A first major wreck & DIY auto body repair testimonial

It was Wednesday, September 22, 2021; the time was 7:35 in the morning; I got in a wreck. It all happened so fast on my way to work. Driving down I-26 toward Spartanburg, I went to get over to get off at my exit for work. I work at Broad River Paint & Body and as I went to get over on the interstate my rear tires started to spin, then I started to hydroplane and slide sideways. As I slid sideways I gripped the steering wheel and tried to correct, but not over correct the hydroplane. It did no justice as I slid into the guardrail and fully lost all control. After I hit the guardrail, I shot back across two lines and hit an AT&T van in the third lane. It crushed the left side of my 2001 Silverado. It also ruined the AT&T van, as when I ran into him, he spun in a circle twice and hit the brick median. The left and right side of his van was smashed. After we both stopped moving and gathered ourselves, we pulled over to the side of the road. We both spoke to each other and he told me that the van he was driving was being taken to the junkyard, so hitting him was the best case scenario. One of the other AT&T vans that saw the wreck pulled over too. He got out of his van and checked on both of us. After I pulled over and got out my truck, I first called my dad and then my mom. The police showed up to the other wreck that had happened behind us as I wrecked, so we waited for the officer to finish helping them, then come over to us. When he finally came over to us, he asked the person I hit what happened and then asked me for my side of the story. He then gave me a ticket for driving “too fast for conditions”.

A week and a half later, I had to go to court to try and get my ticket dropped from my record so I would not gain points on my license. When arriving at court with my dad with me, we had to wait in a line behind all the other people who had gotten tickets from the same police officer who gave me mine. Once it was my turn to explain to the officer why he should drop my ticket, we had to wait for the witness to come, but he never showed up. Since the witness never showed up to court, the ticket was dropped and no points were added to my license.

Now that court is out of the way, my dad and I are planning on repairing my truck on our own. My dad is a body man and fixes cars daily, so he has a lot of knowledge on how to repair my truck. We have gone looking for parts on the internet and at junkyards. We have a couple of possible trucks we could have gotten parts from, but no one wants to call us back. It is kind of at a stand still right now, until we find someone ready to sell us the parts we need to be able to fix my truck. “It isn’t an easy process, but getting to go through it with my son makes it worth it,” says Chris Morrison, my dad. The finished product of my truck is to be continued.