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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/GabinkaP on 2023-07-17 05:50:53.

On June 22, as I was driving Uber and going to pick up a passenger in room 206 of a motel, I mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal and drove into room 207. Thankfully, no one was in room 207.

I caved in the door, window, and wall of room 207. Thankfully Uber has insurance. They’ll pay for the motel. They’ll pay to fix my car minus a sizeable deductible. So we’re out $2500 and I’m out of income. Husband still works but I only had Uber. Can’t drive until the car gets fixed or I rent a car. I tried twice to rent a car for Uber but the rental places didn’t have cars to rent for Uber.

But man, this hit me hard. Two days before, one of my younger sisters literally just dropped dead. Don’t know if my shock over that was a factor. I wanted to turn back time so I wouldn’t do it. But, of course, that was impossible. I just wanted it not to be true. I dreamt about it. I had just had a dash cam installed, so I looked to see if the crash was recorded. It was. I could watch the cabin view but not the forward view. I skipped to the end to confirm it was the crash then sent the files to the insurance adjuster. I still feel very ashamed. But the trauma of it has backed off.

I was hoping my car was totalled as that would get me back on the road the fastest. We’d get a big check minus the deductible. We could pay off the loan on the car (less than $5000) and put a down payment on the next, better car. Even had one picked out. More range (my car is electric) and more safety features.

But we only got to 85% of totalled so we have to wait for them to finish the car. I took it in for the estimate on the 27th I think. Dropped it off for repair on July 6th. All told, that’s pretty quick. But not when you have bills to pay, groceries to buy, and you’re short one of your 2 incomes. Every week that I pull in a $0 is more money coming from savings to cover.

I did sign up with Tend and worked one day of a Taylor Swift concert, handing out the light bracelets. Got a little over $100 for my time.

We’ve had to pull in $1000 from savings to make ends meet. Then we had to pull $2500 from savings to cover that deductible. Pulled more because our sump pump had issues after a storm. I’m glad we have the savings and don’t have to go into more debt. But I hate gutting the savings this way.

We went from $10,000 in various savings accounts to having just under $6000. So far. The repair place thinks they’ll have my car done by the middle of next week. Unless I can get a full-time job (Uber in an electric car that gets 100 miles of range is a part-time gig), it will be years before we can build up our savings again. I have applied even for retail jobs but haven’t been accepted. I’m probably considered overqualified.

TL;DR I drove my car into a motel by hitting the accelerator instead of the brake.