Bill Schuessler was asleep last month when the phone rang in his one-bedroom apartment in the St. Augustine Plaza, a high-rise senior citizen building in Lawrenceville.

The voice on the other end of the line asked him to come down to the lobby. Mr. Schuessler got dressed, took the elevator to the first floor and met two firefighters at the front door. One of them asked what kind of car he owned.

When he described his 1988 beige Honda Accord with 63,000 miles on it, one fireman said it had been hit.

"Did they catch the [person] who did it?" wondered Mr. Schuessler, using an epithet that matches his blunt personality.

"Yes, they did," the fireman replied. "It was me."

Surprised by the forthright answer, Mr. Schuessler then asked what had happened. The fireman said a pumper truck from nearby Engine/Truck Company 6 struck the front left corner of his car while trying to navigate the neighborhood's notoriously narrow streets. They walked him out to the car to look at the damage. The bumper was lying on 36th Street.

"That fireman was a nice guy," Mr. Schuessler said. "I could tell he felt bad about it. He and the other fireman picked up the bumper and managed to put it inside the car by draping one end over the front passenger seat. They thought I'd be able to drive it to a repair garage."

He did the next day, but slowly.

"The [front left] fender had been pushed into the wheel well and the tire was rubbing on it," he said. He drove it to Petraglia Auto Service on Liberty Avenue, a few blocks from his apartment. He was told it would take a few days to get the parts to make his car road worthy.

Because his basic auto insurance policy doesn't cover the cost of a rental when his car is disabled, he assumed the city would pay for the black Ford Focus he got from Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Oakland. He had it a week before he learned the city finance department would cover the cost of a rental car only while his car was in the shop and being worked on.

"As soon as I heard that, I took the rental car right back," he said. "It cost $377. I didn't have it, so I put it on my credit card."

When he returned to Petraglia's after the initial repairs were made to his car, he received an estimate for all of the repair work -- $1,825, including labor and materials. He said Robert Petraglia told him it would take awhile to get the parts for his 21-year-old car.

He mailed the estimate to the city law department.

"I told the city I couldn't afford to pay for the repairs until it sent me a check," Mr. Schuessler said. He's a 76-year-old disabled Korean War veteran whose sole income is the $1,300 a month he receives from Social Security.

Convinced city employees weren't processing his claim as quickly as he thought they should, he sent a hand-printed letter to the Post-Gazette.

"I told them I need my car to get around," he said. "I can't walk more than a block or two because I have no cartilage between my ankle bones. When I walk, my ankle bones are riding bone on bone, which is very painful."

I met Mr. Schuessler at his apartment last week. We looked at his car. It had taken quite a punch. I drove to and spoke to the people in charge at Engine/Truck Company 6, Petraglia Auto Service and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I then called the city law department, was told Mr. Schuessler's claim had been processed and that his check should soon be in his mailbox.

It was. It arrived the next day.

But what about the $377 car rental fee?

I called city Solicitor George Specter and explained Mr. Schuessler's problem.

"We'll take care of the cost of the car rental," Mr. Specter said.

"God love ya," Mr. Schuessler said when I told him the good news. "I really appreciate your help. I don't want this to happen again, so I'm parking half of the car on the sidewalk."

If your car is struck by a vehicle owned by a municipality, contact the city, borough or township as soon as possible. Get the name, job title and phone number of everyone you speak to and keep a photocopy of all paperwork.

Be careful where you park. Accidents happen, especially on narrow, pothole-plagued streets that can become hazardous when covered with snow and ice.

And if your auto insurance policy doesn't cover the cost of a rental car while your car is being repaired after a collision, call the company and ask how much it will cost for that coverage. An insurance agent for the Automobile Association of America said the price ranges between $30 and $45 a year.