a minor prang

So yesterday I didn't post, and it was basically because the day was very chaotic.

My car was in for a service and MOT and I'd decided to get a courtesy car.  I don't usually do this as the garage and where I work are close enough for the train to be a sensible (if bizarrely costly) option.  However, this time I'd thought I would.

So I dropped my car off and signed all the paperwork for the car, which was a Nissan Note, but when I got in the fuel warning was going - there was just 30miles worth of fuel in it.  However, I wasn't sure if it was diesel or not (I suspected it was) so I had to dash back in to check.

This and the time it took me to fill up (I had to stop at the Tesco garage as it's the only one I knew I could get to and they had some weird thing on the pump where you have to press if you want to pay at the kiosk or at the pump and I didn't work this out for a while) meant I was late getting to work - not by much, but still late and of course I was wanting to go early in order to pick up my car.

And then the fun really started.  I'd figured I would use the courtesy car as a bit of a test drive as I've never driven a note before, but as part of this I checked out the boot and the seats and all the things like that.  This made me slightly later setting off than usual and unfortunately it also meant that I was leaving at the same time as someone who works in the office next to ours.

And she hit me.

I was driving along the bit that leads out to the main part of the industrial estate and she basically reversed straight out and hit the car.  The damage was pretty minor - scuffed bumper sort of territory - and if it had been my own car I'd have been keen to help her out and let her pay for the repairs direct.

However, it was a courtesy car.  Not my car.  The damage was also way too obvious that I could have tried to pretend it hadn't happened.  If they'd have taken even a cursory look at the vehicle it would have been obvious and if I'd not said anything then that wouldn't be a good situation to be in.

I swapped what details we had (difficult for me as obviously it was the garage's coverage, not mine and she didn't have hers to hand) and then called the garage.  Which was when I got my next shock - unless she admitted liability I would have to pay them a £500 excess.  Obviously I'd then have to try to recover this from her insurer (or also the garage if it was less than £500).

But of course my car was in for a service and MOT, and of course it was the level 3 (most expensive) service which meant, all together with a few parts that needed doing, it was already going to cost me £390.  That could have meant I would have to pay £890!

I therefore decided to dash back home and get my own policy to see if it covered me for driving other vehicles, and the answer was sort of - I was covered for 3rd party when driving other vehicles.

Luckily she did admit liability and the garage therefore said they wouldn't take the excess (although noted that if there was a problem they may need to).

Anyway, that also meant I had to go extra early and of course had to make lots of personal calls in the afternoon and, to be frank, I was rather flustered, so I didn't get any chance to even think about a blog, let alone do all my work.