This post is a follow-up to my last post: a deep-dive into my personal connection to my car. Since that post, I have been in more contact with the insurance company and wanted to share an important update! 

Progressive Insurance is swamped with the amount of claims that they have been getting from the members of the community after the local storm, so they are flying inspectors out to meet the high demand. One such inspector met with me over the weekend to assess the damage on my vehicle. She assumed the vehicle would be marked as totaled and I would receive a check in the mail for the damages. Glancing at my UMSL sticker on the back glass, she quickly said, “Well…you can do whatever you want with the money. Throw a keg party or something”. Throw a keg party? I guess the assumption was that since I’m a college student, I measure money in “keg parties”…? Regardless, I thanked her for her time and let her get about her work. 

A couple of days later, I got a notification from the insurance company saying that they would be sending me a check for the full value of the car before the incident. I will still be able to keep the car and they won’t put any negative marks on the title.

Keeping my cake (with some damage on the frosting) and eating it too!

In the days since I wrote the last bleak post about my connection to the car and the way that driving around a hail-damaged car makes me feel, I have had time to reflect on those feelings. Expressing them and getting support and feedback from you all has been incredibly helpful as I try to come around on this. Now that I am being handed a sum of money and still have a good car, I think I’ve come around and I’m starting to feel better.

As someone who is going back to school late, I feel like I have fallen behind in a lot of things when compared to other people my age. I assumed that I would have a career that would be able to support home ownership and the purchase of a newer vehicle by this time in my life. The reality of life has been both incredibly motivating and also a little bit of a bummer. While I’m living the dream and getting a degree, I’m also doing it while I watch other people my age accumulating wealth, building families, buying homes, investing, and building retirement funds. My car was a symbolic investment. While I might not have all the other stuff down, I was able to finance and pay off a car. I feel like the loss of that car’s premium feeling took away from that sense of accomplishment and left me feeling really “behind the pack”. 

Being offered such a meaningful amount of money as recompense for that car’s loss of premium feel is validating. Yeah, the car that I worked so hard for has lost its shine…but I’m getting a 50% refund on the original purchase cost and I still get to keep the car! The investment I made in myself 8 years ago is actually still reaping rewards this long after the purchase.

Thank you all for the wise words of learned experience I received after my last post. Those words really helped me reach this positive resolution. Now! It’s time to put this behind me for the rest of the week and enjoy spring break! 

Keg party, anyone?