Bumper Thumper Sounds SOOOO Much Cooler Than Fender Bender

Late last month, I was involved in a bit of a fender bender. Parker called it a bumper thumper, because it tore up the front end pretty badly, although it was still driveable. Well, State Farm, based on the repair estimate from Abra Auto Body Repair of America (Gallatin) and their scientifically derived estimate of what the car was worth, decided that the car was totaled. So I was going to have to buy a freaking car. I was not happy.

Here are pictures of the damage.

This 2009 Toyota Camry was fifth and nicest car I've ever owned. It has 117,000 miles on it, and I was planning on putting another 100k+ on it, easily. And I had only had for a little more than 2 years.

I'm not a car guy. I don't know a lot about cars, not how to fix them or how they work or the differences in various makes and models. I know what I think looks nice and what doesn't, what's comfortable to me and what isn't, and what I want from a car and what I don't. So buying a car has really only ever been about functionality for me, and anything extra has been just that.

The first car I ever owned was a 1986 Volvo DL. It had A/C, a tape player, weird automatic looks (there wasn't a switch on the door...you just pushed down really hard on the driver's side lock and all the others would lock), and manual crank windows. My parents bought it new in '86, and I got it in '94 when I started driving. It was EXPENSIVE to maintain, but I loved it. I drove it my from 10th-12th grade, in Jasper, IN and Hendersonville, TN (that can of SPAM, man). It went to Cookeville, TN with me to college, where the A/C eventually crapped out on me. I drove it to my first job out of college, commuting from Cookeville to Nashville, until it just gave up.

This is the only picture I have readily available of the car. That's me on the right and my friend John. We were on our way to a week-long camp in Terre Haute, and we're standing behind the Volvo. Sorry to put this out there, John, but I DID already put it on Facebook. :D

So I needed a new car, and lo-and-behold my cousin was getting rid of hers. So I upgraded from the Volvo to a 1995 Acura Integra sedan. The A/C worked. It had an in-dash CD player. It had a sun roof. I LOVED this car. I bought it in...April? May?...of 2001 and drove it until it needed a repair, maybe the A/C in 2008 that was going to cost more than the car was worth by this point.

Here's a stock image of the car. This is not a picture of my car, but I think it's close. I might have a picture tucked away at home, possibly with all of my wedding pictures. Angie and I drove away from the reception in it after taking off the plastic wrap it had been wrapped in.

Edit on 9/20/18 at 8:27 a.m.: Found a pic of my car!

Between buying the Acrua and it's replacement, Angie and I bought a Toyota Corolla to replace whatever the hell she was driving. I think it was a 2002, no frills, and it was okay. Not terrific, but okay. It was small, but at the time I think Angie might not have even been pregnant with Parker yet. So we had no need for a full-size sedan yet. We bought it from the Beaman used lot in Nashville, and really the whole ordeal of buying it was a nightmare. We test drove a LOT of cars at a lot of different dealerships, and working out financing was ridiculous. I always joked that buying our first (only) house was easier, but it really WAS easier. This car stayed around until Angie left, and it left with her. I got to keep the next car.

Apparently I never have a reason to take pictures of my cars unless they get into wrecks. Here's the best pic I have of the Corolla. I was driving down a hill on Royal Parkway in Nashville when my car decided it wanted to hydroplane a little and run into a truck coming up the hill. Insurance didn't mind fixing this one.

So I ended up selling the Acura to a guy on Craigslist for cash, and then I bought my parents' 2001 Toyota Camry. I don't remember at what point in the year we bought it, but it was in 2008, so Bobby had already been born, or we were patiently waiting for him. Either way, we knew we needed the room that we wouldn't have from the Acura or the Corolla. This car was everything I needed it to be, and it's what stayed with me after the divorce. I had the kids the majority of the time, so I needed the bigger car. Everything that people say about the dependability of Toyotas is absolutely true, and I think I had 250k+ miles on it when the transmission finally crapped out in 2016.

Again, no good pics of the Camry. These two are the best you'll get. And as a bonus, in the 2nd pic is the car I'll buy next...the one next to mine, not the Mustang.

I ended up selling the car to the mechanic and buying my parents' 2009 Camry. I liked my previous Camry, and I liked this one. It was nice having something a smidge newer, and I want to say that it was a smidge bigger on the inside than the 2001. As with the other Camry, my parents took good care of this one, so I was planning on this one lasting me quite a while. Apparently quite a while was only two years and change, and now we're back to the present. So yeah, I had my little bumper thumper, and while the car was in the shop I was driving a Dodge Caravan from Enterprise. I liked it, the kids loved it, so I thought I'd look at some mini-vans. The only thing I saw in my price range was a 2006 Toyota Sienna at Ron Hibbard Toyota in Gallatin. I looked at it but wasn't thrilled. The salesman gave me some other options, but they were out of my price range. I looked at a couple of private sales, a BMW SUV that was woefully misrepresented and a Cadillac CTS that was decent but had some shaking issues, but for a few days I kept thinking about this Toyota Avalon the salesman at Hibbard had mentioned. I looked at it online, and yes, it was out of my price range, but it looked perfect. Sure, it wasn't mini-van big, but it was bigger than the Camry, and my kids weren't getting any smaller. The mileage was good, the pedigree was good, my parents had an Avalon that they liked, and I really did like Toyotas.

I went back to Hibbard on Monday, drove it, fell in love with it, and bought it. I was able to work out a great deal, and I ended up not having to finance it, which was a big thing for me. So I've got a new (to me) car now! I love it, the kids love it, and barring any more bumper thumpers, this car will hopefully see all the kids through high school.

After the ordeal of buying the Corolla, I was DREADING buying a car from a dealership, but really this whole process, from the wreck itself to driving the car off the lot yesterday, was easy and quick. I used the State Farm app to file my claim, the final check was processed pretty quickly, and I didn't have much paperwork to sign. I even got the new car on my insurance when I went to pick up the check, and my premium only went up $.30/year. That's 30 cents, not dollars. My dealings with Abra were fine. I've got to trust that their estimate was fair, but really, I was able to upgrade my car, so who cares? Everyone I talked with there was really nice. Enterprise was smooth with the rental, and they upgraded me to the mini-van after I pointed out the ant infestation in the extended cab pick-up I was supposed to have. And finally, the two guys I dealt with at Hibbard, Erik and Steve, were great. They offered alternatives to the Sienna when they could see I wasn't thrilled with it, but I never felt pressured. Plus, they really worked on getting me a price we were both happy with.

I forgot to mention what it is I ended up with. I'm now driving a 2006 Toyota Avalon Limited. It's three years older than the Camry that was "totaled," but it has almost 30,000 fewer miles. The interior feels HUGE, and the ride is so smooth. It's only ever had one owner and was bought, serviced, and traded back in to Hibbard. Like I said, I was very happy with it. If I remember, I'll take a picture of it tonight and post it.