I need to vent

[DJKOR]

Well I'm quite p*ssed off to say the least right now. Make that two Wildfire Sportivo's Soloman. I'm just going to type this here since I will probably need to write up something for the insurance so I may as well get it done now. So I was driving down Oldfield Road in the NW direction as shown in the following photo:

Being a downhill stretch, I had my brakes applied to maintain a 50km/h speed limit. There was a car waiting at the T-intersection there as most cars do when they are waiting for you to pass. Just as I read the first corner (right about where the upper Oldfield Rd label is on the photo) I lifted my foot off the brake immediately placed it above the accelerator getting ready to go up the hill ahead. Now once the nose of my car was in the same plane as where her car was, I could see her car start to move with my peripherals. I would say the distance between the nose of her car and the side of mine would have been around 1.5 metres. By that point, in time once her car was in motion, there weren't too many options I could take.

1) I could stay at the same speed and swerve right,

2) I could put my foot down and swerve to the right,

3) I could put my foot down and continue straight,

4) I could brake and swerve to the right.

Subconsciously in my head, my response was no to do anything involving accelerating. I guess in the back of my mind, it knew that I would probably trip the traction control and all power would get cut within those precious seconds. The option that my mind went with was a combination of 1 and 4. Problem here exists, in that I'm only steering my front away from the problem. Now I'm not expert driver, but personally I am pretty sure that once the ball started roling in this scenario, if she didn't stop, some part of my car would get hit regardless. Needless to say, I now ended up with this:

Now when we both came to a stop, the woman in the other car seemed to know everything required to sort the insurance out. She was like telling me everything she needed from me and she had written out all her details for me. She even had a car with her insurance details on it and she told me that it looks to be about $3000 worth of damage (though I reckon it will be more). Her knowledge on the subject kind of concerned me.

I though I will also mention my thoughts of the handling of the car during this event. As I swerved hard to the right, the tires were squealing but the car was controllable. Once she hit my car it kind of straightened it up for a moment, but due to my hard swerve, I was already steering to the left for correction and to avoid going off the road. This sent my car into a little bit of a fishtail all the while I could feel my ABS pulsing through the brake pedal (I was only applying moderate pressure) and the tires were squealing all over the road. Needless to say, despite all the noise and whatnot, the car felt like it was trying to correct everything and everything was staying on the road. If this were a car without stability control, I'm sure it would have been much more difficult to keep to the road. On a side note, I think the system has had such a workout that now the 'Check VSC System' warning is showing.

Well that's my venting for the meantime. Now I will sit back here at home, and wait till tomorrow in which I need to take it in for it's inspection at 7:20am. AAMI were very helpful with lodging my claim over the phone and they said they will sort it all out for me. It's just a) I can't stand to see my beautiful car in this condition, b.) I can't stand being without it while it gets repaired, and c) It will never ever ever be the same again. Why did this have to happen? If I left the gym just that little bit later, none of this would have occurred. Grrr.

And in case you may ask, this is what happened to hers. I guess it would have been worse and she could have had less plastic on the front:

And to add fun to the excitement, my old man happened to be on his way to work right after we were off to the side exchanging details. I wonder just how worked up he was as he was approaching my car.

[VF-X]

Oh man...

That seriously sucked... :(

But always take the better view...Luckily it didnt get much worse than that...

Sorry to hear that... :( :(

Well...Sh!t happens.. It's like saying...'Oh, If i didnt buy SX6 last year, I could've gone to TRD SL 2nd-hand with price about the same or even lower than the New Sportivo'

Btw, Why is her plate number folded out?

Edited October 6, 2008 by VF-X

[dharsh]

Hey Daryl,

Can't believe this happened to you yea - I can really feel your sorrow as I know how much you love your car and all the effort you've gone to with the mods/keeping it clean.

Like V-FX said though - at least it wasn't life changing - you've still got all your limbs intact right...

And I was just waiting for Thurs night to check out your grille as well...

Hope this all gets sorted out soon

[Soloman]

Dude it sucks i know. my car is not the same after my accident. it never will be. at least your damage bill wont be anywere near the 10g mark. They will bend all that back into shape and re-spray. At most a new door.

Is thats scratches on the rim too? ask for that to be re-sprayed or replaced.

Least you know the car can handle a little bump at speed and not spin out of control..

[nate11six]

:(

[-JC-]

That sucks mate. Why does it always happen to people who love their cars?

Hopefully she's good as new soon and you can put it all behind you.

[Guest]

oh man that sucks, just after you got your new grille in and had it looking pimp.

Hope it gets fixed quickly, but your right, it will never be the same afterwards :(

[Ash85]

Very unlucky man.

Could have been much worse if there was another car heading in the opposite direction to you!

At least it wasn't your fault.

Hope your repair job and both speedy and a quality one.

[lateralus]

bloody hell! i honestly don't know how some people can be so stupid. she obviously saw you, hence why she was stopped in the first place.

if you have choice of repairer, try and get toyota to fix it so that it costs a **** load. thus, her insurance company gets ****** off and bumps up her premium even more :D

[marc2020]

Bad luck man, at least the car didnt spin out. Some people are just blind and ignorant, its amazing how many people lack the ability to judge distance and speed. I have had so many people just pull out in front of other cars, almost causing accidents.

Good luck with the repair.

[apg39]

So upset to hear this mate, Its pretty damn obvious you love your car and for someone to hurt it is devastating. Especially after putting all that time and effort into it.

I dunno if its an epidemic but a friend on another forum has a pretty schmick Forester and he now has creases up one side of the car & a buckled rim. Lets hope there's not a curse on modified cars.

Lets hope the insurance pays out and its fixed with no more hassles.

One thing....will your insurance be effected by the exhaust mod?

[BONDIE]

"HOLY SH*T MAN" that sucks the big one. And thinking last night you were pretty much saying you car was complete and that there wouldnt be many more mods left. And some chick just thought she would add her personal touch to your finished project.

What a bummer dude, i feel your pain.

3 Years ago I found a a big dent in my brand new subaru, 1 week after a brought it. I was coming out of the shopping centre and noticed a big ding/scrape, and still parked next to it, was the dumb b*tches car with my paint still on her door. Looked for a note or anything to calm me down - thinking she might have done the right thing.

But no she just walked off. So i thought, for a ding/scape that big, she would have noticed she did it, and for her to then decide to walk away well.................................. Lets just say i repayed the favor and gave her door the kicking of its life. I rekon it would have been a good 30secs of good hard kicking.

Am i contradicting myself, by me not leaving a note, lol. "PAYBACKS A B*TCH"

Anways, hopefully all the insurance stuff goes smoothly dude, and you'll be back on the road in no time.

good luck.

Edited October 7, 2008 by BONDIE

[myztik]

:( sucky

[DJKOR]

Thanks guys for the all the words. I just got a call from AAMI (I lodged my claim this morning) and they said that I will need to drop my car off over at their assessment centre in Fairfield at 7:20am so they can check it out. They said I will only need to be there for about 10-15 minutes after which they will taxi me to drop me home (I didn't add the rental car extra to my insurance). However, I think I will be able to get away with using my sister's car in the meantime though. Just a little bit inconvenient, that's all.

They said that they will then give me a call within 24 hours to let me know where they will send the car for repair and when it is complete, they will send a taxi to pick me up so I can collect my car. From what I'm guessing, they will choose a repairer so that they can get the repair done as efficiently as possible with minimal delay. I'm not too concerned about selecting my own repairer, I just want it all fixed. It's such a shame though that the damage extended onto the rear quarter panel where the crease in the body are (if that's what it's called), since that means it's going to be a little interesting to panel beat. The door is a simple fix though since if they were willing, they just need to change it. Interestingly, with the size of the impact, if she hit the car just 10cm more to the front, I would think only the door would have sustained damage. Oh well.

After sitting (sleeping) here at TAFE for a few hours or so, I think I've started to relax on the situation now. What's done is done. I think the only thing that is really getting up my nerves right now is that I will be without my car for however long it will take to repair, and I just don't feel right without it.

[JIN]

Oh man...I feel sorry to hear that.

I hope it gets sorted out well and good luck with insurance.

[Sera30]

:( sorry to hear about that DJ. hope it works out in the end. I know i'd be p**sed off. :(

[beaves]

Glad to hear you are alright though Daryl. That is the main thing mate.

Be wary of that exhaust mod though mate, the last thing you want is the other insurance company cracking the sads and not paying up because of your mod.

[DJKOR]

Yeah. Here's hoping for the best. I have removed the electric cutout and attached the blanking plate in its place and bolted that on. Hopefully then since it is behind the cat and resonator, and is well sealed, they shouldn't let it stand in the way. I guess we'll see.

[Lawz]

dam man that absolutely sucks. Luckily it wasn't more serious. At least it is repairable though... Hope everything works out and that she be back good as new :)

[Speedz]

Thats hard luck mate...!

All I hope is for your beast to look brand new when you get it back next week or so!

[Supercharged TRD]

Very sorry to hear that. I hope it gets fixed very soon, and resolved with a good outcome.

[DJKOR]

Well, I dropped it into AAMI's assessment centre this morning. They were really focussed on making the entire procedure as smooth as possible for me. When I arrived, one of the lady's there gave me an envelope which detailed everything I need to know as well as a voucher for Yellow Cabs to get me where I need to go (trip ended up costing $39.80) and a contact so I can get a taxi back when it is ready. After that, the guy there doing all the assessment took note of the damage and explained briefly what will happen, then he said they will call within the next 24 hours to advise me which repairer my car has been taken to and roughly when it will be ready for collection. My taxi just arrived as he finished going over it, and then I was out of there. I was pretty much in and out of that place in 5-10 minutes.

Is thats scratches on the rim too? ask for that to be re-sprayed or replaced.

Yeh, I pointed that out. The rim isn't scratched on the main surface of it, that stuff rubbed off. The outer part of the rim though had been partially ground off (like curb rash, but more coverage... I'm sure I didn't do that prior) and he said that they should be able to polish that no worries.

I mentioned that even though it can drive fine, it would probably be best if they check that out as well. Since it was a side impact, he said they will do an alignment and all the safety checks as standard to make sure it is definitely fine.

[myztik]

least the insurance side is not a hassle. all the best :D

[ROL14]

I've only just seen this thread, sorry to hear this hey!

Good to hear its in safe hands now and is being repaired though!!!

Its the close calls and even the chance of an accident like this that makes me wanna purchase a daily... I get so uncomfortable with the risks other drivers take around my car and their lack of attention and respect. I know panels can be fixed etc but its the knowing that its been hit and getting it fixed etc that sucks, not to mention the money and/or insurance ratings at stake. Least this wasn't your fault buddy (and its only a zuk... pfft plenty of them around... lol)

Looking forward to seeing her out and about soon all fixed and looking flash!

Best of luck!

[intrigue]

That sucks to hear man. Hope all goes well with the repairs and insurance.