A Sad Tale

Jon purchased our (then his) car in the summer of 2002. He bought it outright with the money that he had saved from his work that summer and his job before his mission. Jon loved his car.
Fortunately, shortly after the purchase he discovered someone that he loved even more than his car. Jon likes to remind me that even before we were married he had relinquished his controlling interest to the car by letting me use it to drive to school while I was student teaching. He's also quick to remind me that after we were married it was always he that rode the bus (even an hour bus ride from Sandy to Provo while he was finishing at BYU) and me that drove the car, which I have to admit is absolutely true. It just ended up working better that way.

Even before Jon started real work last summer, we've knew that a new car would be on the not too distant horizon. However, we were optimistic that the new car would be a second car and that Jon would be able to re-claim his rights to his car, thus enabling him to drive to a transit center to take the bus (Seattle parking is too expensive for him to give up on the bus). With this hope a couple months ago we poured our "car new car savings" into giving the Accord a new bill of health. Nearly every replaceable part was replaced. At that point we began again to save for a new car, hoping to come close to buying the car outright or at least with very minimal car payments.

On Tuesday, our dreams of a second car were shattered, literally. While driving down the street after swimming lessons, the boys and I collided with a car that pulled out of a driveway out into the street to head in the opposite direction. Though I braked extremely hard when I realized the driver was headed into the street (with new brakes, mind you), we were unable to avoid a collision. The windshield cracked and the air bags deployed. Luckily, the boys and I were fine.

The Accord, however, most likely will be a "total loss." Though we haven't heard officially, the tow truck driver, the auto body shop, and our capable personal injury attorneys (aka Dad and Dave) all seem to concur that the car most likely will have to be scrapped, and thus our dreams of a second car and a low or no car payment. But we are trying to look on the bright side. It will be nice to have a car the is bigger, newer, and safer.

So, here's a few pictures of the wreckage: