Catemaco Accident

A US tourist had a fender bender with a local car today. The accident was settled on the spot with 300 dollars in travelers checks.

That guy was lucky!

In provincial Mexico, most cars travel without insurance and the custom is to come to a financial arrangement on the spot between the concerned parties. If the traffic police become involved, a fender bender becomes a nightmare with or without insurance.

A sloppy driver recently bumped my parked car without damage. Within minutes he was surrounded by 20 police officers of different stripes. An hour later a tow truck arrived to take his car to the police impound, and the last I heard, it cost the poor unlicensed young driver 10,000 pesos to both get the car back and the police off his neck.

A few months earlier, another stupid driver backed into my property wall. He, too,  was towed, but unfortunately my Popoluca settled for monthly payments for the damage. Consequently, the driver defaulted without recourse for me.

A year or so before that I backed into a lamp post and am now having my reputation besmirched as a destroyer of "patrimonio nacional" (national treasure).

They should have towed the lamp post that hit me!