"3 Flakes of Blue Paint"

This is Jeff, about to be a college junior, with his Dad and little brothers, in front of his 1991 Lincoln Town Car. I bought this car for Jeff when he turned 18 for $2000, because he was 6'3" and still growing. (the car only had 92,000 miles on it). Last night, he called me when he got back to college to say there had been a minor fender bender on his 275 mile trip, but there appeared to be no harm. He called today to expound upon it.

Traffic had been crawling on I-70 in Maryland. Suddenly, the cars in front of Jeff slammed on their brakes; he did too. The guy behind him did not. About that time, while his sister and her roommate were screaming in hysteria, one of his brothers called. Jeff was rear ended by a Honda, which had a smashed headlight and grill, folded hood and spider web cracked windshield. He saw no visible damage to his car, so his brother advised him to not call the police & wait a couple of hours for them to show up, since Honda guy was begging Jeff to take Honda guy's name, phone number and mother's business card and let it go. Honda's mother called Jeff today to ask what damage Jeff had that she needed to pay for; his response was, "I found 3 flakes of blue paint on my back bumper. My mother will paint it next spring." Honda & his mom are happy, and I am delighted that I got my big son a big, safe car to drive. Jeff swears he'll never let his Town Car go.

A potentially terrible situation averted. Thankfully, all of my other college kids got back safe and sound.