Dicor Totalled!!! but coming back First of all I would like to apologise to All Bangalore team-bhpiians for not informing them about my recent visit to bangalore.
Yes.. i was there for a Month from 10th June to 6th July. I had 2 weeks off from work and worked 2 weeks from bangalore office.( most of you know how IT industry is :( )
On 14th Morning we left for Goa on 2 vehicles. the LC Prado and my fav the 3.0L Dicor aka Truck as most of you guys call it.
the Drive to GOA was amazing and with 5 people comfortable in the Truck and everybody's luggage in the boot i was amazed that it still managed to hit speeds of 140 kmph and was "Almost" able to catch up to the Prado.
Of-course the Prado being a V6 and Petrol had more power and less people and 0 luggage in it.
On the way back is when everything started going wrong..
just 50 km from Tumkur there is a place called Sirsi. ( or something like it)
My wife, daughter and myself had just moved into the Prado and handed over the Dicor to the driver who till now was having a ball of a time being driven around.
The passengers in the safari now were My elder brother, his wife, my 4 yr old neice and my 1 yr old nephew.
It had rained heavily, couple of minutes ago and the roads were quite slippery and had massive puddles in some places.
from a distance i could see a Trailer Lorry moving at a fairly good speed on the right side of the road ( even though there are signs which apparently
prohibits lorrys to drive on the right side ), As we closed the distance between the LC and the lorry, the Trailer suddenly slows down and takes a sharp left turn.
The Prado was able to stop on those slick roads as it was equipped with everything possible but unfortunately the Dicor is not.
as soon as the Prado stopped i feared for the worst for the prado and only prayed that the safari stops in time. I looked back and could see the safari coming straight for us. the driver made a good decision and directed the safari to the one empty lane on the left to get more road to stop the dicor.
i could see the dicor screech and try to hold on to whatever grip it could get but it was too late and went straight into the trailer.
everything happened in a fraction of a second.. I was scared for my brother and family in the dicor..
Dad and myself got down from the LC and ran to the dicor.. everyone was in a state of shock but safe. We pulled everyone out of the car and moved them to a shack type restaurant on the side of the road. they were all fine. with a Sigh of relief that everyone was safe after a massive accident. other than body pain from the impact there were no major injuries.. My driver had a cut on his hand. That was it.. Everyone was ok.
i turned to look at the mangled wreck sitting on the road and saw my Dicor who had just saved everyone and took the massive impact on itself.
It kills you to just see the car turned to a wreck from all the glory..
i turned to look for the truck and saw that he was driving away like nothing had happened..
I immediately sent the Prado behind it and he was caught after a massive chase of almost 3 KMS of rural road.. But the Prado proved its worth
on those roads and caught it..
Once the truck was brought back the people went crazy on him and started to beat up the guy.. I did not care.. i wanted to beat him up too.. but did not lay a hand on him. something stopped me.. till now i have no idea what made me do that.
Dad called the cops and i was not surprised they came in a span of 10 minutes..( a few calls to higher ups made this possible)
once the cops came it was a breeze..
In the meanwhile we sent the family back home in the LC and Dad, the driver and myself waited near the car to complete few police formalities.
Once that was done we hired a Sumo, shifted all the luggage in that and came back home slowly.
Now the process of insurance claim had to start.. HDFC insurance was a breeze. within 2 weeks all formalities were done and the car was declared totalled.
I did not want that. Spoke to the insurance guys and convinced them that i need the vehicle repaired.. They said that it would be possible only if the repair charge was less than 75% of insured value.. I agreed to pay the cost of repair which would get the total repair value down to 70%.
they gladly agreed and now the Dicor is under repair..
Just could not see it go.. It is too precious..
Also.. FYI.. the Crashguard which I had put up in front and where there is a entire thread dedicated to it saying that it will bend the chassis and it is not safe.. Saved everyone.
The crashguard took the masive impact and is destroyed beyond belief.. but thats one reason the passengers were safe.
Believe it or not.. it works.
Pics of car are below.
Goddy. |