Poor Poor Jack

Jack Bletta the Black Jetta has been through a lot but he's never been rear-ended, at least not until June 10, 2004. While on our way to what was to be a fun-filled day at Chicago's Museum Campus (and free I might add), my sister and I decided to take the "long way" as the conventional route - I-94 West from 159th Street to I-55 North and then on to Lake Shore Drive - was extremely congested. Our jaunt down 103rd Street was without incident and we made it south on Torrence and east on 106th just fine. It was north on Ewing that was going to be troublesome. Everything was fine until I took a wrong turn under the Skyway (I should've went straight but I turned left instead) that immediately preceded our whiplash-inducing encounter with another vehicle. I quickly turned around and made my way back to Ewing and once again headed north. As we approached 96th Street (where Ewing experiences a Norman-esque angular curve), the van in front of us abruptly stopped. I looked up to see the driver motioning to "go around" but as traffic was approaching in the other lane, it seemed unwise at the time. Then...bam. Yes, we were slammed from behind by a '96 Ford Ranger XLT. Well, maybe not slammed, but certainly more than tapped. Below are some images of my car taken today with, of course, captions. Oh, and you can click them to make them bigger.


The most "injured" part of the car, or a least the area that looks the worst. This is the left rear bumper area.


Same type of thing, only on the right side, and not as serious.


The trunk isn't exactly flush with everything else anymore. It doesn't open, either.


Left corner of the rear bumper. Looks like that's going to be replaced, at least I hope so.


The only non-bumper body damage I can find (besides the trunk not lining up) is this little portion that seems "pushed" in. Hopefully they can "pull" it out and not replace the whole quarter panel...again.


The area under the license plate also suffered some damage...guess that's body damage, too. Doh!


One more picture, totally unrelated. That's what it looks like when our air conditioner has been on for a while.

There is, of course, more to come on this whole accident thing. I filed a claim today with the other guy's insurance company so we'll see how long all of this takes. At least I'll get a new bumper out of the deal. I needed one.