Our Car Accident In San Miguel de Allende

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Our last sunset before leaving San Miguel de Allende

We arrived back in Monterrey this afternoon.  The SUV performed beautifully after the fan clutch replacement.  I have no qualms about towing anymore.  For some strange reason, the fuel mileage increased as well and we obtained 23 mpg doing 75 mph most of the way.  Since we were already staying off the highway to Dolores Hidalgo, we decided to head that way to go home.  We hit heavy fog for about 20 minutes.  Other than that, smooth sailing and home after almost eight hours.  

We will be doing the paperwork on the house via courier and will return for the purchase in another month.  Lots to think about in regards to making changes, furnishing and actually using the house.  As I said, we have an appointment this week regarding the quinta and whether to sell now or hold off a bit.  The house in SMA is easy, it's sat empty for years and looks new so a few months won't hurt anything.

Now on to the accident.  It wasn't a big deal really, but the party at fault was a real weiner.   We left the house on the hill and headed down to drive into the city.  The last kilometer of the road is paved but very narrow.  I saw a flatbed delivery truck coming with a load of bricks.  The electric posts along the road have metal posts around them for protection and stick out into the road a bit.  We slowed down but he barreled right through.  His extended mirror clipped mine and ripped off the complete assembly.

When we stopped, we both backed up and he denied any wrongdoing.  He was definitely over the line but didn't want to admit it.  After a bit of walking around, he came back to us and offered us 1500 pesos saying it could be found at Autozone.  It's a dealer part so that wasn't going to happen.  We said we would call our insurance company only to find out that he had no insurance, no license, and no title to the vehicle although it was his.  That pissed him off and he quit talking. 

The adjuster showed up in 15 minutes (small city) and we began the process.  The adjuster talked to the guy and he said he wanted a transit policeman.  Stupid idea as he has no documents.  We tried to explain but we called 911 and someone would be on the way.  By this time, three and a half hours had passed when a very shiny black crew cab pickup pulled up.  The guy gets out and says, "when are you going to deliver my bricks, we've been waiting all morning".

Next thing we know, the guy in the black pickup walks up to the adjuster and says, "que onda compadre?" (what's up friend).  They knew each other and the guy used to be a transit policeman.  He said he would talk to the guy and get our money, cancel the 911 request and we would all be on our way.

Here's what was at risk.  If the transit police showed up and neither party would accept responsibility, they would tow both cars to the pound and we would have to see a judge.  Pay attention people because this happens everywhere throughout Mexico.  Both parties would have to pay the impound fees, days in the pound, the traffic tickets, the court fees, and tow charges.  The guilty party should pay but you can't get blood from a turnip.  In the end, the guy paid up, and off we went.  One caveat, check the fine print on the policy.  If the judge found the guy guilty, our insurance would have paid all our fees for us.  Not always true with all insurance companies.  The guy in the truck would have to pay all of his fines, court costs, tow, and the car impound, roughly USD 400.  He'd never see his truck again.  Had he purchased a policy for just liability, OTOH, it would have run him USD 5 per month.  People are foolish.