I REFUSE...

My mirrors are both shot.

The passenger-side mirror has been gone for over two years. But yesterday I did something phenomenally stupid on the way to work, which could have been easily avoided.

I cut off a state trooper.

I'm lucky he didn't slap me with three tickets before sending me on my way. He gave me a citation and didn't even see the duct tape on my driver's side mirror... which has been jiggly/loose/detached since I had a scrape with an ATM a while back. It just... SNAPPED! Then it kind of wiggled its way to an unsafe position before we added duct tape to it.

My dilemma:

I had two loans for my car- one that was due to early maintenance (tires, to get the title changed, etc) and the other was the actual car payments for the title. It was a beautiful deal, I can't say that I paid more than $2000 for my car.

So, when the first one broke, the title was still in Big Daddy's name, and I was so freaked out that I IMMEDIATELY went to go get an estimate. The shop (Who Shall Remain Nameless) told me that in order to fix it, they'd have to order in a new part. If I were to buy a part off e-bay, (assuming they'd accept it), they told me I'd be looking at about $300 for labor. If I let them order the part, it would look more like $500.

$500 X 2 = HALF THE PRICE OF MY CAR

I would rather turn my favorite vehicle in to a used dealership and get a newer model than to shell out $1000 I don't really have for two mirrors. I refuse.

Then they offered to cut off the other one so it wouldn't be bouncing against the side of my car as I drove.

I accepted their offer. If I hadn't I could've just had someone shove two screws through it, and I'd be a happy camper. Instead, I got used to checking my blind spot. Constantly.

Unfortunately, I was a little too tired on my way to work, failed to check my blind spot PROPERLY (as in, I knew there was a car there, but I thought it was further back, checked out my window but not the back one, and... yeah), cut off the state trooper.

On the bright side, he was a lot more professional and polite than any of the other law enforcement representatives I've had to deal with. But still...

Yeah. I need to get this taken care of. I need to get them both taken care of.

Does anyone know a good Auto Body shop?