured that if they would give me $20 towards repairs, that was better than nothing. Last week, I took my car to be inspected, which took all of five minutes, and I got an estimate. They're sending me a check for $80 to get the scuffs buffed and polished. The insurance adjustor told me that I could get the repairs done when and where I wanted them, but was sure to note that the check was being made out to me, so I could decide what I wanted to do with it.
Given the other damage to my car, I'm probably not going to get these scuffs fixed. They're really minor as compared to the dings in the doors. I could just put this money towards a full repair of all the problems - but the car still lives in a parking lot. It's going to continue to get damaged. And while additional dings don't bother me now, after I pay a boatload of money to get them fixed and then two days later have a new ding? I will be angry and frustrated.
So I'm thinking that this $80 is now part of a new fund. That's right, Megan's new car fund. No, I don't plan on buying a new car anytime soon. Not until my current car completely falls apart. And if nothing else, this money goes into my car maintenance/repair fund. But it might be fun to set up a new ING subaccount, drop in the $80, and see what happens.
All in all, it was worth getting the car inspected. I definitely wasn't expecting to get $80. And learning that two little scuffs will cost $80 to repair means that I'm that much less likely to get the other damage fixed. That would cost a small fortune!