Beck

I didn't mention it when it happened since it wasn't too much of a big deal and I wanted to wait to see what all the outcome was going to be.



Last Tues. I got rear-ended by a tractor trailer on the way home from work that morning. Thank god that the turnout wasn't bad and no one got hurt though I really wanted to strangle the bitch that caused it to happen. Though of course, after I got hit then she drives on as if nothing happened. Let's just say that we came to a quick complete stop and even though the truck had space between he and I, he still wasn't able to stop in time.

This is the first time I was ever in an accident that I was the actual driver. I've been in accidents before but only as a passenger. Man, talk about scaring the shit out of a person. My cheeks were flushed half the day. I called up bubba after it happened, scared out of my wits, and go "You're not going to like what I have to say." He didn't care as long as I wasn't hurt and I didn't cause the accident. So he took off work that day and was going to meet up with me where it happened while me and the dude were exchanging info. Good thing was that even though the back end was pushed in, it wasn't rubbing on the tires so the car was still drivable to at least the body shop. Once bubba met up with me, we stopped at his friend's body shop to drop the car off at, get to work right away on the insurance bullshit on the phone, and then go get a rental car.

Course the few ppl I talked to about the accident were like "did you go to the dr.'s, get checked out, etc." and I was like no. I wasn't hurt and sure, symptoms may not show up till a few days after but it was no big deal for me to go. Plus that was one less paperwork I didn't want to mess with. When I woke up that same night to get ready for work, let me just say that whiplash is a mother fucker! WORSE than if you were head banging all day. What also didn't help was that a week or two before the accident, my right shoulder was bothering me something awful. SO guardianhunter was able to work that area of the muscle a good bit to where it wasn't hurting as much. Two fucking days later was when the accident happened and it jolted that shoulder again. The fucked up thing was that the majority of my body that got bumped around and what not was my right side, not so much on my left. And the problem with my shoulder is nothing that a doctor can do anything about, its all muscle tightness, and deep at that. I just hope that it will eventually work it self out cause it bugs the shit out of me.

This past Mon was when both insurance companies were going to do the estimate on the damage to the car and we'd find out what they decide on. Bubba's friend who owns the body shop said that from the sound of things, that they may total it. I was actually shocked to hear that, sure when you first look at it, it doesn't look too bad but I guess all the internal damage & rear frame would've cost more to fix than what the car was actually worth. So by Tues, we got the answer and they did decide to total it. I also forgot to mention that I was hit that hard, that it broke my seat. The back part of my seat was busted and I think the bottom shifted a bit. We didn't mind them totaling the car since what we owed on the car was going to be paid off, it gave us that chance to get a new one. (not like we really had a choice either) We spent ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL fucking day on Wed. at the bank and half at the dealership. It wasn't so much of being approved for the loan, we were good to go on that, but shit, just trying to get someone on the other end to get the paperwork we needed completed took till the close of business. Bubba and I started to get so restless when we were waiting for all the paperwork at the bank that we were fucking with the chick who was helping us out. Pretty much playing 20 questions with bubba winning more than I. Nice girl, especially if she had to put up with us and she was a yr younger than me so she was pretty down to earth. *laughs*

The thing that helped us out on the car shopping Wed morning was that after we had to re-new the rental and was about to leave the parking lot, bubba got a call from our insurance ppl saying that they would help us on finding a car we want. We have Progressive and it was just freaky that they happened to call right when we were going to look around.

Now we could've gotten anything we wanted in the model we were looking to buy BUT since bubba was steadfast on getting the car the same color as the one that was wrecked, it narrowed our chances on finding what we needed. So with our insurance helping, they must've already had a dealership on their list that they work with in the Chevy dept. The Chevy guy did some searching and found the car we wanted but it was like 60miles away. And if we wanted it, they would work on getting it to the dealership the next day. Around lunchtime we went to said dealership in Richardson so we could check out the models and test drive one if they had a stick shift and they did.

The car I had was a '03 Cavalier and since Chevy don't make them anymore, we went with a Cobalt (the car that replaced the Cav). I got my car brand new in '02 and for as long as we had it, it was a pretty good car, never had any problems with the engine, etc unlike the shit we had to mess with on the previous Cav we had in '00.

The Cobalt is like a Cav but I think a tad smaller in the body. And of course we're stick shift ppl so we always have to have a stick. *nodsnods* I can't stand driving an automatic. The one I test drove it was so weird in regards to the clutch. Kinda hard to describe how it felt but just deal with my choice of words. While pushing in the clutch, it felt softer, squishier compared to the stiffness of the clutch in the old car. I guess in other words, its more smoother and then I get paranoid on driving something new when you have a stranger sitting in the car with you; aka. the dealer and trying to handle a new stick, I was afraid I was going to stall or jerk the car around. I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of it.

Hey soraaoi, the area the car dealer had me drive through was where we went with you and your friends to buy that hookah. *laughs*

When it comes to vehicles, we get the no frill package. All standard stuff, windows, locks, etc., no electrical bull. Its a cute car and I sit so much higher in my seat AND the best part of it, is that I don't have to pull the seat so far to where I'm nearly hugging the steering wheel with my legs. For those that don't know, I got short legs and have to pull any seat in a car if I'm driving to nearly the closest setting in order to reach. *lol* Sad ain't it? But with the Cobalt, I only have to move it a tiny bit and STILL have room for my legs to stretch, not hugging the wheel, AND reach the peddles!!

The only thing that sucks is that it doesn't have room for your stuff like a middle console and the space that would be below where the radio and that is. I had more room in the Cav when it came to that.

I noticed this when we were looking at the floor model of the Cobalt and when I mentioned it to bubba, he noticed it too. The area where the gages are at, the whole design is almost like a retro design. The first thing that came to my mind was how the classic Mustang's gages look since my Mustang was quite similar (yeah, yeah, I know, two different companies but still). I only have 3 gages: speedometer, fuel, and rpm. I don't have a gage to tell me how the temp of the car is, instead, its digital. And in that digital area, you hit a button to bring up certain features. One of them is for the oil. It gives you a % (of course the best being 100). As the % drops, it means its soon time for an oil change and it determines the viscosity of the oil. Once you get the oil changed, you hit the button to clear it and it should go back to 100.

And get this shit, the battery in the Cobalt isn't under the hood but IN THE TRUNK! How freaky.

It felt so weird on driving a stick again. My brain was still stuck on automatic mode that once I was already in 5th gear, I was still waiting for the car to shift on its own. Same goes with braking, if you never driven a stick, you might not understand what I mean when it comes to braking between a stick and an automatic.

But I'm happy with the car and we got a really good deal on the price. For those that also don't know when it comes to car buying, a stick is cheaper than an automatic, so that helps on bringing the price down.

GAH! Enough about the gibberish, if you read all of that, you all deserve a cookie! (and I just baked some the other day too :p)

Here are the pics:

Wrecked car:



New car:



Inside Cavalier (see the difference in the little extra added space I had compared to what I don't have now?):



Inside Cobalt: