Good afternoon, everyone. I’ll be honest: today has not been the best of days. I was right in the middle of a super busy workday—trying to get things organized and upload a new video for you all—when I heard that sound every car owner dreads. A large truck, while trying to navigate a tight turn, backed right into my Kia.
When I went outside to inspect the damage, my heart just sank. The taillight was completely smashed, and there was a significant dent in the rear bodywork. It’s a used car, sure, but I take care of my things, and seeing "Baby Kia" all mangled like that really put me in a bad mood. What made it worse was the initial reaction from the company that owned the truck. They wanted to just take the car to a garage and have me pay for it, with a vague promise that they’d reimburse me later. I’ve lived in the Philippines long enough to know that if you don’t get proper paperwork or payment upfront, you usually end up stuck with the bill.
I wasn't about to let that happen. Jessa jumped on a bike to head to the police station to get some help, while I stayed with the truck to make sure nobody tried to drive off. There was a bit of a "lost in translation" moment where Jessa thought the police were following her, but they never showed up. It turned out they had turned around just 200 meters from our house! I had to send her back a second time to make sure they actually followed her all the way to the scene.
Once the police arrived, the atmosphere changed completely. They were great—they treated it as a formality and helped us come to a fair agreement. I’m not an unreasonable man; I don’t need the car to be perfect, especially since we’re planning to repaint the whole thing in a few months anyway. I told them that if they gave me 10,000 pesos cash, I’d handle the repairs myself. I already found an aftermarket taillight online for about 5,000 pesos, and I can use a bit of "sparkle" (body filler) and paint to fix the dent. If they’d insisted on a professional garage, it would have cost them 20,000 to 25,000 pesos, so 10k was a win-win for everyone.
The company owner eventually sent someone over with the cash, and we signed the legal accident report at the station. It’s a huge relief to have it settled properly. If you’re ever in an accident here, my advice is always to get the police involved immediately. It turns a messy situation into a documented, legal agreement and saves everyone a lot of stress in the long run.
After all that drama, I was absolutely starving since I hadn't even had breakfast. Luckily, we were invited over to our neighbor's house—a nice Norwegian guy and his family—for a late lunch. They were even kind enough to have some beers waiting, which was exactly what I needed to calm my nerves. Liam even got to visit his "girlfriend" (our neighbor's daughter), which made him a very happy boy after the long day.
I did lose a whole day of work because of this, which means no regular video upload today, but I’m just happy the situation was resolved without a fight. Now, I’m going to sit back, open my last beer, and enjoy the fact that this day is finally over.
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one!
