[Turbanator]

Hi

sorry about the accident , I will Advise you not to get the car repaired in particular if any of the front Pillars are damaged , instead opt for settlement with Insurance - they will pay you some money which is lower than estimate and you can then sell the Car in market without repair - you will definitely have to bear extra loss but keeping a repaired car will be a problem in future - i had even severe accident in Corolla 5 years back and paid Toyota about Rs 5 lac out of which insurance paid only around Rs 3 L & they could never bring the car back to its original state - eventually i sold the car for Rs 2 ,5 Lac . You will have massive depreciation 50 % for parts like Air Bags , Radiator , A/C Condenser unit - please do evaluate all possibilities before giving go-ahead - check with your A.S.S if they can adjust this as down payment for your new Laura ..

[noopster]

androdev- hate to see a beauty like that in that shape, man. Sincere apologies.

On the bright side, your parents are safe and nobody was seriously injured (hope the rick guy recovers soon). The airbags did their job too.

Thanks to your thread I am enforcing the rear seatbelts rule in my car as well. Just explained to my kid that it's what big girls do and she's pretty happy to get on board!

[Twinn]

Holy!!! Sorry about the fate of the car, and lot more happy that your parents are very much safe. Skoda is really a tough built machine, much more safer than others I believe. A friend of my had a rollover,on the bangalore mysore highway, like a couple of years back - the car was totaled, but both of them survived with very less injuries.
The rickshwas guys are a total careless lot, apart from that what a atrocity from the police, as always expected!!! Pretty expensive repairs.

[F150]

I am sorry for you, that your dream drive came to a abrupt end. But nonetheless the occupants of the car were safe.Wish that your car comes to perfect condition soon.

Please keep us posted on the insurance process.

[.anshuman]

Androdev, Really very sad to read about the Accident. I am glad all the occupants are safe.

Why not wait for 26th before filing the insurance claim, this ways you can use your newer Zero Dep. policy? I am not sure if filing a claim as big as this one requires a copy of FIR.

You can also negotiate for a cash loss settlement with the insurance company, wherein the insurance company will give a certain amount and rest of the money can be recovered by selling the car to some scrap/accident hit car dealer. I did the same for my Accent and got almost the similar amount to the market value of the car(My car was hit in a similar way with about the similar damage).

I think repaired cars cannot be as safe as Accident free cars. Here is a related video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjxM9chAe1k

Pls. Note the above video only relates to cars repaired under economic restraint.

[raj_srini]

Androdev, Felt sad to read about this. I'm relieved that all are safe. I had a road accident a few years back and consider myself lucky that I was unhurt.

My view would be to negotiate for a settlement, sell the car unrepaired and buy a new car. From my personal experience, driving a car that has gone through a nasty one after it has been repaired is never the same.

[F150]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

Why not wait for 26th before filing the insurance claim, this ways you can use your newer Zero Dep. policy?

Isn't the zero depreciation policy valid only on cars which are not older than 3 yrs ? As per the opening post his car has just completed 4 yrs.

[blackbeast]

Gosh! Feel very sorry for the loss mate. Have you got the numbers yet ? Do you have option for deliberately going for totalling. If so, would you get IDV value of 9.xx L . that should be your best bet.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Thank god that everyone is safe. Laura surely is built like a tank!

I am showing this thread to my folks. I hope this thread at least puts some sense into my folks' head. I am always the but of the jokes for the seat belt

Luckily it was easy for me to convince my gang about the seat belts. My mom actually doesn't always manage to fasten the belt by herself and someone in the car helps her fasten. We are religious about seat belts.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Hi

sorry about the accident , I will Advise you not to get the car repaired in particular if any of the front Pillars are damaged , instead opt for settlement with Insurance - they will pay you some money which is lower than estimate and you can then sell the Car in market without repair - you will definitely have to bear extra loss but keeping a repaired car will be a problem in future - i had even severe accident in Corolla 5 years back and paid Toyota about Rs 5 lac out of which insurance paid only around Rs 3 L & they could never bring the car back to its original state - eventually i sold the car for Rs 2 ,5 Lac . You will have massive depreciation 50 % for parts like Air Bags , Radiator , A/C Condenser unit - please do evaluate all possibilities before giving go-ahead - check with your A.S.S if they can adjust this as down payment for your new Laura ..

I agree with you. I have told the service person also the same - he is good buddy of mine (I hope) and he also advised it is not worth investing money into repairing it. He said he will do his best to facilitate an 'appropriate' deal with insurance co.

Title of the thread pretty much hints such a fate. I just wanted to hear from a.s.s the extent of damage - if it is "replace parts" (airbags, bumpers, lights, etc.) i wanted to give the car another chance but if it is "repair-ish" job then i will let go off it. cost is important but the nature of repair is more important. To me, this car has served me very well for four years and thats not bad. I was close to selling this for an upgrade but then decided to hold off for a year or two (refer to my BMW 520D thread http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...laura-l-k.html)

Originally Posted by F150

Isn't the zero depreciation policy valid only on cars which are not older than 3 yrs ? As per the opening post his car has just completed 4 yrs.

The zero depreciation insurance products relatively new. So I didnt have one, but my next insurance policy which I bought a week back is zero-dep policy. Got it from Bajaj Allianz even though my car is 4 yrs old.

I am not sure I will be able to claim this under the next year's policy. That would be illegal. Unless I bribe the police and get an FIR registered on a date after 26th-June, etc.

Also I don't think I will be able to inflate the repair bill to qualify for total loss. Maybe I should have asked the villagers to smash few things at the accident site. This is my first ever insurance claim, I am learning :-)

[rlakhanpal]

@androdev: Nice to read that everybody is fine, and hope the absolute "shock" of the collision has settled.

Sad to see the cars condition, but relieved that the safety features proved their worth.

Sadly, the insurance covers only depreciated values and not the cost of replacement. As it is, I doubt if many people will opt for such plans (insurance claim to serve need for replacement) for cars in India.

I do have a question on the side though - how much do you think the "airbags" contributed in saving everybody from injury? Do you believe the seat-belts were the differentiators? If yes, do you (and other fellow BHPians) feel that airbags are being imposed on the consumers when ABS, EBD, and Seat belts suffice to save you in such situations?

Mods: Please vet if my queries are OT. I did not see any specific discussion questioning the bundling on Airbags with ABS.

[lancersfx]

@Androdev :: Sorry to hear about the incident but on the brighter side all wore seatbelts and that kept them intact. But sometimes things just happen. I think you'll get a quote which covers chassis : the engine mount probably the toe link joints and the connecting rods. radiator.. a part of AC components. the initial estimate from the company will always be quoted on the higher side. They don't want to underquote and then adjust that later with insurance. the actual price may come upto about 70-80 percent of the estimate.

[abishek2222]

Sorry to see what's happened.everyone is safe great.
Hopeless isn't it once you enter a police station after a situation like this, they way people treat you , you just realize how much progress we really have made as a country.

[himavanth_m]

Sorry to hear about the incident. But glad that everyone is safe. Skodas are really safe vehicles (if it is not a lemon). Also good to see the airbags deployed. I have read somewhere on team-bhp that the airbags did not deploy for a Skoda vehicle.

I frequently travel on the NH7 between Hyderabad and Bangalore. On any other highway, we can see autos travelling in the opposite direction, but mostly they will be towards the left side of the road. However on NH7 I have seen quite a lot of Autos plying in the opposite direction in the middle of the road or on the right of the road. This is even more dangerous. I escaped a scary incident once where I was overtaking a truck from the right and out of nowhere I see an auto coming in the opposite direction. But luckily I escaped without a scratch. But thinking about it now, it is pretty scary, especially because I was travelling in a Santro at 80kmph at that time and any accident would have taken our lives.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by rlakhanpal

I do have a question on the side though - how much do you think the "airbags" contributed in saving everybody from injury? Do you believe the seat-belts were the differentiators? If yes, do you (and other fellow BHPians) feel that airbags are being imposed on the consumers when ABS, EBD, and Seat belts suffice to save you in such situations?

If I may pitch in - airbags are an absolute must if you want to drive your car being totally safe. No argument over this one.

How would you know beforehand whether you are going to have a fender bender (which still may activate the airbags) which can be managed by the seatbelts or a bad high speed collision/roll/flip in case of which airbags (front and curtain) , coupled with crumple zones, collapsible steering and auto unlocking doors can form the difference between life and death?

IMO - airbags+ABS requirement should be imposed by the government, as countries in which human life is valued have already done so.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

.... Why not wait for 26th before filing the insurance claim, this ways you can use your newer Zero Dep. policy? ....

I think insurance company needs to be notified within 7 days of the incident, for them to honor the claim.