Bash!!

[MFGF]

Driving home from dropping my daughter at work, a woman in a Toyota Aygo coming the opposite way decided she had right of way to pass a parked truck on her side by swerving onto my side of the road. I did the only thing possible to avoid a head-on smash and stood on the brakes. My oh my! Does my car stop quickly!!! The silly woman had the audacity to peep her horn at me as she just missed the front of my car on her way though. Next moment... BANG!! I was hit from behind by another woman in a Citroen C1. My poor car is a little worse for wear from meeting the C1 like that.






The bumper and valance are beyond repair by the looks of things. The exhaust has been pushed forwards and is pressing against the rear wheelarch liner and contacting the car body somewhere. There is damage to the spare wheel well and perhaps the boot floor - I dare not open the boot to check in case it won't close again. The main part of the bumper has recovered itself to it's old shape, so the car doesn't look too bad from a distance, but it was a big bang - enough to make the tax disc fly out of it's holder!

The woman who hit me said she had chest pains and was going to the hospital to get checked. I seem to have escaped completely intact, although a little shaken. Thank you Audi for making such a safe car!

MF.

[TopherGeorge]

Ah crap not good. I do know your pain though. Been there a few years ago with an Octavia and same thing happened. It should all repair though from experiance, you will defiantly need a new exhaust etc but it should be back on the road soon. I hope. Keep me posted

[mikenott]

Sorry to hear about your incident. Good that you (and other driver) OK. Interesting to thnk about what the outcome could have been a few years ago without the additional safety measures incorporated into both cars..... Metal is metal and can be replaced. People are more fragile. I read an interesting article by the guy who led the safe car through technology campaign in the USA for many years from the 1970's. He postulated that by designing safe cars without the same focus on driving habits, that many American drivers drive fast because they feel invulnerable in their safe car and that the car would protect them for harm. He was partly saying that they took the wrong path, but I personally feel that a balance is required. But with much more emphasis on driving habits.

Michael.

[Guest 2]

First your C6, now your C7. You have worse luck than me!

From past experiences, if your spare wheel well is damaged the car is a Cat D but I'm not an insurance assessor so let them decide that.

Glad you're ok Mark, it's only a car afterall (albeit a very nice one!) and done its job to protect you.

[Brycie]

Really sorry to hear about this. Hope you get it back in top nick very soon.

[MFGF]

Thanks for the kind thoughts and wishes!

From past experiences, if your spare wheel well is damaged the car is a Cat D but I'm not an insurance assessor so let them decide that.

Yikes! Really?? So my just-over-6-month-old A6 could be a write-off? I never even thought of that possibility!

I spoke to the LeasePlan Accident Management company when I got home. They took all the details, and because the exhaust is damaged and hitting the bodywork (and potentially affecting the engine and possibly diverting fumes into the car [their words]), they have classed it as a recovery case - they are sending a truck to take it away on Monday. They have advised me not to drive it over the weekend. Apparently they have a scheme where they provide a like-for-like car in the case of no-fault incidents, so they were quite confident they can get me something similar to drive until the car is sorted. I assume it will be cross-charged to the insurance of the party at fault?

I mentioned the awful time I had when my C6 was damaged and sent to their approved repairer in Market Drayton. I asked them not to allocate the same place as the repairer this time, but to use the guys in Ashbourne who rectified all the botched work on the C6. They looked up the details on the system and agreed not to set the Market Drayton cowboys as the default repairer. I hope they don't lose that in everything else that happens! I will get Marvin (my daughter's Ford Ka) out of the garage, and use it for the rest of the weekend. It's so fortunate I have a second car just sitting there!!

Thanks again gents for all your kind wishes!!

Mark.

[belly buster]

Not good news but glad you're OK. Sounds like the other (oncoming) driver didn't stop, which is a shame as you should be claiming on their insurance.

I bet the C1 was a mess as they look pretty flimsy.

[Guest 2]

Dont take that in stone, but having heard from colleagues and myself a long long time ago thats what happens. But things may have changed since then.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly this time and its not a back-and-forward trip like you had the last time.

What damage was there to the C1?

Good luck!

[MFGF]

Not good news but glad you're OK. Sounds like the other (oncoming) driver didn't stop, which is a shame as you should be claiming on their insurance.

Actually, she stopped further down the road and called her husband. I walked over and got her name, address, phone number, registration number and insurer details. A guy in a BMW who was behind her when she pulled out on me also stopped and left me his name and phone number as a witness. Plus I got the registration number and a photo of the truck she pulled around, which was parked half on the pavement on her side of the road. I gave all these details to LeasePlan Accident Management when I called them.

I bet the C1 was a mess as they look pretty flimsy.

The front bumper was a bit stoved in and there was damage to the bonnet, but it actually looked in reasonable shape. She was able to drive it afterwards.

Dont take that in stone, but having heard from colleagues and myself a long long time ago thats what happens. But things may have changed since then.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly this time and its not a back-and-forward trip like you had the last time.

What damage was there to the C1?

Good luck!

I will get a pic of the C1 up on imgbb.com and post a link. It's from a distance so it looks pretty reasonable

Cheers!

Mark.

[MFGF]

Here is the truck:



And here is the Citroen:



MF.