You have heard of cats and dogs that are taken far away and somehow find their way back home.
Those stories may or may not be true.
But this is a true story.
Three months ago I had a car wreck and my 16 year old car was totaled. No one was injured in either car. But my car was totaled according to the insurance adjuster. It would cost more to fix the car than it was worth so I decided to take the buyout instead of what they offered for repairs.
The wrecker took the car out to Merrifield, Va. where the Honda people had moved their body shop. We went out there and took the tags off and cleaned out the car.
It was badly damaged on the front bumper and the right hand side.
I asked the man what they would do with it. He said they would repair it and sell it.
I wish I had had a camera with me since the lot full of other wrecked cars in all conditions was interesting to look at.
So I got the money the insurance company paid me for the wrecked car. It was 3 times more than I thought it would be.
I thought no more about it.
But last week I left the library across the street from out house and I saw my old car(a 1997 Honda Civic)pulling into the thrift shop parking next to where we live.
I knew it was my car because I could tell by the scratches and damage still on it. They had put a new bumper on it and that was about all.
I went over to talk to the driver. It was a little Korean lady which was interesting in and of itself since I had bought it in 1999 from a nice young Korean couple who were moving back to Korea. He had been a diplomatic foreign service student at Georgetown University. The car only had 14,500 miles on it when I bought it. I drove it until this year and it had only 89,000 miles on it when the wreck happened.
I talked with her. I think she must have bought it at the car auction in Manassas, Va.
She seemed very happy with the car. My car had come home by itself.
I told her it had only 89,000 miles on it. We both looked and she said no it is 29,000 miles. Someone had turned the 8 back to a 2.
I really liked that car but it was time to let it go.
It needed a timing belt change and wasn't getting such great gas mileage anymore.
But it was quite a shock to see my car again.
This is a metro area of over 3 million people. Who would imagine it would show up next door to our house and that I would walk across the street at the exact moment to see it?
And a week later.
I think I saw it again today driving past our house this morning.
