Saturday, December 19, 2009

Mirror mirror on the ground, who hit our car this time around?

Suzuki SX4 Mirror - Subcompact Culture
Ah, the hit and run. Possibly one of the most aggravating types of accidents out there.

My wife, Mercedes, and I took a trip to Tillamook, OR yesterday—home of Tillamook Cheese (they make the best vanilla bean ice cream, too), Cape Ape Imports (they import Japanese Kei trucks), and the Tillamook Air Museum. We parked our Suzuki SX4 downtown for lunch. When we came back to the car, we saw that someone had hit our driver's side mirror, breaking the housing and the glass.

Quasi amazingly, there was a note left on our car. A witness—and good Samaritan—saw a flatbed semi trailer carrying a steam roller hit our SX4's mirror. This witness stopped and left his contact info, as well as the trailer's plate number!

Amazingly, a Tillamook Police officer just happened to be driving past our car and we flagged him down and filed an accident report. The officer said these mirror bashings happen fairly regularly in Tillamook due to the narrow streets and high volume of truck traffic on HWY 101. He went as far as to say that he's watched semis come through and take off 2–3 mirrors at a time while responding to other mirror incidents!

The bad news is that the trailer wasn't able to be located, so we're stuck footing the bill. A quick search on SuzukiCarParts.com shows that the repair should be about $265—could be worse! At least no one was hurt. I think we'll make a Christmas ornament out of the old mirror.

After this, we decided to head to Pacific City, OR, home of Pelican Pub and Brewery. After a couple of beers—a Tsunami Stout and a "Bad Santa" strong ale—all was good. FYI, Pelican is located right on the water in Pacific City, and is a great place to grab a bite and a brew.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your wife's expression says it all in the mirror pic.

But its too bad that this stuff happens...but I wonder if the truck driver even realized what happened.

Could be worse though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLRSd4BsHpc

Andy Lilienthal said...

Indeed it could be worse.

Odd that you posted that video. When I lived in Milwaukee, that was my good friend's doctor. I remember him telling me that he had to find another doctor because of this.

D2M said...

Your wife's so pretty! You lucky man you!

Doesn't your insurance cover that? I'd think they would since you've got a police report and everything.

Corey said...

Stop tellin' everyone about Pacific City!

(and for those who don't know anything about PC, nuthin' to see there, keep movin' ...)

Anonymous said...

Wow. I would be very reluctant to park on that street ever. It's a shame you guys are left with the bill. The beer looks good though.

Andy Lilienthal said...

... and the beer was good!

Anonymous said...

Well, greetings from Milwaukee County :)

But yeah, that was a terrible freak accident that took a good doctor from this town...

Krtystian G said...

About the mirror, this has happend to me also. And just like I had someone witness it and leave me all the info.
Because of the fact that I had a witness and a license plate of the truck that had hit my mirror, my insurance company waived the deductable and they then make it their responsibility to collect from the person that caused the damage.
Most insurance companies will do that for you aslong as you have a license plate number of the car that caused the damage.