Thursday 22 October 2009

Car Karma

This morning, pre coffee (which may have been a key factor) I loaded the boys into the car to take them to nursery, reversed out of the drive and straight into a passing van.

The van driver (fortunately ever such a nice man) got out and inspected the impact. Not much damage done, a good old fashioned scrape down the side of the van and a right old prang to our bumper. We looked at each other and agreed it wasn't worth getting the police involved. This was a good thing, getting the police involved is a long and painful process that usually entails paying money somewhere. Van man called his boss who appeared shortly. We all looked. Stood around. Stroked our chins and sucked our teeth. The car repair place just up the road appeared. More standing around, more stroking of chins.

Then an offer. For friendship. 50 Euros and, as they say here, to je to (that is that).

Done. Handed over the cash and all off we all went on our merry way, me slightly feeling that I got off lightly.

Dave's take on the whole scenario was an example of how to receive the news that your wife has pranged the car.

He reminded me of the time when an American soldier in SFOR (the previous peace keeping force in Bosnia) driving that huge truck rolled back and hit the front of the Clio (our previous car when we were last living in Bosnia; its smallness indicating it was from the pre-children era). He gave us 100 Euro for the dent in the bonnet. We, not being in the least bit car proud, never got round to fixing it and the dent remained until we sold the car a couple of years later.

'So' said Dave 'the way I see it is that we are still 50 Euros up on the car karma front'.

14 comments:

Mwa said...

I love it when things sort themselves out like that. I once had a minor scrape with someone who I'm sure was illegally in the country or not insured or something. It was my fault, but they just wanted to get away. Which was fine by me.

Muddling Along said...

I love the idea of car karma

and that is a very relaxed hubby you have !

ck said...

50 euros up - such a great place to be!

(And glad you guys are okay. I was backed into once with my daughter in the car and even though everything was fine, it literally threw me of for the rest of the day.)

Teacher Mommy said...

That's awesome! And yes, car karma is a good way to think about it.

Expat mum said...

See what would have happened to me is that I would've taken the 50 Euros and then found that the damage was actually about treble the amount.

angelsandurchinsblog said...

Agree with expat mummy - but in my case the car would be a write-off! A friend on my street reversed her enormous car into a tiny two-seater yesterday. Huge crunch, everyone came out to have a look around, and suspect much more costly than euro50. Not least for her ego; you could hear the annoying men chuckling about 'women drivers'. Well done your husband for the car karma, I'll keep it up my sleeve for next prang!

Mamma Po said...

I like it. Nice way to look at something that could have blighted your whole day. Given how you often comment on the Bosnians' terrible driving, I guess it was only ever a matter of time...! Glad you are all unscathed and it was just the car that got bumped.

Lorna Harris said...

Karma is good for everything - even cars. Wish all problems could be solved this easily.

Dorset Dispatches said...

Mwa - it was such a relief when they didn't want to get the police involved!

MAM - he's pretty good like that. Although he did say he might not be so sanguine if I did it again.

ck - its a good way of looking at things. We're fine. I was going at about 2 mph.

TM - as long as I don't have another prang and sink to 0 Euros in the car karma piggy bank...

ExpatMum - to get the van back to looking new probably would cost more than 50 Euros, so I'm keeping quiet. Our bumper has more than one bump on it (hello wall!) and we aren't proud...

A&U - fortunately for me, I've pranged the car less than Dave. He is still living down reversing into a lamp-post... an object that doesn't move and has always been there...

MP - I'm surprised we lasted this long, and relieved at how lightly we have gotten off.

LH - me too! The politicians were left out of it, problem solved in half an hour. Lessons to be learnt?

Maternal Tales said...

Ooh so glad you got it sorted (don't think my hubby would have been quite as relaxed)!! And I love the fact you can sort it all out with a bit of chin rubbing!

Rebel Mother said...

My hubby would have thrown a hissy fit!

Car karma - a lovely thought.

RMxx

Iota said...

I like Dave's take on it.

So long as it's only metal and not flesh that is hurt, I aways think it's a good result for a car incident.

siobhan said...

Glad you got it all sorted. Getting the police involved is probably as bad an idea as it is here in Turkey. A friend of mine recently had an accident (not her fault) involving 5 vehicles. She and all the other drivers had to drive about 10 miles to the nearest police station to be breathalized!

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