Mystictrust
11-24-2007, 03:20 PM
I've had the worst luck the past few weeks and thought I'd share my story - feel free to share yours whether it's good or bad.
October 23rd: My electronics bag gets stolen in Florence, Italy. Inside the bag I had my $900 Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), $500 28-135mm USM lens, $80 50mm fixed lens, and a $700 EURail pass giving me unlimited rail travel for 30 days. The police were not helpful at the train station so they pointed me to another police station, which took me 40 minutes to find... and they redirected me to another station which took me another 40 minutes to find - and fortunately they helped me at the last one; all I needed to do was fill out a police report so I could get a refund on a new EURail pass I would have to buy.
November 10th: I've been back from my Euro-trip for a couple of days. I wake up in the morning at my brother's apartment and go outside to see that the rear passenger side window of my vehicle has been smashed in, and a rock had apparently just missed the drivers side window and made a huge crack in the door. Because of the location of my brother's apartment, neither of four police departments claim responsibility for that location and redirect me back and forth several times. I finally got a department I could convince to help me (after immense frustration and wondering if a bomb threat would help me find out who to talk to) and made my claim and gave the number to my insurance agency. Unfortunately, since I am beginning my move to Austin, Texas on the 14th, no body shop was available to repair it in the short window of time given - and I couldn't cancel my reservation for a moving truck since I had already been locked in before my Euro-trip at a price $600 lower than the current price. I just loaded it up on the flatbed I was towing it on and made my drive to Austin.
November 20th: I had just arrived to Austin on the 19th and lowered my car off the trailer so I could get around town in a small vehicle (not a big 16' truck towing a car) and scout out the area. I found the Penske location to drop off the truck on the 21st - that is also where I got a hand dolly to get my furniture moved in - and headed back to my new apartment. Turning left onto the street where my apartment resided, I was following a bus and as soon as it crossed the intersection I saw what it had been hiding - a car going downhill at about 45mph. It ended up smashing the passenger side of my car, transferring all of it's momentum into me and spinning my car 95 degrees to the left, where I smashed into a pole, bounced off it, and then came to rest by smashing into a pole to the left of the first one. Car = totaled. Seat belt saved my life, and I got a nice test of the 911 emergency system for my new city... in less than a minute after I had repeated the intersection I was at three times, 3 or 4 police cars had shown up along with an ambulance. Going by I don't know what, a cop handed me two citations, one for failure to yield at a left turn on an intersection (I don't remember if I had an arrow or a green circle) and one for failure to properly hold current insurance documents in my vehicle. Because my car had been broken into the previous week, I had taken EVERYTHING out of the car so nothing could be stolen, and it happened to all be at my apartment one minute away. Court date is on December 20.
Bright side? I have a free (plus $3.91 in daily taxes) rental car for a month until my insurance company declares my car totaled and hopefully I'll get my payout before that month is up. With the payout I should be able to pay off my loan and put a down payment on a new car. Sure, I won't be enjoying the freedom of no monthly payments as I would have been next year, but at least I'll have a new car. Oh, and my Aunt lives three hours away so she came over and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal - my first time baking a turkey and making Candied Yams from scratch - so hopefully that's a sign that the worst is over.
October 23rd: My electronics bag gets stolen in Florence, Italy. Inside the bag I had my $900 Canon EOS 400D (Rebel XTi), $500 28-135mm USM lens, $80 50mm fixed lens, and a $700 EURail pass giving me unlimited rail travel for 30 days. The police were not helpful at the train station so they pointed me to another police station, which took me 40 minutes to find... and they redirected me to another station which took me another 40 minutes to find - and fortunately they helped me at the last one; all I needed to do was fill out a police report so I could get a refund on a new EURail pass I would have to buy.
November 10th: I've been back from my Euro-trip for a couple of days. I wake up in the morning at my brother's apartment and go outside to see that the rear passenger side window of my vehicle has been smashed in, and a rock had apparently just missed the drivers side window and made a huge crack in the door. Because of the location of my brother's apartment, neither of four police departments claim responsibility for that location and redirect me back and forth several times. I finally got a department I could convince to help me (after immense frustration and wondering if a bomb threat would help me find out who to talk to) and made my claim and gave the number to my insurance agency. Unfortunately, since I am beginning my move to Austin, Texas on the 14th, no body shop was available to repair it in the short window of time given - and I couldn't cancel my reservation for a moving truck since I had already been locked in before my Euro-trip at a price $600 lower than the current price. I just loaded it up on the flatbed I was towing it on and made my drive to Austin.
November 20th: I had just arrived to Austin on the 19th and lowered my car off the trailer so I could get around town in a small vehicle (not a big 16' truck towing a car) and scout out the area. I found the Penske location to drop off the truck on the 21st - that is also where I got a hand dolly to get my furniture moved in - and headed back to my new apartment. Turning left onto the street where my apartment resided, I was following a bus and as soon as it crossed the intersection I saw what it had been hiding - a car going downhill at about 45mph. It ended up smashing the passenger side of my car, transferring all of it's momentum into me and spinning my car 95 degrees to the left, where I smashed into a pole, bounced off it, and then came to rest by smashing into a pole to the left of the first one. Car = totaled. Seat belt saved my life, and I got a nice test of the 911 emergency system for my new city... in less than a minute after I had repeated the intersection I was at three times, 3 or 4 police cars had shown up along with an ambulance. Going by I don't know what, a cop handed me two citations, one for failure to yield at a left turn on an intersection (I don't remember if I had an arrow or a green circle) and one for failure to properly hold current insurance documents in my vehicle. Because my car had been broken into the previous week, I had taken EVERYTHING out of the car so nothing could be stolen, and it happened to all be at my apartment one minute away. Court date is on December 20.
Bright side? I have a free (plus $3.91 in daily taxes) rental car for a month until my insurance company declares my car totaled and hopefully I'll get my payout before that month is up. With the payout I should be able to pay off my loan and put a down payment on a new car. Sure, I won't be enjoying the freedom of no monthly payments as I would have been next year, but at least I'll have a new car. Oh, and my Aunt lives three hours away so she came over and we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal - my first time baking a turkey and making Candied Yams from scratch - so hopefully that's a sign that the worst is over.