Autounfall

09/05/2001 English German

Edition # 32
San Francisco, 09-05-2001

Marathon Cute little animals Sweets Japanese Class The record of the month Autounfall How does one get the Green Card? The president is sending us money Help with spending money Energy Crisis

Autounfall

Michael Recently on Saturday, I was driving our car "PERLMAN" along the wide Castro Street when suddenly a "Lexus" car shot out from a side street with a stop sign and crashed right into the driver's side of my car. There was a huge bang, I braked, and when I got out, I could barely open the door because it was so dented (see illustration 1).

Figure [1]: The Sick Perlman

A nightmare to get into an accident in America! Fortunately, the other driver was insured (not a given in America, even though it's legally required), and I was faced with the question of whether to call the police or not. Since the other driver seemed quite reasonable, I just copied his address from his driver's license and took down his insurance details. Rumor has it that in America, you only call the police if there are injuries or if the other person is being difficult. The following Monday, I called our insurance company, and since we only have liability insurance and not comprehensive coverage, our agent advised me to deal with the other person's insurance myself. If both parties have comprehensive insurance, each simply reports the accident to their own insurer, who then battle over the question of fault for years and haggle over every penny. All the acquaintances we told about this were horrified that I didn't have a witness to confirm the incident! We should prepare for years of litigation! I then called the other person's insurance myself and described the incident. After about five rounds of "Buchbinder Wanninger," the agent there finally accepted liability for the accident -- it was pretty clear that the other driver had run a stop sign. As a result, I was granted a rental car and given the address of a repair shop. A week and 2400 dollars later, the sick PERLMAN was released as healed -- the insurance covered the costs. Now the car looks a bit funny since the paint is peeling everywhere except on the new fender and door, but we are glad that everything went so smoothly.

Figure [2]: ... and a week later, all healed again!

And here is one last announcement before Angelika gets to work: Recently, a German expatriate living in San Francisco informed us about how to get the Friday edition of the SÃ¼ddeutsche Zeitung, along with our beloved magazine, delivered to your doorstep. The company GLP-News (www.glpnews.com) does this reliably and even below the usual San Francisco retail price of $4.50 per issue! We are happy again and thank the friendly newsletter readers who spoiled us with brought-along SZ magazines during the cucumber season! Clear the way for Angelika!