I live out in the country and when I have a day free I like to wander around the back roads in my little car. I'm a good driver and normally quite careful on the roads but on this current day I have to admit I was in a bit of a dreamy mood. It was pretending that I was a racing car driver that got me into a little bit of trouble.
I knew the roads well. I could probably drive them blindfolded if I had to. So I felt quite safe in coming down the old hill road and doing a sliding turn into Millers Lane. I did it quite neatly, too, straightening up and leaning on the accelerator as I did so.
Then it was a case of thank god my brakes are good and my tyres are fair because there was a car coming down Millers Lane towards me and there wasn't room for two of us on that road. I saw the cloud of dust coming up behind him as he hit his brakes and could imagine the same thing was happening behind me.
He had good brakes and he stopped before I did. Where I was concerned the bit about my brakes are good and my tyres are fair should have been my brakes are fair and my tyres are rat-shit. I'd been meaning to replace them. Time and money didn't seem to coincide. I wasn't going to be able to stop completely but he'd pulled well over and I steered well to the other side so I should have slid to a halt next to him without actually hitting him.
The driver's side front tyre blew, didn't it, and while it helped slow me down it also pulled my car inexorably across the road. It was just a gentle bump, really, but I could hear the tinkling of glass over the crunching of cars rubbing against each other.
Now I ask you, if you have to hit another car does it have to be a little BMW sports car? Those thing cost a bomb and they probably send them back to Germany for repairs. My insurance company was going to hate me.
The driver was getting out of his car and I had time to wonder how a man that big could get into a little sports car like that? Whatever, I piled out on my poor baby to meet him.
"This was totally your fault," I told him firmly. "If you hadn't been speeding we'd have had ample room to stop. Why did you need to hog so much of the road, anyway. And this is a private road, you know. I assume you're a bad navigator, as well."
"As well?" he asked calmly.
"As well as a bad driver," I snapped. "You shouldn't even have been on this road."
"Well, for a start," he said gently, "I wasn't speeding. You were. I had ample room to stop. You didn't. And yes, I know this is a private road. It just so happens that it's also my private road."
Oh, boy. What a way to meet the new owner of the property.
I grandly ignored everything he had to say.
"Just look at my poor car," I said, putting a sob into my voice. "It'll be off the road for weeks getting repaired."
"I suspect mine will be away for a few days getting repaired as well," he pointed out. "Due to an accident that was your fault. You might like to get the rest of your tyres replaced when they repair your car. If they repair it."
"What do you mean, if? Of course they'll repair it. That's what insurance is for. You do have insurance don't you?"
"I do, but they won't pay for repairs to your car. Neither will your company, I think you'll find."
"Why not? The accident wasn't my fault and I'll tell them that."
"Doesn't matter. The insurance company won't cover repairs that cost more than the value of the car and that means they won't bother repairing that old bomb. They'll just give you a payout figure less excess. From the look of that thing the excess is probably more than the car is worth."
That was painfully true, which was why I was only covered for damage to other vehicles. My brother was going to have to fix mine.
"This is so unfair," I grumbled. "The whole thing was totally your fault. Your insurance should cover it all."
"Can I have your details, please," he asked, handing me a card. He'd written his insurance details and registration on the back of a business card while I'd been venting.
"Why do you need my details? Your insurance should cover your damages. You don't need my details to get that done."
"It is a legal requirement, you know. If you don't want to give them to me we can always call the police and see what their opinion is."
Oh, yes, they'd love that. They'd hit me with all sorts of fines. I could just see myself up before the judge hearing accusations of dangerous driving, speeding, refusal to exchange details, unroadworthy vehicle, and probably even littering. I shuddered at the thought and capitulated.
I scrabbled around in my purse for pen and paper and wrote down my details. Fortunately my insurance papers were in the glove box so I was able to give those as well.
"Well, my car is drivable so I'll be on my way," Ron said. (I got his name off his business card.) "Would you like me to call you a tow-truck?"
"No, fuck you very much," I said under my breath. "Ah, no thank you," I said out loud.