Humanity

My car got hit while I was at work last week.  Didn't notice it as it was in the rear and I just got in and drove home as per usual.  When I pulled into the driveway, I thought D was just waving but instead he was gesturing at something he saw on my windshield.

It was a note, left by the lady who had backed into my vehicle, held down by my wiper which I wasn't able to see as it was tucked down in the off position.

The note simply stated "I hit the back of your car.  Please call me at...".

So we rushed to the back and yes, there was damage.  My rear bumper and panel above were dented and stuck out a bit.  And the one exhaust was bent also.

As I had never been in this situation before, I didn't know if I had to bring my car to an accident reporting center?  Maybe I wasn't supposed to have driven home!  We have "no fault" insurance in our province so does that mean my clean record was going to disappear?  So many questions.

Decided to call the police and ask them what I should do.  Turns out living in a smaller area has its perks.  I didn't have to go to a reporting center.  They will come to me.  By the time they got here, I had given up waiting and was taking a bath, so D took care of the details.

The officer was really nice.  Apparently loved my car which made D chuckle.  And couldn't believe someone actually left a note.  He just doesn't see that.  Neither did the body shop nor insurance people either, I later found out.  He also contacted the other party and got their info as we had no idea about anything -- What they drove, where they lived etc.

I had already made contact with her and there was hope we could settle it civilly and not have to go through insurance if possible.  She told me it was her first accident too, so we have been stumbling through the process together.  When I told her how people were in disbelief of how she owned up to the damage, her response was "I couldn't do it any other way".

We've spoken a few times since, and found out that her husband had had it happen to him twice and one person left a note (next to no damage), while the other person (lots of damage) didn't, so they know how it feels to come out and find a surprise like this.  She apologized for creating this for me and I thanked her profusely for her honestly.

I've since dropped off a flower arrangement along with the expected copy of the body shop quote.  Damages are just over 3K so it will be going through insurance.  It is going to take 4 days to fix.

Feeling very grateful.  Strengthens my faith in humanity.