I woke up this morning and everything was going fine until my paper boy rang the doorbell.
No, my paperboy didn’t deliver a bad newspaper — but he did deliver bad news, related to the condition of my car, which was parked in front of my house.
At 9:30AM, I called the police, who still haven’t showed up after 5 hours. At this point, the car is already gone. The incredibly friendly and helpful people at Geico coordinated the towing of my car to an auto glass repair shop that can fix everything today. To top it off I also had glass coverage, so no out of pocket expenses. (I was ready to start calling junk yards, as the car is eight years old, and I have no problem with previously used windows.)
This is the first claim ever on my insurance with Geico (over ten years!), and I have to say I couldn’t be happier with the level of service they provided. Great rates and great service! I highly recommend them.
While I was writing this post, a fellow who lives a block away rang my bell and told me he saw the whole thing (he happened to go out for a cigarette at about 3:00AM). Apparently two punks (the only proper description of them) with sledgehammers jumped out of a Jeep Cherokee, smashed the front and back windows, and drove off. The guy down the block was too far away to get a license plate number (damn!), and couldn’t get close enough to see it before they drove off.
What many are probably thinking (and what the sanitation guys said when they saw me outside this morning pondering the mess) is, “Who did you piss off lately?” The answer to that is no one. I can’t think of any enemies I have, or anyone who’d be so perturbed with anything I do (which isn’t all that much as it is) to do such a criminal act. Maybe it was a disgruntled CSFBL user? Nah, I don’t think so; they’re better people than that.
How do you describe people who commit these acts? Cowards. They are a blight to society, an embarrassment to the human race. You get your jollies bashing windows with sledgehammers? I’d have more respect for you if you rang my doorbell at 3:00AM and asked me to come outside to slug it out Ultimate Fighting style. At least in the latter case you’re willing to show your face to your victim.
Months back, my brother made news by going outside and helping his neighbor accost someone breaking into a car on his block. I only wish I’d have been as lucky to wake up to the noise early this morning.
Then again, maybe I’m lucky I didn’t wake up — running outside wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts as two guys with sledgehammers bash my car doesn’t give me very good odds… but if they are truly the cowards they are, they’d have driven off anyway, and maybe I could have caught that license plate number.
Anyway, today, we sadly get to chalk one up for the bad guys.
Uno says:
Wow I’m shocked and for the life of me cannot figure out why… It makes no sense! Oh I don’t know what I would have done, but at least the insurance company came through and that makes things a little easier to soak in. None the less these little punks need a swift kick in the ass! Next time maybe they wont be as lucky!
harborpirate says:
Windshield insurance sure is handy. I’ve had a couple replaced at no cost to me since moving to Arizona. I didn’t even know it existed until moving here, gravel roads and pea gravel used to provide grip on ice in the winter make windshield insurance pretty much unheard of in Montana.
The best part of the services here is that many will drive out to your location and replace the windshield on-site, whether that happens to be at home or while you work. Talk about no-hassle; a couple phone calls and it really is like it never happened. Perhaps the one instance I can think of where an insurance company delivers exactly on what they promise.
Still, its not a victim-less crime. Someone is paying for that new windshield, and that someone is everyone else paying their insurance premiums. I wonder if the vandals have car insurance? If they do they’re unwittingly causing themselves to pay a higher cost for insurance by committing that crime. DOUBLE DUMB.