Rear-ended today by some (You know what) on her cellphone

[dogsridewith]

Kalispel:
What were the circumstances of your two rear enders?
Stop light? Stop sign? slow or stopped traffic in a "traffic jam?" or ?

[Kalispel]

Originally Posted by dogsridewith

Kalispel:
What were the circumstances of your two rear enders?
Stop light? Stop sign? slow or stopped traffic in a "traffic jam?" or ?

Back in 2011-2012, I was sitting at red light waiting in my previous car (Honda Accord), when the lady sitting behind me in her big SUV suddenly slammed on the gas and smashed into me, pushing me out into the intersection even with my brakes pressed. She was wearing flip-flops while driving (stupid stupid) and one of them somehow came off her foot and jammed in the pedal or something like that. Luckily no one was coming the other ways, or I could have been t-boned as well by cross traffic. It crushed my rear bumper, cracked my taillights, crushed the trunk lid and surrounding metal, etc. It's like in those movies where someone comes up behind you in their vehicle and forces your car off a cliff through sheer force while you desperately try to brake, lol.

The accident yesterday was far more mediocre. Traffic slowed ahead on the highway, so I slowed down also. It finally came to a dead stop, so I slowly came to a dead stop. The lady behind me wasn't paying attention because she was too busy chatting on the phone, and didn't realize that everyone ahead stopped. She obviously realized a some point because her tires screeched & her rear end came up when she slammed on her brakes. The hit felt hard and pushed me forward a bit, but I was already braking while stopped, so I didn't hit the car in front of me (but came really close to them). Cosmetic damage looked minimal (mostly just the reverse light housing valance) and my bumper is still attached tight as a drum, but I still wonder if she caused some sort of damage that isn't obvious to the eye. I'm stopping by a good body shop after my regular oil/rotate service appointment at the dealership Tuesday next week, and see what they can tell me. Sucks having to waste paid vacation days from work to get all this sorted out and fixed.

Oh and as a side note, the chick had let her insurance lapse/expire 2 weeks ago, so Progressive's insurance claim agent said that is going to cause some delays/issues as they sort it out. Now I know why she just wanted to exchange info & not involve the police or insurance companies. Hell NO. I hope they ticketed her ass for both causing the accident & having expired insurance. I wonder if I will have to file a claim under my uninsured motorist coverage with GEICO?

Also, thanks for all the positive comments everyone. I was still really pissed off when I posted my initial message about the accident. I'm hoping that everything gets fixed okay (I'm pretty OCD about certain stuff), as the repair job on my Accord sucked, and I HATED my car after that (but on the bright side, it eventually led me to my Yaris & away from Cult-Honda). The trunk never opened/closed smoothly again, the aftermarket bumper they stuck me with wasn't a precise seam fit with the body, they left the cracked tail lights on the car & tried to say that wasn't part of the accident (wtf? - they fixed that after I blew a gasket with them), etc. I learned some valuable lessons with that experience (it was my first accident experience & dealing with auto insurance politics + body shops in general), and that sort of thing will never ever happen again with insurance repairs and such. I now know when to drop my normal nice guy demeanor and be a hard ass. Some people will try to take advantage of you if try to be a nice guy all the time.