OK, so I'm on a trek out to the west coast to deliver a Porsche 911 I sold and I'm heading west out of Albuquerque NM on I-40. I'm about 25 miles west and cresting the end of a very long uphill section of road, in a light rain, cruising along in the right lane with a whole bunch of traffic behind and alongside me. I'm doing 65 with the Porsche on my rollback trailer as I come to the crest of the hill when the guy in the car in front of me suddenly and without any kind of warning swerves out of the lane we're in (barely avoiding slamming into the car in the lane next to and in front of me). A second later I see a real large object sitting sideways in my lane. I got nowhere to go. Can't stop without getting rear ended by the semi behind me. Can't change lanes without taking out the car alongside (and me), and there's a pickup truck parked on the shoulder with 2 people standing looking at the object in the road.
So, long story short, I just hung on and hit the thing. All I saw was bits and pieces flying everywhere. I slow down and pull off the road, thanking GOD I'm still alive. Get out of the truck and walk to the front to see the left corner of the bumper all smashed up. When traffic cleared, I slowly backed up the truck and trailer the 1/2 mile or so to the pickup.
Turns out the people in the truck were bringing home a brand new sofabed they had just picked up and clearly hadn't tied down very well (note to those who put things in the back of a pickup...... bungie cords aren't the best idea when lashing down a load at 65MPH). First question I asked was "everybody OK"? Next question "please tell me you have insurance"?
Thank GOD the Porsche isn't damaged.
So we exchange information. The lady who was in the car that got cutoff came back and offered her info (just in case). No one else stopped. I kept going, but called 911 and had a local Sheriff meet me for the report, just in case.
Got back home and dropped off the truck for repair. New bumper cover and crashpad, a bracket and the LF foglight assembly and the LF inner fender liner. Their insurance covered the whole thing and company vehicles was thrilled that they didn't have to pay for it. Easy-Peasy. They even popped for a brand new Q-56 loaner for a week.
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Needless to say, I'm impressed that the Armada can take a hit.
Just put in my order for the next one. Exactly the same but for color, a sunroof and the rear DVD monitors. This one will be Smoke with a charcoal interior.
So, long story short, I just hung on and hit the thing. All I saw was bits and pieces flying everywhere. I slow down and pull off the road, thanking GOD I'm still alive. Get out of the truck and walk to the front to see the left corner of the bumper all smashed up. When traffic cleared, I slowly backed up the truck and trailer the 1/2 mile or so to the pickup.
Turns out the people in the truck were bringing home a brand new sofabed they had just picked up and clearly hadn't tied down very well (note to those who put things in the back of a pickup...... bungie cords aren't the best idea when lashing down a load at 65MPH). First question I asked was "everybody OK"? Next question "please tell me you have insurance"?
Thank GOD the Porsche isn't damaged.
So we exchange information. The lady who was in the car that got cutoff came back and offered her info (just in case). No one else stopped. I kept going, but called 911 and had a local Sheriff meet me for the report, just in case.
Got back home and dropped off the truck for repair. New bumper cover and crashpad, a bracket and the LF foglight assembly and the LF inner fender liner. Their insurance covered the whole thing and company vehicles was thrilled that they didn't have to pay for it. Easy-Peasy. They even popped for a brand new Q-56 loaner for a week.
Needless to say, I'm impressed that the Armada can take a hit.
Just put in my order for the next one. Exactly the same but for color, a sunroof and the rear DVD monitors. This one will be Smoke with a charcoal interior.