O-Poker

We got it (the Pacifica) and now it's gone - thanks to a incredibly brilliant driver.

It all started out so well. I decided to go to the dealership closest to my office at lunch time. Once I got to the point of talking price and they knew that I was serious about buying the car, we were actually able to get to a deal pretty quickly. I guess the end of the month was working in my favor. They started from the invoice price and starting taking deductions from there. It wasn't long before we had the deal all ironed out.

I went from the dealer to the Credit Union; Credit Union to my house to pick up my wife and kids; my house to the Credit Union so my wife could sign the papers; Credit Union to the dealership to pick up the car.

A mere 7 hours after I walked into the dealership we had her shiny new Blue Chrysler Pacifica Touring Edition with Leather, Moonroof, etc. My 4 year daughter couldn't stop talking about it. My 1 year old son kept looking around the car as they drove across the street saying, "Oooo. Wow. Weee." We went across the street to grab a well deserved dinner after a long day.

After dinner is when it all came to an end (for the time being at least). We were heading home - my wife and kids in her new car and me in my car. We were stopped at a traffic light, right in front of the dealership, at a very busy intersection. The light turned green and I started to go. My wife was a few cars back in the other lane and their line hadn't started moving yet. As I was looking in my rear view mirror, I saw a one car hit another. I couldn't tell whether it was my wife's car or a car behind her that got hit. My cell phone ringing 2 seconds later answered that question. Everyone was OK, other than scared crying kids, and she had been rear ended.

A lady in a Saturn had run into her somewhere around 30-40 miles per hour. The saturn was totaled. It's airbags deployed. The front end was crumpled to about half of it's original length. The driver was as OK as she could be in a situation like that.

My wife's new car (after having driven less than 1 mile) was damaged pretty good. The back bumper was ripped off. One of the mufflers was pushed all the way into the driver's side rear tire. The tailpipe had dropped. The frame supporting the bumper appeared bent. The back seat door on the driver's side would not close properly. The tailgate (rear hatch) would not close properly. The rear quarter panel on the driver's side was crumpled. Somehow, the kids weren't hurt at all and my wife said her neck and back are a little sore (comparable to the day after a hard workout) - she is going to get checked out today.

The fun continued today as I spoke to Geico (the insurance company of the car that hit my wife). She only has the state minimum coverage and if the damage is more than $10k, my insurance company (State Farm) will have to pay the difference.

I am not going to settle for anything less than what we had 5 seconds before the accident - a brand new car with no damage and no accident history. I guess it will be a while before it all gets worked out.

Un-Freaking-Real. (It is a good thing that I don't have a bad temper, because this would be the situation where someone could lose it.)

Do you think that we will get a new car or they will try to get us to live with them fixing our car (if possible)? If they eventually get us a new car any guesses on the O/U of when we will get it (2 weeks, 1 month, 2 months)?