hanselopolis: Subaru III: Return of the Subaru

So when we last visited Hans's Wide World of Cars, we saw this...

Boo hiss, right? Indeed, November 8, 2013 was a sad day for all involved.

Now that the whole matter is resolved, I will give a little detail on the wreck. On said sunny afternoon, yours truly was returning to work from a dentist appointment like a good citizen, having just purchased a bag of Taco Bell to masticate upon my arrival at said workplace, when the accident happened. I was traveling southbound on >street name here<, in the right lane with no traffic restrictions and driving the speed limit, when >other driver< pulled out from a >side street name here<, where they had a stop sign. I don't know if they couldn't see me and decided they were clear (the road was lined with cars that time of day as school was letting out on said side street) or if they ran the sign, but I hit them squaw in the middle of the driver's side of their vehicle. I think I tried to swerve to avoid them, as the damage to my poor little Legacy was all on the driver's side, but I do remember two things:

1) the pulsation of the antilock brakes

2) being filled with rage the split second before impact because I knew that impact was imminent. I think that as I braced for impact, my words were something along the lines of, "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!"

Boom.

Wicked pissa, brah.

Note the near perfect interior of the vehicle. Nothing mashed up, all glass intact. Good engineering.

Immediately after the impact and as soon as I was done contemplating my mortality and in some sort of state of shock realized I was pissed because the windshield wipers had come on and I couldn't shut them off, I forced the door of my trusty Legacy open and departed the vehicle. Did a quick 360 scan of the area to survey the damage, and spotted the other vehicle. Driver of the vehicle hysterical, child on the ground.

Shit.

A bystander was trying to calm the child who, understandably quite angry at the fate which had just been thrust upon him (which appeared to be his face thrust into the seat back in front of him), was crying and bleeding from the face. I talked with the bystander to assess the child's injuries, which appeared to be superficial, albeit ugly, and ran to one of the neighbor's houses to grab a bag of ice for said child's face.

God bless little old folk. A nice old lady answered the door, and upon hearing of our plight, set about hurriedly fumbling about what I presume was her husband, who was only mildly concerned, and managed to get together a gallon Ziploc type bag half full of ice and some paper towels.

Ran back to the scene, gave bag o' ice to bystander guy, and seeing as hysterical driver lady was seemingly okay but rolling about crying and being attended to by several other bystanders, I proceeded to have a breather. By this point several folks had gathered about, most of whom were either picking kids up from the school or worked for the school.

The other car, Hyundai Sonata, I believe? Apparently also decent crash engineering.

At any rate, there was a Shelby County deputy immediately on the scene to call in Memphis PD (Shelby County deputies don't have jurisdiction in Memphis city. Makes sense, right?) and Memphis FD and keep us updated on progress.

Funny side note: Sara and I toured the school a few days later as a prospective school for our daughter for next year. Turns out that one of the bystanders was the counselor for the school that gave us the tour. Slightly embarrassing, but she did tell us that everyone in the other vehicle was fine. This was good and welcome news as I knew that the driver was okay but I was worried about the little boy. Unfair for the lad to have to suffer because of the actions of his caretaker.

Memphis Fire Rescue was on scene in a very loooooooooooooooooooooong fifteen minutes. They attended and subsequently removed the wounded - what turned out to be grandma, busted face grandchild, and unbusted face grandchild, who was apparently riding in a car seat and made it through the ordeal with only a sore shoulder- via ground transport.

Thanks to the aforementioned wonders of Subaru engineering and a little powerlifting, I was not among the wounded or worse being carted off to the nearest emergency medical center.

You can tell this is at least an hour after the accident because of the glow of a Memphis Police squad car's lights.

Can't fault MPD too much for showing up late to the party- apparently I picked right about the same time as a seven or eight car pile up on the interstate nearby to be involved in a seemingly horrendous accident.

With some time to kill, I did what any man in my position would do.

Retrieved my Taco Bell from the car, found a nice spot on the curb to sit, and had my now luke warm dinner and flat Dr Pepper while I waited on the po-lice.

Several bystanders checked in on me, including one witness who got tired of waiting and left me her phone number, and I ended up talking with one of the neighbors and his grandchild for a bit.

Memphis PD showed up about an hour after the accident occurred, took my statement, assessed the scene, and called in the tow trucks. Ol' Red wasn't coming home this ill fated night.

A musical interlude...

Because metal.

So flash forward some time (like a freaking month), two rental cars, a potential uninsured faulted driver, a crumby experience with their insurance (at least they had it), and we find out...

The Subaru Legacy is totaled.

She shall ride no more.

Sigh...

By the by, I would not recommend dealing with The General insurance company. The people I dealt with there were for the most part okay, but you can tell they are not a customer service based organization. Despite averaging three attempts to call them a day during some of the more sticky logistical phases of the experience, they threatened multiple times to force me to pay for tow storage, rental fees, etc.- one of them even started talking over me as I explained to them that I was not going to turn the vehicle over to them until we had settled on the total loss claim. You can tell that they are trying, for the most part, but that their reps are understaffed with barely manageable case loads and they are pressed to try to rush people into doing things so that they aren't paying more than they have to in fees, etc.

My insurance company, State Farm, on the other hand, was great- even before we were able to determine that the other driver did have insurance and we were proceeding as if it was going to be a claim against my account. The accident happened late on a Friday afternoon, naturally, so I was not able to get a hold of my local agent until Monday, but the folks in claims over the weekend and through the experience were great, almost always available by phone, and were generally on top of their game.

No thank YOU, nice Memphis PD lady.

Even had a pleasurable experience dealing with Memphis Police Central Records, who will apparently lovingly send you a copy of your police report via email for a small fee, though they reportedly take weeks to get it to the insurance companies. The person I spoke to there was polite, helpful, and acted quickly once the request was made.

But I digress...

So boom wreck, holy crap I hope they have insurance, maybe they do, good they do, rental car, bunch of phone calls and stress, and five weeks later I have a check in hand for the difference of the total versus what I owed Subaru (remember kids, make a sizable down payment and/or get the gap insurance). This was good, because while I was saddened by the loss of the Legacy, it was time to replace her.

Though no one could replace her. From September 13, 2012 to November 8, 2013, she was a fine beast. A faithful steed. More than a mode of transportation, but a four wheeled steel and plastic safe haven for myself and my family.

And stuff.

And really, when it came down to it, there was really no question about what to get. The Ford F150 XLT SuperCrew that served as my rental chariot was a fine vehicle, but pricey, VERY expensive to feed, and two wheel drive.

Still love Google image search.

Remember that stuff about good engineering and saving my ass from the difficult decision of the flames of the Infernal Pits or the Page/Plant fueled trip up to the Pearly Gates?

Yeah, it was Subaru time.

Luckily, we knew just the place to go. Looked through a few used things online, but nothing really struck our fancy, and in Memphis if you want a new Subaru, there's really only one thing to do.

Go talk to our buddy Dave Ellison at Jim Keras Subaru.

Dave sold us both my wife's Impreza and the Legacy, and entertained us previously when we had not yet jumped on board the Subaru bandwagon. He and I would run into each other periodically at Dunkin Donuts when Ilse was going to a different daycare in one of the Memphis burbs and we would share random shenanigans, life stories, etc. Dave's a pretty good guy.

We went and saw him on Black Friday first to test drive a few things, but did not yet have money in hand. We were pretty sure we were going with either the Forester or the XV Crosstrek. We had looked at the Forester previously and while it is definitely a good vehicle, has the room you want, reliable, fuel efficient, etc, it just didn't have the same "zing" as the Crosstrek. The Crosstrek is a bit smaller, but for this guy it was more fun to drive, outfitted more to my liking at the same price point, and honestly just cooler.

So there you have it.