Your "worst/scariest/funniest car" stories

[renren]

Well, had a thought (it happens!) that it might be amusing to share our bad car stories.
The amusing, the horrifying, the strange.. go ahead!

I'll start with one of mine!
Coming home from an afternoon shift(porbly about 1130 at night, ain wintertime)at the hospital,start up my little "k" cartype of vehicle... turn on the heat, warm it a little, turn on the radio... Off I go!
Yup, going good, turn off onto the highway, drive for a while... gee, the head lights,are they getting dim? No, don't think so... drive a little further...Uh-OH! they ARE! Heat from the heater...not so hot...Oh crap! shut the radio off, save on the battery......NO! shut the heat off... keep going.
The lights are dimming more.... car sputters..NO WAY! shut off the lights,notice flashlight on the seat.
Turn on the flashlight, use it to see, driving on the shoulder..(no cell phone then, just gotta get home!)
No-one on the highway to help(or give me a ticket!)
Made it home, was a nail-biter, tho.  Loose wire somewhere,draining the battery.

[Lady_Claira]

Let's see... My worst car story...

For me it was the worst thing to ever happen. But when you guys read it you will probably laugh at me because now that I look back, it really wasn't that bad.

A week after I got my license was tech week of my high school senior musical. So mom was letting me drive the van to school so that I could drive home. During tech week I usually wouldn't leave the school till 7 or 8 or sometimes even 9 at night so during dinner break I would drive down the street to subway to get a sub and then come back and go back to practicing the different dance routines and music numbers in our show. (we were doing a broadway review)

So Wednesday happens. We finally got to play with our pianist only to find out that he's had the music a month and still can't play it. We open on Friday night. This is not good. So we fired him. We had a friend there who was helping direct. (I was actually one of four student directors, so it was good that he was there) And he starts listing ideas of who we should call who can learn music quickly.

I'm really upset about this. We have paid this guy and he couldn't play it. Granted it wasn't our fault. We gave him the music ahead of time. But come dinner break, I'm like "I gotta get out of here. I don't want pizza with everyone else and I need my 5 mins alone" So I hop in the van and drive down the street to Subway.

I park in the back of the parking lot and far away from the entrance because it isn't one of the lots were you can just pull through. You have to back into the space if you want to just pull out. Otherwise, you are backing out. Now I suck at backing out so I'm like, I'm just gonna park away from everyone. I go inside, laugh because my mom is there with my brothers getting dinner before they leave for boyscouts.

I go back outside with my tuna sub and get nervous because I see a car parked next to mine. This car is parked close enough were you couldn't get into the driver's side if you wanted to. You would have to crawl through the car.

I'm nervous, but I know I have to get back to rehearsal, so I get in the car and back out and i hear this sickening 'crunch'

I back away park the car and get out. I have hit the other car. I lost it. (Now granted when I say hit the other car I mean scraped it up... and scraped up the van... no dents or anything else). I walk back into subway and over to my mom in tears and I whisper to her that I just crashed the car. I'm crying. I'm absolutely terrified that my mom is taking my license from me. I'm freaked. She calmly walks out with me to wait for the family of the other car to walk out.

The mom of the other family goes. "Well, you're new and it was an accident and you didn't run off, so let's not exchange insurance info. Just give me your name and phone number and address and I'll give you mine and then we'll call you when we find out how much it will cost to repair it.

A week later we still haven't gotten a call yet so we call them and she goes. "Oh no big deal. I'll tell you when I know" A month later we call and she says the same thing. She never called us back.

Now looking back on it, it really wasn't that bad. But at the time is scared me to no end. Now I'm so incredibly careful in parking lots. LOL

[Taffy Saltwater]

Until this week, the worst thing was the brakes going out - on the way to the mechanic - and tapping the bumper of the truck in front of me.  He came out, said no problem, and hoped I made it to the garage safely.  Nice guy.  Mechanical issues - just plain scary.  I always try to park in pull throughs because of the huge number of huge vehicles that there is no seeing around.

Now this week my Chevy Metro was rear ended by a Cherokee.  Can you say totalled?  Of course the other vehicle didn't even have a scratch.  Thank Heaven I have another "Taffy Saltwater" sticker for my future vehicle, and maybe a "Drive Aloha" in a box somewhere.

[Welsh Wench]

Oh jeez-where do I start?

I had a 1988 Monte Carlo SS in perfect shape--black cherry.
So I go into the store in an older neighborhood. Lock the car. I went in for eggplant to make eggplant parmesan for a baby shower.

I come out and look around. I said to the Pepsi driver, "Dude--DID YOU SEE MY CAR?"
He said, "Yeah--I thought you left."

My car was stolen in ten minutes. I filed a police report and then the dreaded phone call to my husband.
I can't print what he said.

So I am home and the police came to my door and asked for him. I said, "He's not home. Is this about my car?"
"Yes."
"Come in."
They start backing up and I said, "What's wrong with you guys? It was stolen."
"What?"
"My car. It was stolen."
"Can you prove it?"
"HUH?"
I had to show them the police report.

Bottom line is this--whoever stole the car used it within a half hour in an armed robbery outside the mall. The police dept didn't enter it into their computer yet and they were looking for my husband as the robber!
My neighbor told me there were two sharpshooters in my back yard.
Yeah, like this is the Old West.

The car was found on the southside of town three weeks later. The wheels were gone, alot of parts taken off. They were in the middle of hoisting the engine out with a chain when they were interrupted. All windows were smashed.

Moral of the story: Some people just don't like eggplant.

[QueenofDragons]

Well, I've had a few accidents, some worse than others, in the 25+ yrs I've been driving...the stupidest thing ever was recently, leaving bro and SIL's teeny apt where nephew's bday party was held, my nerves were jangled, driving through NYC metro traffic, parents decide to follow me??? I'm the most prone to lost-ness ever, etc, the party was crazy, disorganized, stressful, crazy relatives (not mine, I can handle them) unsupervised kids (also not mine)you name it, and I just wanted to get HOME. 

I was behind a tractor trailer and found myself in an EZPASS only lane...I freaked and started backing up, the cop came over and read me the riot act, I agreed totally, near tears, he let me go but the stupidity of it hasn't left me yet.  Turns out you just get scolded if you wind up in the ezpass lane..but I am not making another road trip without ezpass!

[knarlyknot]

Well, I have a few.  First one, upon receiving my first car I told my Dad that my worst fear was my car catching on fire.  His response was that I watch too much tv.  Well, you should know where this is going.  Yup, a few months later I'm driving down the road when my car dies so I pull off the side of the road.  I call my boyfriend and tell him that I've broken down so he can come get me.  In the meantime it starts to smoke and then....it caught on fire!  By the time he gets there the fire department is on the scene and my car is engulfed.  The phone call I made to my Dad was priceless.

Second, this one involves bad brakes.  I knew my brakes were bad so I went over to my Dad's house so he could follow me to the mechanic.  Well, I never park in my Dad's driveway, but for some unknown reason I do this day.  My Dad's driveway is very, very steep, so when I put it in reverse I fly out of the driveway and end up turning the wheel so that I end up backing into his neighbor's driveway, just missing his house.  I'm still amazed at both the sheer stupidity of the situation and the fact that nothing got damaged.

And lastly, while leaving the parking lot of my hubby's work, I backed into another car.  What was funny was the parking spots were straight parking spots, so I looked over both shoulders but not straight behind me.  Did I mention that the guy behind me was backing out too, so we backed into each other.  Crazy!

[CatAshtrophy]

My worst car story is also the luckiest day of my life. I was taking the long drive home from college the first or second time I was able to go home to visit. The drive was long and boring and all highway and interstate. I was on the highway going 70 mph, and on the shoulder ahead of me was an 18-wheeler parked on the side of the road. The driver was getting out and walking around and kept walking in my lane. I was still far enough off to give him space so I decided to change lanes. On my second check of my blind spot I notice that a car is where I was trying to be. Not good. I overcorrect to return to my lane and loose control of my vehicle. The car swishes this way and that and there is no forcing the wheel to do what it should. My car hits the back of the car that was beside me in during the midst of the wreck we manage to change lanes with each other. I was able to gradually come to a stop without hitting anything else, and the other drive (thank God) was able to come to a fairly slow stop as well, but wound up in the brush. Had he come to a stop just a foot over, he would have hit a tree, and I don't know what would have happened then.

When all was said and done, nobody was hurt at all. The driver of the 18 wheeler left the scene before any emergency responders arrived. I had had an open bag of cheetos in my car and not a cheeto was displaced for me. My car was drivable but a bit banged up. The other driver's car was not so lucky and couldn't be driven. I got a ticket for my "failure to control vehicle," which I wasn't too happy about, 'cause I would have very much liked to control my vehicle.

I still consider it the luckiest day of my life though. I could have been hurt or killed and so could have the other driver. It has made me much a better driver. I'm very aware of it because about a year later I lost a friend in a wreck returning to college, and then about a year or so after that I witnessed a bloody wreck on the same road my accident happened.

[volans]

My first vehicle was a 1992 ford f-150 pick up truck. You couldn't turn the engine on without first turning on the lights, a security measure my dad put on cause we couldn't afford an alarm. The dashboard on the passenger's side was half hanging off so when we went down he beach or down a particularly bumpy road, whoever was in the passenger's side had to kneel on the floorboard and hold it up with their shoulder. No a/c in south texas. It couldn't go in reverse without the transmission doing weird things and stalling the engine. It was an automatic.

I loved that truck.

[Hoowil]

Oh wow, where to start?

Lets see, I had an 84 dodge colt, that had been 'fixed' by somebody a few owners before, so that the battery cables weren't right. They weren't hooked to the right places, and weren't the right colors. So I had the thing a couple months and the battery went dead. Hey, no problem right? Took it out, hooked it up to a charger, put it back, and bingo, the car fires right up. Thinking back, I'm really not sure how the thing started up, as the cables were backwards now, as I put them back according to color. Drove down to the local post office to pick up a package. When I got back to the car, it wouldn't start, wouldn't crank, wouldn't do anything. A concerned driver helped me out, by puilling up his f350 next to me, and we hooked up cables. He jumped into his truck to fire it up for a little extra juice. As soon as his truck started, the entire wiring harness of my car went up in flames. That was the last I saw of that car, as it sat burning in a parking lot.

Few years later I bought an 86 AMC Eagle wagon. Now that was a car. THis was back when I lived up in Alaska, and some of the highways aren't exactly well maintained. Coming home form an afternoon in the next town, I blew the front left tire. As the car started to swerve to the left, I did what you're supposed to, and turned into the swerve, while releasing the gas. Don't know if I over steared, or hit a bad patch of road, but the car gives a lurch, and I hear a crack. The front end dips real low. Some how the upper ball join on the tire that blew gave o9ut, right as the car was just past straightening out. As the wheel folded under, the fender caught the road. This was at probably about 50-60 mph. I did vehicular cartwheels for a couple hundred feet down the road before rolling off the side, and into a mountain. I only ended up with a scrape on the back of my head, and some badly bruised bones in my left hand. There was soem minor road rash on the back of my hand, and near as I can tell, my hand thankfully flew up between my head and the window when the car went up on that side, saving my head from going through the glass onto the road. I still ahve some nerve damage in my shoulder that makes my arm go numb randomly, but no real/serious injuries.
It was two days after I finished paying off the car.

As for kind of funny, but scary at the same time, when I was a kid, my dad and I borrowed my aunts f250 to run some errands (think dump), and stopped at a local fast food place for lunch. When we came out, ther was a lady parked next to us whose car wouldn't start. My dad offered to give her a jump start. We hooked up the cables, and my dad reached in through the window to start the truck. Appearantly some vehicles with manual transmissions can indeed start, with the clutch out, while in gear. The truck fired up, and began to lurch and surge across the parking lot. It went, bouncing and lurching, up and over the entire passenger side of a brand new 280z that was waiting to get out of the parking, and into traffic by the time we could react enough to get to it and shut it off. The gentleman in the 280z was thankfully by himself, and completely unharmed. Really really confused, but unharmed.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Many years ago I was drivin' crash firefighting trucks in the AF. It was basically a 40 foot,  67,000 pound shoe box with 4 axles and two of the most cold blooded  engines ya ever did see. Both engines powered the truck but only one had a power steering pump. The other engine produced  vacuum for the power brakes. Either engine, if not thoroughly warm, would quit if you lifted your foot off the gas pedal. One night we get a ground emergency on a parked A-10. The Hawg's were parked in 4 rows of about 50, 1/2 mile from the crash station. We gets to the specified spot an sure as s**t, both engines die. So here we is coasting at 30 mph, with no steering and no brakes, between two rows of 30 million $ each aircraft. Gots both feet on the dashboard trying ta turn the wheel an about 2 square feet of seat cushion sucked up deep where the sun don't shine.

[KeeperoftheBar]

Back when I was in college (about 1978) I drove a 1964 Mercury Monterey.  It needed some electrical work in the rear but it was always a "I'll get to it someday" type of repair.  I had no rear tail-lights but if I turned on the right turn signal, it would light up but not flash, so I drove at night with it on.  One night on my way home, I noticed a policeman following me.  As I came to my turn, I started signaling by moving the turn lever up and down.  I stepped on the brake to take the turn when the cop's lights started flashing (thank goodness no siren).  I pulled over and the Highway Patrolman came up and said I had only one tail light.  I played totally ignorant and thanked him for letting me know.  He said, "I was going to let you go on that.  I saw you begin signaling and the light went on and off but when you stepped on the brake, all hell broke loose back there."  I got off with just a warning.  Sometimes feigned ignorance is a bliss.

[PurpleDragon]

I think it was in 1998 when this happened: I was driving my 1996 Hyundai Accent, 3 door hatchback, myself, my ex-wife, Interstate 59 in SW Houston, speed = 65 MPH.  Plywood sheet = 8 ft by 4 ft standing straight up in front of me, I cut the wheels sharply to the left and we start spinning (ex-wife starts screaming and crying like a crazy woman [think Jamie Lee Curtis in the 70's horror flicks]), we spin on the freeway a complete 540 degrees so we have spun one and a half times and are now facing Northbound in the Southbound lanes.  There must have been someone watching over us because the oncoming traffic was a half a mile back which gave me the chance to recover (slightly mentally) and turn the car around and continue on to work (long enough to tell my boss I won't be in that day because of what just happened to my nerves).

[*Teach*]

2 stories
The first is an irony. One morning, as my Dad was driving me to drivers ed, we got into a head on collision with another car. Yes, thats right... I got into my first wreck on the way to drivers ed
(not giving any other details... it wasnt a pretty wreck)

The second is the funny. I was driving along the I-10 in a shower bringing 2 nieces back home to my sister. It wasn't raining hard... just enough for there to be water on the road when I went into a hydroplane spin. I spun from the right hand lane across the left and into the grass in the middle of the highway. As I am sitting there trying to get my heart to start beating again I hear a tiny voice from the back seat "Mama says we're not allowed to play in the ditch". Once I was done laughing, I called a friend to pull us out of the ditch in the middle of the highway and brought them all home.

*I have no driving stories that involve rum*

[Noble Dreg]

I think it was in 1998 when this happened: I was driving my 1996 Hyundai Accent, 3 door hatchback, myself, my ex-wife, Interstate 59 in SW Houston, speed = 65 MPH...

They can go that fast???

[PurpleDragon]

I think it was in 1998 when this happened: I was driving my 1996 Hyundai Accent, 3 door hatchback, myself, my ex-wife, Interstate 59 in SW Houston, speed = 65 MPH...

They can go that fast???

Hey now.. I could get it going faster, but we had to be going downhill with a strong tailwind.

Actually, that little car had a LOT of power for being only a four cylinder.  I was bummed when I finally HAD to get rid of it.. had over 200,000 miles on it at the time.  (Now I drive a 2005 Chevy Cavalier or a 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT QuadCab depending on the day of the week).