[kooldudedelhi]

Moderators pls. move this thread if not posted in appropriate section.

Hi guys, I am back to team-bhp after a long hiatus. Back in the sense of posting new threads or replying to discussions. Although I was never really away from team-bhp as far as reading the forums are concerned.

Anyways to cut the long story short. I am a proud owner of Swift Zxi, Silky silver, June 2009 model. It has clocked just 18K odd kms in its oddo and recently met with an accident. Its been only 2 months since I've joined a new job in Mysore and got my car along with me from Delhi where I resided earlier. Initially I planned to spend some quality time in Bangalore (before joining here in Mysore) as my bro lives there at that time I did not join my new company. I hired a driver from a reference as I was not aware of city's geography to get around the city. But as luck would have it, one day I received a call from the driver himself that the car hit a tree in Maakali road while coming to yeswantpur (where I told my driver to pick me up) from Nelmangla. I immediately rushed to the accident scene and see my love in ruins The driver was not wounded badly, fortunately.

I thank my stars that at the time of accident no one from my family was present inside the car. It was a gross scene. The vehicle seem to be suffered from huge damage in the front side.

I got my car towed to the nearest Mandovi body repair shop in yeswantpur. As it was a sunday evening nobody there was available to prepare a job card. On monday morning I came there and the supervisor started working with me with all the paperwork. I provided him all the documents that insurence company require and came to Mysore. Next to next day he prepared the estimate of the repair and subimtted the same to the insurence company which has been approved. The total estimate comes out to be a whopping Rs. 1.5 L which includes around 1L for parts and 50K for labour involved. Here I am also providing you people with an estimate copy of the repairs given by mandovi to the insurence guy and me.

Its been more than 20 days since my car is present in their workshop and they are saying that in a couple of days they will crank the engine and in 9-10 days they will hand me over the car. But looking at the extent of damage I am in a fix whether the car will perform in the same way as it used to earlier or it will give me problem after problem throughout its life. I want your suggestions in this regard. Workshop ppl are saying that your car will not give you any issue as the damage was not that great and they have repaired many cars which are in more bad state than mine.

The most surprising part in this accident is that the airbag did not open. The Mandovi guy told me that it is because of some fault in the wiring which could be a manufacturing defect and assured me that he will get it rectified once the car comes in running state. A few days back I read a news in which a guy in Delhi is going to sue Maruti as the airbag did not open in his Swift DZire Zxi in an accident which resulted in severe injury to his family members. His Dzire is also of the same time when my Swift manufactured. May be the whole batch has got some fault!!

To summerize, I m providing a list of major items that has been replaced:

1. AC Compressor
2. Both Aprons
3. Right side fender
4. Break booster
5. Headlight assembly
etc.

More you can figure out from the attached list as I am no expert in such matters. Let me know if you find anything stunning which I missed here!

I will provide some pics of my beloved in this sorry state though I myself don't want to look at those pics. I've not shown those pics even to my wife as I thought they will break her heart

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by kooldudedelhi

..... Both Aprons
.....

Hey kooldudedelhi, very sorry to hear about this incident.

Well, with Apron damage, the car WILL have problems (alignment, rust et al..) even after coming out of the workshop. You should be too damn lucky to get a perfect car back.

[MileCruncher]

Sorry to hear about your accident! Please post the picture of the damaged car as well for us to ascertain whether its worth keeping or should you sell it off.

Cheers

[praful]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Airbags not deploying in such a severe accident is really huge defect. You should sue Maruti!

[nirmaljusdoit]

Kool dude- Sorry to hear about the accident, please post pics to assess the amount of damage. Maruti has some of the best body shops & technicians around, not sure about Mandovi. I have got done an excellent job in Pratham & the entire right side of my Swift has been replaced. (doors, quarter panel etc)

Airbags not going off is not an indication of a fault in the system.(provided there is no defect) Please refer the owners manual for details.

It depends on lot of factors based on which the body shell has been designed, load bearing & distribution, crash impact & dissipation, angle of impact, etc

[libranof1987]

This doesn't sound good!

Can you post some pictures from during the accident?

As Dhanush mentioned, apron damage is bad news. If you look at a couple more threads (2 other Swifts damaged in accidents), you'll see the apron damage severely compromises the normal functioning of the car.

About the airbags, the deployment itself depends on several factors (whether seatbelt was worn, position of crash sensors and impact etc.) so could be anything; not necessarily a manufacturing defect.

Since you have already got the car fixed, drive carefully for some time for any noticeable degradation in handling etc.

[VW2010]

Air bag not deploying is a serious issue. You should sue Maruthi. Whats the point in paying more for a feature boasted as safety device. This is a serious issue and should be addressed.

[Fordmanchau]

Hi Kooldude,
Really sad that your car met with such an accident. You didn't mention how it happened? Driver's fault or how?
The part list to be replaced looks a little too long and it looks like the front portion of your car has taken a severe hit. I see even tie rod, steering assembly on the replacement list.
With so many parts to replace, the service station would need to do a real clean job in order that you don't face any issues later. Otherwise some or the other niggle would pop up later.
All the best for your car. Hope it returns to previous glory once again. And please do also post the pics of your car taken after the accident.
And what's with the Airbags, I read of so many accidents when they don't deploy .

[mac187]

Sorry to hear about the accident. I wonder what kind of speeds your driver was doing in Yeswantpur road! I live there and the roads are not that good now, wonder how your driver managed to have such a major crash.

My few suggestions to you,
1. Please check if all the parts listed are required, i see few things which can be salvaged out of your old car ex. Horn. Remember that as more parts are replaced you will shell out more money too.

2. Regarding Airbags, you got to lodge a complain to Maruti and get them to replace few things for free or ask them to pay you compensation. You have a case in your hand you can always sue them.

3. Use the car for a few months and them sell it off. You will not enjoy the drive and niggles are bound to haunt you.

4. Most important check up every day on the progress of your car, if you leave these guys, they will take forever to complete the work.

[rohan_iitr]

Was the driver wearing the seat belt at the time of the accident ? If not, the air bags would not deploy (to prevent injury to the driver).

Rohan

[mayankk]

I'm assuming the chassis will be placed in traction as well?
Do check the panel gaps post this.
And i am just saying from what happened to my zen, check the aircon vents for switching to diffrenet zones(feet/face/windscreen).
this went for a toss with my car.

Also, you could retain all hoses/belts as i think some may be a precautionary/all-encompassing replacement.They could come in handy if still in good nick.

[ranjith.rajaram]

Sorry to hear about your accident. As Rohan said did you drive wear the seat belt? otherwise the airbags will not deploy.

Don't worry about the car, Maruti has some of the best body shops & technicians around. They will do a better job anyday.

You didn't mention how it happened? Driver's fault or how? Do post some pictures of the car?

[StrangeWizard]

Sorry to hear about your accident! Post some pictures of the car.
Strange that the airbags didn't open up. I guess the airbag sensor must be malfunctioning or must have conked off. You can take action against maruti for this because someone could have been hurt badly. Relieved to hear that no one from your family was inside the car.
Thats some serious damage and a lot of parts are going to be replaced. My suggestion to you is to repair the car properly and then sell it off because it may suffer from various issues after the parts are replaced.

Guys I have one question, would it be possible for him to declare this car as a total loss? How much would the insurance guys pay?

[kooldudedelhi]

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

Guys I have one question, would it be possible for him to declare this car as a total loss? How much would the insurance guys pay?

The IDV of my car is 4.21 L and the repair estimate comes out to be around 1.5L so by going through 75% of the IDV formula (for calculation of total loss) I don't think this case was eligible for total loss claim.

The driver said that in order to avoid some cow on the road he hit a tree. It was also raining heavily at that time and he was doing some 30ish! I didn't ask him if he was wearing a seatbelt but I presume (from his habit) that he didn't.

I went to the workshop today in Bangalore to check out the condition of repair work and it gave me some satisfaction to see my car in better shape. They did the paint job and other work nicely. Moreover the guy who is handling my case seems to be nice and holds a silver belt or whatever in Maruti's internal training.

Did I forget to inform you guys that my car holds a UP registration?! So how much do you people think my car will fetch when it will go in the secondary market here in Bangalore or for that matter Mysore? Or should I send it to UP (Varanasi) to sell it off? Is it wise to sell it off without informing the future buyer about the history of this car. By the way by seeing the quality of work that has been done on my car till now I am quite satisfied that it won't give me much problem when it will hit the road. They are going to crank the engine in a day or two.

Will post some pics in a couple of days.

Here I want to thank all of you for giving excellent suggestions and also for lightening some of the burden off my chest.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

Guys I have one question, would it be possible for him to declare this car as a total loss? How much would the insurance guys pay?

With the repairs having been almost completed, total loss cannot be asked for right now.

If you have a look at another thread in a bad crash involving a Swift, the member was denied total loss later (initially, the surveyor suggested total loss, off the record). His car had apron damage too. So, having total loss declared ain't so easy.

Originally Posted by kooldudedelhi

Did I forget to inform you guys that my car holds a UP registration?! So how much do you people think my car will fetch when it will go in the secondary market here in Bangalore or for that matter Mysore? Or should I send it to UP (Varanasi) to sell it off? Is it wise to sell it off without informing the future buyer about the history of this car.

Transporting the car back to UP and then selling it; or selling it in B'lore itself would work out to almost the same. If you sell the car yourself, employ an agent to take care of the transfer of reg. Else, you could have a dealer sell it (but you'd get much less in hand).

From an ethical point of view, the prospective owner should be informed of the damage. I would have done so. But to each his own. "What goes around, comes around"!

From the technical perspective too, the owner-to-be should be aware of the history and consequent limitations/vulnerabilities of the car; lest he put his life in danger.

Hope this helps!