Pile up prevents me having dinner.

[Jay-ZS+]

The better half got home yesterday and decided she wanted to go to town for dinner, unfortunately we ended up skipping dinner altogether.

We were driving to town and stopped at traffic lights,2 lanes in both directions, when I here her scream 'oh my god' whilst looking in the rear view mirror. I go to turn round to see whats going on, when I hear a screech to tyres and then we are hit from behind. Initially I though we had been hit from the passenger side but turns out it was on the passenger side of the rear bumper.

I had no idea what had happened, got out to find an Audi A3 facing the opposite way up the road with broken windows, bits of trim sticking out its rear tyre, which was bend outwards and dents on all sides. A VW polo further up the road with the bumper radiator and headlights torn off, pi$$ing coolant all over the road.

After speaking to a witness it turns out she had flashed the polo who was wanting to turn right. Whilst crossing the two lanes the driver had collided with an Audi A3 that must have been flying up the inside lane. The Audi then swerved up the pavement hit a wall and skidded across the road and in to the back of us. Tried to take some photos at the scene to make sure we have records of it.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/2012-07-05184019-1.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/Audi.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/2012-07-05184024-1.jpghttp://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/2012-07-06100652.jpg

Put together a diagram whilst its fresh in the mind for the insurance company should they require it. Written off a few cars in my time but never had to tell the insurance company so not sure how it all goes.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/SuzukiCrashDiagram-1.jpg

Had police, paramedic and the fire brigade at the scene so everything in on record.

Suffering from some neck, shoulder and back pain. Think where I went to turn around as the Audi hit us I was at a strange angle. Managed to catch my eye on something so got some bruising around my eye. The gf has similar neck and back pain but on the whole we are both ok, could have been alot worse.

The car is in abit of a mess, was picked up and taken off to be assessed yesterday. Its the crease in the boot floor that makes me think they will probably right it off.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/rear.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/rear-1.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j12/jayhowl/Marsha%20Suzuki/2012-07-05195424-1.jpg

Got to say Admiral have been brilliant so far, she had a 61 plate Corsa dropped out at 8:30 this morning as a courtesy car, which she is very happy with.

The only thing I'm worried about is the Driver of the Audi wasn't the owner so hope he was covered. Although having spoken to Admiral they were under the impression it would come out of the Polos insurance.

Anyway never did get to eat anything.

[ZS]

Could have been worse and at least your both ok :)

[Smokey]

Thats shocking! Glad you are ok and hope you've eaten now!

Looks like its the Polo's fault to me, regardless of it being flashed to go. They have the responsibility for looking

Hope it goes well and looks like insurance have it covered.

[peterzs]

Sorry to hear, might find that shock and pain come out a bit later.

Glad you both are OK, thats the main thing. just shows you never know whats going to happen.

Hope it all sorts its self out and you arnt out of pocket.

[Jay-ZS+]

Thats shocking! Glad you are ok and hope you've eaten now!

A fair amount of damage for a 30mph zone hey! :hmmm:

[petet16]

Nasty, glad your both ok, considering the Audi had hit the Polo, and scuffed the wall before hitting you I'm thinking he was doing more than 30.

[Nobrainer]

Bummer. I think you claim off the audi, who claims off the polo, iirc.

[James Raby]

more than 30 for the Audi, I think that's a given really

I know it may not be a direct fault of the Audi, but seems there was traffic so why speed?

My villiage is 30 and hardly anything about, and VERY open, no point in trying to get home 5 seconds quicker......

[grimmy]

That sucks mate hope you guys are okay.looks quite a nasty shunt for it being" low speed"

[Jay-ZS+]

Cheers guys, just hope it all goes smoothly with the insurance.

[talkingcars]

Looks nasty but at least there are no serious injuries. I would get yourselves checked out at A&E over the weekend as otherwise you'll end up at your local surgery.

If your diagram is acurate then the Polo driver is a fault so all claims will be against their insurance.

The Audi won't have lost much speed at point of impact, especially if the driver panicked when they started spinning. The impact on your car will have been quite hard on a small area.

[andy-81]

ooooh no i hope your both ok and get everything sorted

[Jay-ZS+]

Got checked out by the paramedic at the scene and went to see my GP 24hrs on so any injuries are recorded. Gonna be off work for a few days, dont fancy lifting bags of sand and boards of MDF with my back as it is.

Glad to hear it will come out of the Polos insurance as think claiming off Audi may have been complicated. Dont want to sterotype but the guy driving was very vague with details so makes me wonder if he was covered to drive the car. The owner who turned up shortly after certainly didnt look too happy.

[andys1981]

pretty scary stuff there,glad to hear you guys are ok,hope it all work out with the insurance mate

[stamford]

Christ what a mess, 30 mph my arse judging by the skidmarks. Glad you were not badly hurt, could have been worse.

[shcKr-]

Glad you weren't seriously hurt, take it easy for a few days.

[Fred68]

Far to much damage for a 30 mph crash!! But at least you're both ok! If you've had to take time off due to the accident then you should to entitled to some compensation ;)

[Jay-ZS+]

Christ what a mess, 30 mph my arse judging by the skidmarks.

My thoughts exactly. I'd be surprised if they repair it although the guy that picked it up seemed confident it could be easy enough. Just depends what the insurance company value it at.

[Ricwin]

Thats bloody terrible.

Personally, I'd be tempted to land this insurance claim on the Audi driver. No matter how convoluted the trail of paperwork may be, there is no way in hell they were doing 30mph and the driver cannot get away with this scot free.

Yes the Polo driver was at fault, and thats where the Audi driver will shift the blame to. But if the Audi hadn't been driving like a typical 'Audi ****' then the accident wouldn't have occurred.

[Jay-ZS+]

I was surprised the Police didnt seem to raise an eyebrow at the amount of damage and want to question those involved to determine speed involved. Just took all 3 drivers details and swept the road then left.

Just glad it wasnt the ZS as I'd have definitely have lost my cool. :chair:

[peterzs]

Think its all down to if anybody is hurt, as to how much the police get involved.

If no one is hurt, they are happy to make sure everybody swaps their insurance details. After taking a breath test from all the drivers, (or so I understand).

[Dan1971]

Glad you're OK - that simulations the nuts ....

The thing we have to remember is that cars are supposed to crumple and fall apart these days on impact .... and 30mph into something stationary - is plenty fast enough.

[Nor]

Hope you and the mrs will be okay Jay. All the best.

[lawrence-zs180]

Christ Jay that looks like a right mess.. and you didn't get dinner as well, thats mega pants.
Glad you and the other half are ok and not in a bad way... that suzuki of yours looks in a bad way with that crease in the boot hope you dont get your pants pulled down if they do write it off.

[Jay-ZS+]

Glad you're OK - that simulations the nuts

Cheers Dan, not bad for a MS word diagram, clearly had too much time on my hands yesterday!

[Jay-ZS+]

Hope you and the mrs will be okay Jay. All the best.

Christ Jay that looks like a right mess.. and you didn't get dinner as well, thats mega pants.
Glad you and the other half are ok and not in a bad way... that suzuki of yours looks in a bad way with that crease in the boot hope you dont get your pants pulled down if they do write it off.

Cheers Guys, fingerscrossed with the insurance. Guess its a given to refuse their first offer regardless. Went to speak to our local Suzuki dealer where the car has been serviced to get their opinion on what the car would be worth. They seemed pretty happy to help if the insurance company wanted to speak to them.

[p_b82]

Sorry to hear that Jay - the suzuki guys there are quite reasonable - as i had a friend who had a sport (bought new) from them - which he sold back to them for a very goood price after a few years.

person at fault is the car turning accross - regardless of the speed of the audi driver.

Another friend of mine was hit on his bike - he was the 'audi' in this instance - and he claimed loss of earnings and replacement bike off the driver who was flashed and turned accross under very similar circumstances.

Glad you are both ok - my guess is the swift wil go to the scrap heap in the sky - or some-one else will repair it after it been written off!

[Jay-ZS+]

The gf spoke to the insurance company and they've classed the car as a total loss. So guess the hunt for a new car starts now. :jump:

One question, we insured the car for £5k although looking around its gonna be around £6k for one of similar age/mileage. Does the amount we insured matter as not claiming off her insurance?

Could do without the hassle at the moment.

[zsserbia]

You two being well is what matters the most. Shocking situation which jumps out of nowhere, always ugly, luckily it didn't get any worse. I hope everything turns out ok.

[peterzs]

I think with Insurance, they have to put you back in the position you were in before the accident. They wont improve your position, but you should get the same mileage, same condition, etc car as you lost.

Daughter went up the back of a car and wrote off her Galaxy, was a Ghia, full leather. Went through all the Autotrader ads and picked the ones nearest to hers, and asking the most money, sent in 5 ads, and the assessor was very good, got more back than if she would have sold it when it was OK.

Just got to play the system, always turn down the first offer, but you have to give the assessors reasons why they will give you more cash. Photos, service history, list of replacement parts, new tyres etc.

[Andyf]

Glad everyone was ok. The speed may not have been as fast as it appears, as Dan said cars are designed to crumple and as James said the Audi was clipped and spun so would carry more speed than if it had braked.

To give you an idea, skidding to a natural halt from 30mph will leave about 14 meters of locked tyre marks assuming the road surface is in average condition. You can work out the speed from the length of tyre marks as the square root of two times the coefficient of friction (usually around 0.7 for car tyres on normal road) times acceleration due to gravity (9.8) times the length of tyre marks.

However, the marks in that picture are 'yaw marks' not locked tyre marks as the car is sliding sidewards. You may be able to see striations in thr mark where the tyre 'squashes' the springs back as it is forced side on across the road surface.

You can calculate a speed from these marks but it is dependand on them not being more than so many meters apart.

I attend countless accidents where people have flashed to let people go and they have taken it as red the way is clear. We are told on our driving courses never to flash people to let them out. If you want to let someone out then just stop and let them decide to go, never wave or flash etc.

If no one complained of injury then the police don't need to record it however I personally would have reported the Polo for careless driving although it may not get to court due to the fact the other car flashed but that would be for someone else to decide.

[Jay-ZS+]

The insurance offered us £5400 for the car once the excess and remaining premium was taken left her with just over £4700, the excess we will obviously claim back.

Told the we wouldnt accept the offer so they upped it to £5560 and said that was the max they could give us. Its irrelevant really as hopefully the gap insurance will come through too.

We found her a new car on Sunday, same model almost identical mileage and 1 year older. 10months tax/MOT 12 month Suzuki warranty and 2 new front tyres as were around 3mm left. For less than £5k and its red so shes happy as never really liked the turquoise colour. Insured it again with Admiral for an additional £40 for the remainder of the original policy which makes things easier.

Got our appointment for a medical checkup in September!!! Seems abit pointless being accessed almost a month after the event!

Be glad when its all sorted Admiral have been great but its still a lot of hassle!

[andy-81]

i'm so glad they come through for you and the red zuki is the silver lining, as for the check up thats a bit daft giving you a sept apointment!