My baby has been injured

[Roobuls]

I was driving in the left lane on a 4-lane hwy and the ar...0le next to me (in the right lane) decided to change into my lane without considering how he could do that with me there. I swerved to miss him and hit a wooden pole on the side of the road. Now I am so sad.

:brutal::brutal::brutal:

[Soundofav6]

Tell me he pulled over dude.. sorry for your lost. You should have let him nip your bumper for insurance sake, unless it was a semi.

[brad]

Ouch!

Did the other guy stop or did you get his rego?

Are you OK? What speed were you doing when you hit the post? Was it one of those 100x100 white markers?

Any airbags deploy?

[Roobuls]

No, he didn't stop so but I shot off immediately after the accident and caught up with him several kilometers up the highway. I made him pull over and I got his details.
I had slowed done quite a bit by the time I hit the pole and my airbags didn't go off. The car was still drivable afterwards. I probably did break the speed limit (by a lot) when I was trying to catch up with the guy. Oh well, at least I caught him.

[velly_16v_cab]

i hope you can get some money out of him for it....either that or send da boyz around :rifle:

[Mischa]

No, he didn't stop so but I shot off immediately after the accident and caught up with him several kilometers up the highway. I made him pull over and I got his details.
I had slowed done quite a bit by the time I hit the pole and my airbags didn't go off. The car was still drivable afterwards. I probably did break the speed limit (by a lot) when I was trying to catch up with the guy. Oh well, at least I caught him.

good work dude :driver: sorry to hear though

[mrx]

Annoying for sure, but at least it is still driveable. It will be insteresting to see how long you have to wait for parts - whether VW Australia has a stockpile of things that would commonly need replacing in an accident, like lights, windows, grill, etc.

[JustCruisn]

Ouch.
How big was that pole ?
I don't think you will have any problems with availability of parts for a car that new. Skoda would make more money on spares than car sales.

[KI11Z]

damb! I've had that done to me numerous times but without this tragic outcome, mostly from people in 4WD :mad: Well done for chasing him/her down! did they realise at all?!

[Roobuls]

Yeah, it was a really big Toyota Prado. Geez I hate those big 4WD's on city streets. Ban them to the bush only, I reckon.

He said he heard my swerving and braking but he wasn't aware I'd hit something. Don't know if I can believe that though.
Maybe we should still send the boyz around to his place so he'll never do it again. :)

[gregozedobe]

Sorry to hear of your mishap, but relieved no-one was hurt.


It will be insteresting to see how long you have to wait for parts - whether VW Australia has a stockpile of things that would commonly need replacing in an accident, like lights, windows, grill, etc.

Hopefully the parts you need will be readily available. Grilles and grille surrounds are - I only had to wait for a week for mine.

I'm going to do a complete new grille with a matt/satin black surround, the original chrome looks way too much like a Toyota Avalon grille for my liking :eek:

[Roobuls]

Hopefully the parts you need will be readily available. Grilles and grille surrounds are - I only had to wait for a week for mine.

I got a call from Bowra Panel & Paint (where my cars gone).
They said one of the panels is available ex-east but the headlight and the bumper has to come over from Czech. That'll be about a month to arrive.
They are going to secure everything firmly on the car for me and I'm going in tomorrow to pick it up so I can drive it around until the parts arrive.

[gregozedobe]

I'm a bit surprised Skoda don't have std headlights and bumpers in stock, they would be very common crash repair items.

It might be worth getting a short letter from the crash repairer stating the parts are on order, so you can show it to any police that pull you over for not having a LH headlight (and I'd be driving with the fogs on at night too).

I hope you don't have too long a wait for the repairs.

[mrx]

I'm a bit surprised Skoda don't have std headlights and bumpers in stock, they would be very common crash repair items.

Doesn't surprise me, I have heard of people having trouble even getting a drivers window for their mk5 golf. :frown:

[zz2]

the amount of time i have had to wait for what you think would be common VW parts. the Ossie Park parts dealer ship is currently going through a major reorganisation (im guessing to allow for space for Skoda now) so i wouldnt be surprised if they dont have a lot of parts in stock at the moment.

still Roobuls that really sucks! glad you caught the b...rd.
if you need some help 'teaching them a lesson' i'll help you out... :biggrin:

[gregozedobe]

I ordered a headlight for my Transporter today (I'm upgrading from the single reflector to the better performing twin reflector version) and I was told they had 6 in stock in Sydney, and that is what I would expect (hope for ?) for commonly broken items like that.

[gregozedobe]

My Octy has joined the ranks of the walking wounded !!!

We were doing the grocery shopping this morning and the missus says "Quiet" - Over the PA system comes an announcement "Would the owners of ..... and Skoda Wagon rego Yxx 999 (ie our Octy) please return to your cars as soon as possible".

Hmm, thinks I, this isn't likely to be good. Get out to the car park and there's 4 cops milling about. eek!

Turns out a old (like 84 years old) biddy has mistakenly mashed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake as she is getting into her parking bay (she claimed that her brakes failed, but she hit much too hard for that). Her old Ford Corsair (badge engineered pintara ? ) had ridden up the little island meant to keep cars separate, mounted the front of the car in front of her and then bounced/slid off onto my front right mudguard.

It has pushed my mudguard in about 6 inches just above the front wheel (it is pretty flimsy, I pulled it back out with one hand with very little effort so it wouldn't cut the tyre). I suspect the mounting brackets for either the bumber or the (Xenon) headlight have also been distorted. The bumper has scuffing but no scratches. I'll also want the front end alignment checked. The tyre had no marks on it (just some paint), and the mag wheel looked untouched.

The other car (2 months old Corolla) had more damage at the front as it took most of the impact, while the "at-fault" drivers Ford only seems to have scratches and paint blemishes !

At least no-one was hurt, but the old biddy was very shaken up (I was very calm, just swapped details).

Given the circumstances (only 1 driver present, 2 parked cars damaged, police attendance) I don't think there will be any dispute over who was at fault.

I'm not sure whether to claim from my insurance company (not real keen as I'm sure it will result in higher premiums in the future, and I've never made a claim in over 38 years of driving), claim off her insurer (NRMA) or just pay to get it fixed and try to get the money off her. Any suggestions/comments about the best options ?

A new mudguard costs about $350 and Skoda have them in stock, so I'll make an appointment at Tony Ferrugia's at Fyshwick to get a quote to repair it. I'm told he is one of the best repairers in the ACT Region - does anyone else have personal recommendations ?

[VW Convert]

I'm not sure whether to claim from my insurance company (not real keen as I'm sure it will result in higher premiums in the future, and I've never made a claim in over 38 years of driving), claim off her insurer (NRMA) or just pay to get it fixed and try to get the money off her. Any suggestions/comments about the best options ?

A new mudguard costs about $350 and Skoda have them in stock, so I'll make an appointment at Tony Ferrugia's at Fyshwick to get a quote to repair it. I'm told he is one of the best repairers in the ACT Region - does anyone else have personal recommendations ?

Bad luck Greg, there seems to be a wave of accidents happening to us forum members lately!

There are Pro's and cons to this and no right or wrong answer, and it depends on who you are insured with and their method of processing claims.

When I had my accident back in December I took the option of claiming from the other party's insurance. This gave me the choice of repairer and more or less automatic provision of a replacement car the for the duration (almost 6 weeks now) whereas my insurance would only cover me for 2 weeks, but it did slow down process a little.

Theoretically there should be no black mark against your name as you are not at fault, but a claim is a claim and will be on your record!

Cheers

George

[woofy]

Under no circumstances organise it yourself and get money from the old lady, I know several people who have done just that and it's a world of pain. My landlord was hit by an old lady who offered $20 to fix it.

Go with whoever will let you have the repairer we wanted. Our car was hit by a person we know in a carpark who mashed the front up pretty bad. It was entirely his fault (our car was parked and we were inside!) so we organised it to be repaired with someone who AAMI (his insurer) were also happy with. We then informed RACV what had happened as you are supposed to. 6 mths later when our insurance was due, we found it was a lot more. Turns out RACVs definition of NCB/rating 1 for life is a sham. They did bugger all with the accident but still penalised us, even though we were not at fault, the other person admitted 100% their fault and AAMI did everything.

Enough to say we aren't with RACV anymore....RACV btw is also NRMA elsewhere.

BTW I got both faulty headlights replaced within a fortnight, so they definitely have some lurking in stock.

[mrgolf]

Who are you with? When my MkII got damaged by someone (similar incident to woofy, but on a roundabout with the monger exiting the in the left lane from the right lane...) I claimed through my insurer and they chased the other party... Isnt this the way things just work???

[gerhard]

A truck backed into the mudguard of my Jackaroo a few years ago. It was parked, and I was inside a warehouse. I heard the crunch, but didn't see it, although the storeman saw it all.

I got the truck driver details, and he pleaded with me not to go through insurance because of his claims history, etc, etc.

I thought about his request a bit, then totally rejected and banished the thought of trying to deal direct and extracting $1100 from a stupid truck driver who lived 50ks away across town.

I got a witness statement from the storeman, contacted AAMI and sent all the paperwork to them.

They assessed all the info, and sent me a form

"How your claim affects your Policy"
Policy Excess - You were the innocent party and were able to identify the driver at fault so no excess applies.

No Claim Bonus - From the information provided, you were not at fault and your no claim bonus will continue as if no claim was lodged.

I got my repairer to do the repair and all was good.

From conversations with them, it appeared the driver of the truck had lied about what happened and tried to blame me, and the witness statement I had was the evidence I needed to make it "not his word against mine".

Seems you have a Police statement/report available so your situation is, from a technical sense, almost identical to mine in that the guilty driver was identified irrefutably.

My advice is to claim through your Ins co, but confirm with them first in case there are surprises in the fine print.

[brad]

They assessed all the info, and sent me a form

"How your claim affects your Policy"
Policy Excess - You were the innocent party and were able to identify the driver at fault so no excess applies.

No Claim Bonus - From the information provided, you were not at fault and your no claim bonus will continue as if no claim was lodged.
t.

But what about the yearly policy cost? Was that affected?

I had a policy with AAMI in the early days with a protected NCB, etc and a not-at-fault/other driver identified claim put my renewal up by 20%. AAMI claimed this was because of other factors but getting my girlfriend to get a quote using the same details as mine (but no claims) had the price back to where it was pre-claim.


I agree though - easier to let your insurer be the bully

[gregozedobe]

Who are you with? When my MkII got damaged by someone (similar incident to woofy, but on a roundabout with the monger exiting the in the left lane from the right lane...) I claimed through my insurer and they chased the other party... Isnt this the way things just work???

I'm with Allianz, and have a $1,000 excess. They have told me verbally that I can claim through them and they will chase NRMA (insurer of the at fault driver) for payment and that it won't affect me at all. I'm not totally convinced this will be the case, as once I make a claim I suspect this will affect my premium for the next 5 years ! (based on the questions they ask you when you are applying for insurance cover). This has certainly been the experience of some others. Even if it is not your fault it is still a claim, and goes on your insurance record.


Seems you have a Police statement/report available so your situation is, from a technical sense, almost identical to mine in that the guilty driver was identified irrefutably.

My advice is to claim through your Ins co, but confirm with them first in case there are surprises in the fine print.

Yes, no problem apportioning blame in my case, but I need to work through the fine print and decide what is best for me in the long term. I need to consider the long term results, not just what is cheaper this year. If I am slugged a higher premium for each of the next 5 years then it may be cheaper in the long run to pay for the repairs myself.

If it is better for me to pay up front for the repairs (ie not making a claim on my insurance) whether I can get any money from the other driver or not then that is what I'll do. I'll get my car assessed first, once I know how much repairs will cost I'll have a better idea which is the best way for me to go.

I wonder how the corolla's driver reacted ? They would have come out to their pranged (two month old) car with just a note from the police under the wiper.

[gerhard]

But what about the yearly policy cost? Was that affected?



No. Premium remained at $480 after the claim.

[gerhard]

I wonder how the corolla's driver reacted ?

On a lighter note, the husband probably paid out on his missus " I told you we should have got the 4WD with steel bullbar." :)