The Mustang Is Home!

 

Our Mustang came home yesterday!  Kudos to the repair shop, they did a great job!

The front clip was entirely repainted and they blended the paint into the doors very very well!

The paint is flawless on both sides.

Straight as an arrow!

Note the lack of a license plate.  More on that later.

So we took it out to dinner and dancing last night to ensure it was fine on the road.  It was!

The "check engine" light came on when driving home - we are hoping that is the result of sitting for four months but will have it checked out if it comes on again.

It looks superb in all lighting conditions.  The hood, front left fender, and front bumper were all replaced.

It still has that in-motion-while-sitting-still look to it!

And here is where it all started back in April.  I was driving south on the freeway when a driver crossed all five lanes and slammed on his brakes right in front of me.  I was driving in the slow lane.

You can see my skid marks behind my car.  I tried my best to avoid hitting him.

I couldn't open the driver's door so I climbed over the center console and exited through the passenger door.  I approached him and said "What was THAT?"   His response: "YOU hit ME!"

I pointed to my camera.  When the CHP arrived he told them the truth.  

I highly recommend getting a camera for your car!  This most likely would have been blamed on me had I not had a camera.

The CHP report and both insurance companies assigned 100% of the blame on the other driver for unsafe lane change.

My poor baby.

This also caused us to change banks.  I was on the way to the bank by driving on the freeway because our bank had closed our local branch in the city where we live.  Had I not had to drive 15 miles to the nearest branch, this would not have happened.  We now bank in our own city.

Here is the car that hit me.  It is owned by a famous local new car dealer - they had just taken it in on trade and were taking it to another of their locations.  It started to overheat so the driver swerved across FIVE LANES to get to the shoulder.

He didn't even see me, he told the CHP.  When our cars made contact, his car spun 45 degrees to the right, the front hit the wall, then it continued spinning another 180 degrees until the rear came to rest against the wall.

This clearly shows the point of impact with my car.

When I called my insurance company, they told me my car was likely totalled.  I thought I was waving goodbye forever at this point.  Very sad day.

About a week later, the insurance company called.  They told me my car was worth way more than expected and they were going to repair it.

I looked it up - even with 130K miles on it the value is about half what we paid for it new, which was $30K.

So they towed it from the scrap yard (it was already there!) to the body shop of my choice.  As soon as it arrived, I went by and took a few photos including this one.

It looked so pitiful!  We have owned it since new and it has NEVER been this dirty!  Very sad to see it in this shape.

Wait a minute, look at the fender by the door - it wasn't that way when the accident happened!

I think the tow truck driver must have kicked in the fender so he could open the door.   Turned out to be a good thing as I bet it saved the door from damage as people attempted to open the door in the days to come.

The salvage yard had already starting prepping it for dismantling and had taken the plates off.  Gulp!

Final repair bill: $9,000

I found the plates in the car when I got it home and immediately put them back on!