Too good to be true
When I was writing about the positive experiences at these government officials last week, things were going way too smooth. As everything needs to be in balance, I was not too shocked when my boyfriend sent me a picture of the side of the car with real damage on it. Actually, I was sad and shocked because it was not just a small bump, the wheel is also damaged. Thankfully (read: THANK GAWD!!!) this person causing it was honest enough to leave a note with her number. Now let me tell you that I don't trust people by default and that my first thought was, what if the note is just written because people saw it happening and this person thought if I act as if I write a note and then just switch a few numbers, nobody will know. I was a bit nervous to find out if this was the case.
Our saviour
I sent our daughter's tutor a message if she could please help me and that I'd pay her for the time. I sent her the picture and the note with the number and asked if she could ask the person to meet after work that day to fill in the form from the insurance. Thankfully, she agreed to help and a few hours later, it was clear that the number was real and we could meet in front of our home after work.
How?
My boyfriend discovered the damage and note at the window after his first visit that morning. Therefore he assumed it happened there. He said it's weird that the damage is on that side because I was parked in a parking spot with that side on the boardwalk. Later that day we found out it happened outside our home where we all park. She was parking but had to avoid another car and then hit ours. Questions answered, I guess. I'm mostly relieved that the note at the window never blew away during these 30 mins of driving, otherwise we'd not have known who did it.
Help standby
Although I'm definitely getting more confident at doing things myself in terms of important stuff, in such cases as these, I prefer having someone with me to translate so that everything is 100% clear. I picked up the tutor and her boyfriend in the afternoon to help us with the form and have the talk with the lady. I guess looking back, we could have managed without the help but better safe than sorry.
Can't lose this car
When this happened, I quickly realized that it would have been a disaster (for me mostly) if this car would be totalled by someone else. Not having other transportation adds to the cost of having to call a taxi to get to some places and when possible, the bus at other places. Although the taxi is usually trustworthy and fast, it's much more expensive than the bus, which often cost you hours even within our town simply because they often just won't show up. I instantly remembered how handicapped I felt for 9 months living up this hill, without a car and bad knees. I'm so happy my knees are ok now as well as the back pains are severely lees to the point that I just take 1 tablet a day now. It's thanks to this car that I'm able to get to flat areas to walk daily.
Dutch broker
We signed this insurance because it had a Dutch broker and we felt if prices are similar, we might as well take this one. A few months ago, we received a notice about a fusion and it seems that the Dutch broker is not available anymore. Let's hope in the end, this contact goes smooth after all, since we weren't the cause of the damage but the other party is to blame. I guess on our side it's just a formality but I never had to fill this in before, lol, so I don't have much to compare in this case.
In this case, I'm really pleased we have a replacement vehicle within the insurance, let's hope this will be no issue and be honoured if we end up having to miss the car several days.
Have a good Sunday!