September 14th started out like any other typical day. Routine. Woke up at 10:20 a.m., washed up and got dressed to drop off my fiance for her 11 ‘o clock shift, giving me about a half-hour extra time to make my usual hour commute to work. It also happened to be raining, but up here in Connecticut — that’s especially typical for this time of year. The drive up to commute today would ultimately be a day I’d never forget.

My Saturn Ion 2 got banged up in its first car accident.

I was about 15 minutes away from my job when I approached the final exit heading to Boston (2E leading to I-84). I was going appox. 40-45 mph when the car suddenly started to skid - - leading to my initial reaction to …slow it down a bit. Mistake. The car drifted and I couldn’t regain control of the vehicle or reduce my speed. My options were limited and I didn’t want to do anything drastic… but it wouldn’t matter soon as I was fast approaching the guardrail on the left. “I’m going to crash.” was all I could think.

And I did. Within 60 seconds, my Ion had went head-to-head with the guardrail and lost. So much for being early for my shift. My head was spinning. My first car and already going through its first accident within 3 months. I wasn’t able to get out on the driver’s side and was forced to use the front passenger door. Inspecting the damage, which at the time looked much worse than I thought — it was clear there was NO way I’d be driving the Ion anytime soon. The body panel on the driver’s side had been ripped off… the control arm and axle was broken… the tire and rims were shot and the bottle holding the windshield fluid was totally busted. My heart sunk. While it normally takes awhile for a towing service, I was fortunate to literally have one tailing me seconds before the wreck. He had asked me a few questions like the make and year of the car (which as some of you know is a 2006 model). “Oh, well you’re totally covered by the warranty then.” I nodded. Although this was definitely good news, my utmost concern was how I’d be getting to work from this point on. As you can imagine, I was in a bit of shock during the whole ordeal, making a quick call to my dealership, followed by the insurance company to make a claim. Meanwhile, the tow truck driver was endeavoring to lend me a hand, advising me that I definitely did not want to have the state police involved with the decision-making process where my car would end up. Speaking of which — they gave me a ticket by the way (infraction: unreasonable speed. WTF? As if I hadn’t already been through enough as it is.)

The whole incident totally soured the entire day. It turns out that I didn’t have rental coverage on my plan which sucked because I’d end up having to pay out of pocket on-site. I ended up taking the driver’s advice to have it tow to his company’s site and checking into a rental agency (Budget) to get some substitute wheels (2006 Dodge Stratus — white) for the time being. But there still was a matter of where the Saturn was going to end up; what I’d be paying out-of-pocket (if any) for the towing and most importantly, where/when was it going to get repaired. Well, it all worked out in the end much better than I could’ve anticipated. The driver from the towing service really went the extra mile for me. We ended up having the car towed back to a body shop a few exits away from my hometown (which was a lot better than having it left somewhere that was over an hour away). The shop actually was networked with my insurance agency who are contracted to give priority to my vehicle and work on it daily. I didn’t have to pay for the towing expense either (which was great, cuz that shit gets expensive). The insurance agency sent down an rep to inspect the vehicle to calcuated the estimate damages (hint: it’s a lot) while the owner of the body shop and I talked a bit while retreiving some personal items from the Ion. “It’s not as bad as it looks”, he said, assuring me that things could have been a LOT worse and I’d be driving it very soon. Prior to the accident, I was somewhat uneducated as to the proper course of action. But after all this, I’ve definitely gained a much better understanding in the event that I end up going through this again. [knock on wood]

While it’s understandable that I’d be bitter about the incident, I’m extremely grateful that I wasn’t hurt. In the end, that’s the most important thing to keep in mind. It’s also encouraging to know that I won’t be without my car for too long — slated to be available at the end of this month. It’s only been two days and I’m already missing the Ion… Which reminds me, it’s only officially referred to as the Ion…. I ended up giving it a nickname after my fiance, her friend and my soon-to-be sister-in-law had been discussing how every vehicle should have a name.

I went with a classic name from my childhood: Optimus.