Ouch!

Last week, on a day trip into Moses Lake for groceries, we were involved in a minor traffic accident and the front end of our car got crunched.

We were in town, driving in the rightmost lane of a four lane road when the driver, who was beside us in the left lane, decided to make a right turn into a gas station driveway. I guess we were in her blind spot, because she just veered over into our lane and basically made a right turn right in front of us. No amount of braking or swerving could have prevented the collision and the front end of our car collided with the side of her car.

The other driver was at fault and called her insurance company right away. Within minutes, the police arrived and made a report and within the hour we had a claim filed with her insurance company and instructions on what to do next.

Our car was still drivable, so the next day we drove into Yakima and left the car at a body shop and we got a rental car to use until it's finished. The car may be ready by the end of next week, but they had to order a lot of parts. The entire headlight assembly needs to be replaced in addition to the front bumper, driver's side fender and wheel well and molding. The new panel will need to be painted and the paint blended into the adjacent sections.

This is the first collision that we've been in since we began full-timing (in fact the first in many, many years) and it rattled both of us. We are both cautious drivers and defensive drivers, but this accident reminded us that no matter how careful you are -- the situation on the road can change in the blink of an eye.