As traffic “accidents” go, it was barely a fender bender.

I struck the extreme rear portion of a SUV’s driver’s side rear quarter panel early in the evening at an intersection just over a half a block from my home.

It knocked a wheel cover off their vehicle.

The visible damage were a set of scratches on the SUV.

I thought I had survived the collision with virtually no damage.

That was until I was able to drive to an area where there was light.

The passenger’s side front bumper on my 2017 Ford Focus had a silver dollar sized hole punched through it with some scratches.

The headlight assembly’s clear plastic cover was broken and cracked.

It had been well over 18 years since my last “accident.”

And it’s “accident” because extremely rare are vehicle collisions where one or both drivers didn’t contribute more than significantly to making it happen.

In the case of the latest incident, it was first and foremost a right of way issue on my part with a clear dose of misjudging distance and speed.

In the 2006 incident, the driver of a Honda Civic at a traffic light on Yosemite Avenue took her foot of the brakes and slightly tapped the gas before the light changed.

She ended up striking and going slightly under the rear bumper of the 2005 Ford Escape I was driving.

Given the experience of how a slight tear in my rear bumper ended up costing AAA more than $2,500 to replace, I had visions of my damages exceeding that.

After all, that was 18 years ago.

I also thought it would be the start of a hassle, with the worst part being able to get a claim adjuster to look at the car and give the OK for repairs to be started.

I was wrong.

A call 20 minutes later to provide the basic information along with the uploading of photos of damage to both vehicles got the ball rolling.

Did I mention this happened the night before Thanksgiving?

I got email confirmation back and the adjuster tried to contact me on Friday for follow up questions regarding the body shop I planned to use, but I missed the call.

The reason had everything to do with my unorthodox work hours, and the fact the adjuster was working out of the East Coast with a three-hour time difference.

Fast forward to Thursday.

I got my Ford Focus back.

The insurance company was on the hook for $1,500 after I paid my $500 deductible.

That surprised me in terms of how expensive it wasn’t.

But then we often forget how things have changed for the better.

The same innovative approach car makers have taken in the last three decades plus to create crumple zones and use of materials to drastically reduce injuries and the loss of lives in collision has also been applied to dealing with minor collisions.

It might seem like a bizarre statement to make given how we squawk about the price of stuff and “how they don’t make things like they used to.”

But in reality, the severity of collisions in terms of the degree of injuries has plummeted over the years.

At the same time, low-key collisions on the lower end of the fender bender spectrum are often less involved in repairing.

Long gone are the days of monolith bumpers made of steel.

Cars manufacturers no longer turn out 3,500-pound battering rams, give or take a half of a ton.

There were two non-demolition, meaning new, replacement parts put on the Focus.

One was the headlight assembly coming in at $464. The other was a bumper cover for $489.

The two parts represented half of the repair tab.

The $464 for the headlight assembly sounds like a lot, until you consider how it is designed and the fact the lamp itself and the accompanying LED lighting have worked seven plus years without an issue.

As for the bumper cover, it is a heck of a lot less expensive  than replacing the entire bumper.

The car I drove off of the Brooks Auto Body Shop lot in terms of the bumper et al looked as good — if not better — than the day I drove it new off Phil Waterford’s Manteca Ford lot.

That’s due to their workmanship and Detroit ingenuity.

Also being updated by an app as opposed to having to call the body shop is 10 times better than how things were done 18 years ago.

You know the drill.

They’d tell you the car would be ready Wednesday but check back in case. You typically ended up having to call back several days to see what day your car would finally be ready. 

Checking an app to see the status of your car and planning accordingly is much better.

I would expect delays and other issues to pop up. 

Parts get delayed. Staffing issues may arise.

I don’t want a body shop to take their sweet time, but I don’t want them to rush it either.

After the house, the car is my most expensive possession.

Dealing with AAA was as good as always.

That said, being able to handle a small collision by relying on photos and feedback from the body shop’s inspection without an adjuster dropping by reduces the time and stress.

One interesting aside, not only was the accident under a block away from my driveway but so was the auto body shop as the drone flies, but in the other direction.

That likely qualifies as being a bit unusual.

But then again, it might not be the most unusual thing from the perspective of AAA that I’ve been insured with since 1972.

Back in 1998, I received a call from a AAA staffer in San Fransisco.

They had some “follow up” questions regarding the annual mileage we were reporting for each of our two vehicles that we drove to work.

This is when we were married and living on Pine Street.

After getting our work addresses, she wanted to know how far I drove one way to work.

I said half a mile.

Then, she asked about Cynthia.

I said three quarters of a mile.

There was a slight pause before she said that was really unusual.

I replied that if I have to wait behind a car at the stop sign to make a left turn, it qualified as a bad commute.

Then she asked, with a slight laugh to her voice, “are you sure you’re in California?”

We moan and groan about things such as insurance and the cost of auto repairs when we are in the thick of the woods.

That’s whether it is sending a premium payment electronically at the time of a month when expenses are piling up, or when work is being done on our  crunched vehicle.

But if you take a look at the overall forest, things are working.

And even though most of us aren’t flush with money, they are working at a reasonable cost.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com