the ordeal before we met Granny Jade

The past two weeks has been quite challenging. I got into a car accident as I was driving down to the Bay Area on July 3.

It's actually quite bizarre. I didn't hit another car, nor did another car hit me. I was coming up to this semi truck when I heard a boom. Next thing I realize is my airbag has deployed (as well as the passenger side) and there's white powder quickly filling up the air in the car. Since I was already on the right lane, I was able to quickly pull over. Luckily I only bruised my hand, and not hurt anything else, but my asthma went haywire. And those airbags made me puke - ugh.

At first I thought, maybe the tires went out? But when I checked the car, only the windshield was damaged. There were no frontal dents or anything. The car looked fine from the outside.


Unfortunately, after 6 grueling days of back and forth discussions with Claims, they deemed the car as a total loss and considered the claim as due to collision damage. I was actually quite a fan of State Farm until I had to deal with their claims department. My goodness, that team, and its inconsistent officers made the whole experience more frustrating. Some officers were definitely on point and helpful, while some were just plain brusque, and did not even show a hint of sympathy (like you get that nagging feeling that they just want you off the phone ASAP).

I didn't even think we'd even be considered for collision since I didn't hit anything (they were listing it as comprehensive up to that point). But the inspector eventually wrote up that the car had undercarriage damage so that effectively caused the airbags to deploy - meaning I ran over something. I completely disagree with that - there's nothing on that highway. But as one claims officer said, "he's the 'expert' and has had classes accordingly so you have no credibility to dispute his decision." All I wanted was a second opinion, but they wouldn't have any of it. This piece was the most frustrating part of the whole experience. I've asked if Honda can take a look at the car, but they said that's assuming they'd even let Honda on the lot after they've taken away the car. The closest to a second opinion I had was from the mechanic at the repair shop. He said the damage was 'not fresh' and doesn't look to have caused the problem (sadly, he wouldn't put that statement on paper and back it up).

So we were stuck. Without a car for almost 2 weeks.
In fact, we're still waiting for the appointment to hand over the title so we can get money back for the car...