Bay Bridge survivor: Give me my Lexus!

October 30, 12:14 AMSF Autos ExaminerMichael Sheena

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Would these glasses have fallen off while avoiding falling bridge parts? (source: lexus)

If you ask me, managing to avoid being crushed by a 5,000 pound chunk of steel seems like a pretty good way to remember October 2009.  However, Andrea Nelson has managed to look past the gift of life and long for her Lexus.  Ms. Nelson's Lexus was one of the three cars smashed in the recent Bay Bridge fiasco and now she wants restitution.

It is not that Ms. Nelson does not have a car to drive around in, she already has a rental, it is just that she doesn't like it, telling a reporter from KTVU,

It's a Mazda five something. I don't like it.

Apparently European style people movers are not her thing.  I wonder, is it the sliding doors?  That seems to get a lot of people riled up.  Has everyone forgotten Get Shorty?  Chili Palmer loved his Oldsmobile Silhouette and a big part of that love was for the power sliding door.  It was the Cadillac of minivans!

Okay so she doesn't like her rental car, but at least she has wheels.  It should also be mentioned that Goodyear has offered to give her four free tires.  Now that the car has been totaled, I doubt that it would do her much good, but it is a gesture.  Ms Nelson's response?

I would love it if Lexus would contact me and offer a new car to replace mine.  That's what would make me really happy.

You know what would make me happy?  Having just avoided being smashed by 5,000 pounds of steel in some sort of freak bridge accident and being told by my body shop "How lucky I was to be in that size of a car and that nothing else happened."

According to Ms. Nelson, Caltrans has said that it could be up to three months before claim is fully processed.  This is a shocking bit of news?  Caltrans has bridges with parts falling off and you expect them to get all Geico Gecko and process your claim in a week?  I will show you exactly what is happening to your claim, just click here.

I wish Ms. Nelson all the best, but I certainly hope that she reflects on the positives of this event.  The Lexus is just a car, it will be replaced, while her irreplaceable life is fully intact.  I'll leave you with a cheery little number from Monty Python. 

Have a great Friday everyone!