Yesterday, on my way to school, The road was quite wet and slippery. I was just driving along, and i turned a corner (left turn), not going especially fast (but apparently to fast… I have to stop going around them at that speed I guess) I slid out completely out of control and slammed into the curb. I was struggling to regain control, but what I didn’t know was that that slam into the curb just made the wheel completely out of alignment. So I turned back into the road and unkowingly, overturned. This caused me to hit the median (it was small, about curb height) and go onto the other side of the road. Im lucky that there was no traffic coming that way. so I made my way back over the median. This is when I noticed how out of alignment the steering wheel was. I also noticed some kinda scraping noise/feeling. I pulled over and checked everything out from the outside. It looked fine, everything except the front left wheel seemed very slightly bent, but i wasn’t sure if that was just me or what. Anyways… drove to school, called my parents they called a towtruck, but whatever, thats not important. When I look back at it, I guess I may have kept my foot on the gas pedal the whole time, just out of shock, and i had no time to think.
So anyways, yeah. the repair shop said It will cost around $3,000. Plus I have to pay $160 for the tow truck.
$3,160 is probably all the money I have made in my entire life, and i spent half of it…
So I’m way in debt right now, though i should get a $200+ paycheck on friday, but thats nothing.
I guess NAUCC and UNICON are both out of the question now:(
yeah… i drive an 03 Toyota Prius. Youre not replacing that one for 3,000 dollars. and besides, its not even mine. its “my parents, but its for me and my sister to drive”. If it was mine… I would just forget it and buy myself a nice $1,000 car lol.
Haha… the bus system in Sammamish is a joke… this is where all the “rich freaks” live. Hell, most parents around here BUY cars for there kids, and pay for any wreckage… not for me lol. My school has two buses, and 1500 students lol. Since the bus goes everywhere, I have to be at the bus stop the time I usually wake up.
A good friend of mine (Hi Nik!) once overturned the family car because he was trying to change the radio station while driving to his granmas on Christmas morning.
He said that family Christmas dinner was the frostiest he’d ever sat down to.
Just be thankful that you didn’t hurt yourself or anyone else.
Put things in perspective.
It’s only money, right?
You didn’t mention any injury, and that’s the most important part. Glad you’re okay.
Yes, being completely out of control and hitting the curb is confirmation that you took the turn too fast. Similar stuff can happen if the turn is dry, but full of sand or gravel and you aren’t expecting it, or wet with leaves. Never trust a corner if you can’t see what’s on it.
This happens to a lot of people. Staying on the gas, or even smashing it to the floor without realizing where your foot is. A good reflex to develop is taking your foot off the gas (and usually the brake too) as soon as your car loses traction. Then you might put your foot gently back on the brake, but not very likely the gas! Doing donuts in the snow is good practice for this, but don’t tell your parents I mentioned that.
Your parents are teaching you a valuable lesson doing this. Of course it sucks now, but it will make you a more self-sufficient person than your freaky-rich neighbor kids with their own cars that mommy and daddy foot the bills for. Maybe if you show good intention on paying off what you can, your parents will be a little flexible on NAUCC or similar?
Interesting how people rationalize these things. He crashed because he wasn’t looking where he was going.
Glad you are OK and you will realize as soon as you get out of highschool that $3000 is not so much (and allot at the same time)
I have little sympathy for people who damage their own vehicle. last fall I was driving my truck down a dirt road with puddles on it, one of the puddles was deeper than I thought and the ice on it ripped off one of my fog lights, smashed the opposite headlight and bent my grill. Water then started pouring in the cab shorting out various electronics. Somehow I got it in low range and got out of the hole but then it would not shift back out. my truck was then stuck in 4L as the 4x4 controller got completely fried. To get the truck running properly again only cost $700, it sort of sucked but was my own fault.
At the end of november a guy slid though/ran a red light and hit my truck. NOt my fault at all but ended up costing me $4800 (insurance fees, premiums, deductibles, Insurance company undervaluing my totaled off truck etc.) It really sucks when it is not your fault.
good luck with that. I have spent a few thousand fixing my sisters car. I was goofing around and did a 180 in the air off the road through a fence. I am not gunna like I spent all last summer paying for it and it was not fun. You get through even though it is not fun. Gl with that I know it is not fun.
Ah man! Good news! My parents have decided that though they think that i should pay for the whole thing, they didnt want me walking around broke for a year till i make my way past 0. The deal is now i pay 1000 which is almost all i got but leaves enough. I also have to mow the lawn every week from nowish till around october or november. Now theres a chance ill make it to naucc and unicon! I love my parents! (though i still kinda feel guilty)
One piece of advice. If you hear a scraping noise/feeling (or any other unusaul noise/feeling) it is not a good idea to continue driving as you may do more damage which could also cost a lot more to fix. Especially if you don’t know what it is making the noise. Unless of course you in the middle of nowhere and you may die unless you continue to drive to a town or something.
Geeze. Thats steep. What all are they going to ahve to repair?
Also, did you check other mechanics prices? If had repairs that if I take it to the dealership, they charge $80 just to look at the car, and then its hundreds or thousands to get something pretty small fixed.
I can take it elsewhere, get it looked at for free, and then get it repaired with the same quality for only 100-500 dollars.
Now would be a good tiem to learn about car repair. A lot of stuff will be a lot easier and cheaper when you can fix it yourself.
Gosh. All the companies out there are wanting to charge me $200 to change my rotors, but I can take $60 and rent the tool a I need (4 spronged nut spanner, and the $60 is actually a deposit. When I return the tool, they only take about $4 out of it), jack up my truck, pull the wheel off, take off the break pads and caliper, and replace the rotor far faster and cheaper than they could.
When I crashed my car, I jabbed on the throttle. The back end was coming out though, and on a front wheel drive car you need to accelerate out of a spin. In my case it was too late and I spun anyway, but when I drifted to a stop I realised that I still had my foot planted on the accelerator!
Glad you’re ok mate. Time to learn how to fix stuff. By the sounds of it, its just suspension components that are bent. At least theres no body damage, that when it gets really expensive!
When I was sixteen, a week before I got my learners permit, I was snowblowing the driveway. To do this I needed to move the cars in and out of the driveway in order to get at all the snow. When I was moving my dad’s van I pulled into a neighbor’s dirveway to turn around and missed the brake with my big snow boots and hit the gas thinking it was the brake.
I know what you mean about being in shock and holding down the gas. I think i must have been burning out against the back of his Lexus for 10 seconds. Finally I realized and reversed and safely parked.
After parking I ran over to see the damage but it was non existant. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing. I then proceeded to look around at the other neighbors to see if anyone saw. No one was out shoveling but one guy maybe 5 houses down. He definitely saw me but has still failed to say anything. I never told anyone.
