I have a rental car for two weeks while my car undergoes repairs. I’m too accustomed to my car’s driving comforts and this rental is hard work.
In January, my wife and I were travelling to Adelaide to visit our daughter. We stopped for lunch at the Keith bakery and just as we walked back to my car a woman ran at us pointing and asking if that was our car. Someone had just hit it and driven off. Thankfully she had a photo of the license plate. Easily taken because the driver had hit my car, driven around the block and parked outside the bakery, almost exactly out the front of where we had been sitting.
Damaged while parked. Thankfully the wheel wasn’t and my car remained drivable. We still had 460kms to go.
Long story short, he unconvincingly denied everything and drove off when he heard we had witnesses. The poor woman was still shaking, but if not for her we wouldn’t have noticed the damage in the shade. Thankfully all superficial and we could continue our trip. For insurance purposes we visited the local police station and made a report. They paid the driver a visit, impounded his car and banned him from driving. A blood alcohol reading of 0.219 at 12:15pm will do that. For those playing abroad, that’s 4+ times the legal limit of 0.05.
Police SA report of the weekend’s activities. We’re certain this is our man.
Some two months later repairs are underway and I have a Suzuki Swift for a rental. It’s new and a good little car. It’s just not mine. I miss:
- keyless fob
- automatic headlights
- automatic park brake
- not having to wait 30 seconds to plug in my phone for CarPlay (and certainly not the radio which blasts away while i do)
- in-car display that doesn’t have interference patterns when I look at it with sunglasses on
- heads-up display
- the simplicity of my cruise control
- environmental controls (set the temp and forget)
- the back door handles being on the door and not up high next to the rear seat windows
Overall, our witness, the Keith SA police, insurer and repairer have all been excellent and supportive.