Some good things do come out of crappy things

So you know how a couple of weeks ago I got into a car accident?

And remember how it was totally not my fault?

Yeah so the fact that the girl who hit me and I have the same insurance carrier - State Farm - has been a real benefit. And while it's been a hassle finding an auto body place, getting the estimate, taking my car in and driving a rental car for the next few days - especially when one considers what a nervous Nellie I am when it comes to anything car related - the process has been relatively easy and low stress.

What you may not know is that the day after the accident, I was pretty sore in my neck, shoulder, and back. So I took it upon myself to go to my trusty chiropractor - Dr. Sid - never considering the possibility that the insurance might pay for the treatments.

And he has been slowly putting me back to rights. I've seen him 4 times since the accident and finally today I woke up feeling almost no soreness. Yay! That's good thing #1.

Now, as I said, I hadn't even thought about submitting the receipts for reimbursement because, for all intents and purposes, the accident at the time appeared to be an injury free accident. So I figured I would have to pay out of pocket for any treatment I received.

But Sid, who is wise, told me I really needed to file my visits with him as part of the claim because it was entirely accident related.

Huh.

I'm not very assertive when it comes to this kind of thing. Surprise. But this morning I decided it couldn't hurt to just ask the claims manager about it. So I called. And, after getting the run around at first and having to call my own agent to get involved, the claim was assigned a bodily injury manager and he has agreed to reimburse my chiropractic expenses. That's good thing #2.

Here's the kicker. When he told me they would go ahead and settle the claim, he said that, as part of the settlement, he'd also agree to pay me an amount for pain and suffering.

And I'm like all huh?

But when I got to thinking about how much I've had to do to get the car taken care of, get me taken care of, leaving work early to get to my appointments, and generally dealing with a minor injury the amount he quoted me seemed very reasonable.

It's not a lot - less than $1000 - but it was certainly never expected and is most welcome.

So I intend to agree to the settlement.

That's good thing #3.

There's one other really positive outcome from this ordeal. A few years' back, while driving on I-70 eastbound in the dark near Vail, I hit a raccoon and it put a good sized dent in my passenger side fender. Because the auto body place already has to take the fender off to repair the damages from the car accident, I'm having them fix the dent from the raccoon for less than $50.

So there.

I apparently am grown up enough to take care of this auto maintenance and repair thing.

'Bout time.