[manishk83]

Originally Posted by androdev

They will be replacing the airbags and the airbag controller module and it is a fairly simple job at the a.s.s. It is just a matter of few screws and connecting the wiring harness. If things are not done properly, the car would throw a fault code.

Main concern would be from the mechanical/chassis repairs.

Am really sorry to see the car in the state it is in! However, think of it this way. 2 yrs from now you would have completely forgotten that you had to shell out a large amount of money to repair/ repurchase. What you will be thankful about though, would be that your family is still with you. You're very lucky!

On another note - There was this campaign in Mumbai sometime back to ban honking. I scoffed. Reason? Honking is never a disease. It's inevitably a symptom. A symptom of traffic not following the discipline. Of vehicles cutting lanes without warning. Of drivers considering blinking the turn lights as akin to revealing state secrets. Of infrastructure that has failed to cope up with the growth - that people take their frustration on the overused horns and our de-sensitized eardrums.

Why am I putting it here? When I usually overtake any vehicle on the highway at speeds anywhere over 80, I honk until I am sure that the driver of the vehicle I'm overtaking is aware that I'm overtaking him. After some incidents I've faced personally, it's very difficult to trust that vehicles won't suddenly decide to swerve lanes at the exact moment when I'm overtaking them. Autos are even more difficult. In Mumbai for instance when they want to change lanes, they would have already made 20% of the manoeuvre before they would bother to check their rear-view mirrors (Have you observed this?).

Am I honking too much? Yes. Definitely. Maybe 99/100 times or even 999/1000 times, I would have un-necessarily caused noise pollution. But, that one time might have been fatal. Especially when I am above 110-120 kmph. Its a sad state of affairs. Yet, I suggest everyone to not take over-taking and the possibility of a sudden lane swerve by some vehicle lightly and make sure that the vehicle ahead of u is aware that you are overtaking him, esp autos and those 'Tourist' Sumos & Innovas.

I am too late in these comments in that the discussion has now moved onto the legal/ police matters (And it's amazing the amount of information I've been able to gather from some of the posts). However, I wanted to post these thoughts even at this late date.

[androdev]

@manishk83, I agree with you completely. Initially I was a no-honk dude, and I used to get mad at people who honk, but now I have slowly started using honking as a way to announce myself to the traffic-blind. Though I was not involved in this accident, such a big repair bill is surely bound to make me a better honker :-)

[F150]

Androdev,
What is the update on the insurance and the legal proceedings ?

[androdev]

On the legal side, the auto fellow or his family never showed up at the police station. Police casually told me that the auto driver is OK and nothing serious. Unfortunately, I did not do a thorough legal work and I am hoping the issue is put to rest and it won't come back to haunt me.

The insurance is still work in progress and it is the workshop that is directly dealing with the insurance after I registered the claim. I have basically told the service advisor that I am not interested in repair and have asked him to try to maximize the recoverable amount. I have an appointment with the insurance person tomorrow and will update the thread with details based on that meeting.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by androdev

On the legal side, the auto fellow or his family never showed up at the police station. Police casually told me that the auto driver is OK and nothing serious. Unfortunately, I did not do a thorough legal work and I am hoping the issue is put to rest and it won't come back to haunt me.

Talk to your lawyer about the same. In the very least, you should get it documented that the auto driver has not presented himself at the proceedings and has not lodged any complaint. If he is absconding, get the same documented too. All this will be very useful in the court.

[NPV]

@androdev - very sorry about the accident. Happy to note no loss of life. I would suggest you locate the auto driver and do necessary formalities/documentation to avoid getting into unexpected trouble that may surface later.

Slightly Off topic - spoke to a friend yesterday who met with an accident in a SX4 while driving from Blr to Hyd. This happened near Hindupur when a bus coming in opposite direction swerved at high speed to make a right turn coming directly in the path of my friends car. The SX4 swerved to the right, hit the median and a concrete pillar on it and after spinning it came back diagonally across the lanes to land in a pit beside the highway. Luckily it did not topple and all people on board (2 adults and 2 kids) survived without any injuries. As they were coming to terms with the accident a Swift car met with a fatal accident at the same spot after colliding with another bus
The SX4's air-bags did not deploy (this shocked me) but apprently the Maruti guys said it was due to position of the impact. The insurance guys do not want to declare total loss since repair quote is about 4 Lakhs and IDV was 6 Lakhs.

[Jakku]

Originally Posted by manishk83

Am I honking too much? Yes. Definitely. Maybe 99/100 times or even 999/1000 times, I would have un-necessarily caused noise pollution. But, that one time might have been fatal. Especially when I am above 110-120 kmph. Its a sad state of affairs. Yet, I suggest everyone to not take over-taking and the possibility of a sudden lane swerve by some vehicle lightly and make sure that the vehicle ahead of u is aware that you are overtaking him, esp autos and those 'Tourist' Sumos & Innovas.

I too second you on this opinion. It is always "prevention is better than cure". Even I use to honk, but after being outside India (for the first time in my life - only once), the rate of my honking has come down. I have payed the prize of this self imposed moratorium twice and now onwards will opt out of it.

I was amazed to see the discipline over the there on the roads (yes, it is self imposed and legally as well). Here legal forces are more or less interested in booking people without helmet/ not wearing seat belt which would harm the drivers/ riders, but not to catch or book the real offenders who will put others life in jeopardy. So knowingly or unknowingly I had started to imitate that kind of discipline in India, like try walking on the footpaths. This is only 10% successful as they are mostly hacked by the roadside vendors/ the shops near to footpath. Try to keep in single lane in traffic, but this has resulted in others shouting at me and painting me as a moron. However, all these kind of self imposed discipline have resulted in pumping up my BP, so now I should be back to be "Indian" on roads !!!!

The only one thing I still follow religiously is wait at the RED signal and that too well before the Zebra line and move only after the signal has turned GREEN. In Bangalore I have noticed people jumping before getting GREEN signal just to go and wait in the next signal. I have never observed being very much late to reach the destination by waiting for the signal to be completely GREEN and usually reach along with the guys who were jumping.

Let us Team-BHPians join hands and take a pledge to follow traffic signals & rules always - even if the road is empty and no one is in sight, we will stop at RED signal. I am sure one such small step will help the bigger cause largely. All please suggest if there are similar threads already or the way we can take this cause forward or suggestions to improvise the idea.

[manishk83]

Originally Posted by Jakku

Here legal forces are more or less interested in booking people without helmet/ not wearing seat belt which would harm the drivers/ riders, but not to catch or book the real offenders who will put others life in jeopardy.

I agree whole-heartedly on most of the things that you've penned.

But on nothing more do I feel as strongly as your point about cops booking only people without helmets & seat-belts (which are only harming their own lives) and not trying to catch the real offenders who are putting others' lives in jeopardy.

I have been a biker most of my life in a town in Rajasthan called Udaipur. Never until I moved to Mumbai did I start wearing helmets. Understanding the importance of helmets, I purchased a Studds helmet believing that an ISI mark helmet is the one to go for. Within a couple of days, I realized that I feel more afraid to drive my bike because the helmet creates blind spots behind my 180 degree sight (those areas, just around your cheeks which you can't see but can sense a movement). And with the way the autos and other bikers try to cut you even if there's an inch of space you need every extra degree of sight that you can get (and the rear-view mirrors can just not cope with the out-of-the-world manouevres the autos and the bikers make), and with the helmet I felt more paralysed. Thinking that it's maybe because I haven't worn one for most of my life and it's an adjustment problem - I persisted for another couple of months. Finally, I went to Charni Rd and purchased the smallest itsy-bitsy piece of 'katora' that I could lay my hand on (which barely covers my head). The traffic police wallah is happy and I feel more secure. I still have my Studds helmet which I use only for my weekend out-of-the-city drive.

The problem is the cops are trying to apply rules on the issues that are most easily cured (and which frankly affects the driver's own safety): by trying to make ppl wear helmets & seat-belts. But there is no will to right the issues which actually make the roads unsafe. Just yesterday there was a report in TOI that nearly 1.3 lakh people die on Indian roads every year. Most are bikers. Helmets will probably decrease the death statistic for them but why would the biker be in an accident in the first place? Becoz there was some bozo who thought of a sharp manouevre without checking his rear-view mirror. Some truck-wallah who was driving on the wrong side of the road.

I realize it's much simpler said than done, so entrenched is the attitude amongst us (and I sometimes wonder, a truck wallah who would travel 100s of kms daily is driving on the opposite side of the road to save a couple of kms worth of diesel . What sense does it make? It's only because he knows he can do it, is why he does it!!). But there has to be a beginning. The aim is so gigantic, it won't be achieved soon but a beginning has to be made.

On the same note, why not make roads cleaner of grime & dust so that less bikers skid. No, all of that takes efforts. Efforts without any gains for the average traffic cop. What is most beneficial? Stop a helmet-less biker and palm off a 50 Rs.

Why not stop a trck/tempo traveller/ tata 407/ auto for not following rules? becoz they'll endlessly haggle and finally part with only 10 or 20 rupees.

And in any case, what tenability does the helmet/ seatbelt law have when you have autos which have neither?

I rarely dwell on these topics. Wouldn't have if Jakku's post hadn't struck a chord. Because whenever I do, there is only one place I end up at:
"God save us all".

Sorry androdev for hijacking your thread. It has started going completely

[RJ555]

thank god, the occupants are safe, morons like this auto guy should be punished severely.... they risk their lives as well as a threat to other motorists
keep dreaming, dreams never end... luvd ones are safe
your memories on your car will last a lifetime, get it repaired, think-over, start driving...

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by androdev

The insurance is still work in progress and it is the workshop that is directly dealing with the insurance after I registered the claim. I have basically told the service advisor that I am not interested in repair and have asked him to try to maximize the recoverable amount. I have an appointment with the insurance person tomorrow and will update the thread with details based on that meeting.

Any success with insurance androdev? In these cases i have seen mostly insurance guys resist writing off the car and i am hoping in this case you are able to write it off.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Any success with insurance androdev? In these cases i have seen mostly insurance guys resist writing off the car and i am hoping in this case you are able to write it off.

No update yet. The insurance person I met turned out to be just 'legal/verification' guy and doesn't deal with the money part. I did speak to the surveyor and he said total-loss is also under consideration and that is why it is being discussed at a higher level and he is hopeful of getting back sometime next week.

[anandbhat]

Androdev,
Deeply saddened by the incident. Saw this post only today and so much have happened in last 12 days.
Really sad to see those pics.
Glad every on travelling are safe.

[androdev]

Update from the insurance (ICICI):

1. If I opt for repair, the liability is approximately 4.7 Lakhs (as against 8.9 Lakhs estimate) and balance will have to be paid by me.

2. If I opt for cash offer without repairing and decide to sell the vehicle myself, the payout would be 3.35 Lakhs. When I asked why is this amount less than above figure (4.79) the explanation I got is that the repair-liability is just an estimate and it will be based on invoices and "repair vs replace" negotiations. So the outright payout amount is 30% lower than repair-liability.

I said this is non-starter. Then the insurance person asked me what is the figure I have in mind. I said 5 Lakhs of liability payoff from insurance and I plan to sell the vehicle myself for a minimum of 3.5 Lakhs. So anything less than 8.5 Lakhs would be not acceptable. Mistake I did: I put forward a number without doing research on the resale value of the car. I continue to be terrible at negotiations because in retrospect I feel I should not have given them a figure of 8.5 (I actually meant it as a lower-bound but still a bad idea).

3. I get a call after few hours and I am told if I opt for cash offer without repair and leave the vehicle to ICICI, the payout would be 8.25 Lakhs. Where as the payoff if I choose to keep the vehicle with me would be 3.35 Lakhs as stated originally.

BTW, IDV is 9.66 Lakhs (2007 Laura L&K MT with 52K on the odo) and I will have to shell out close to 40K to workshop towards estimation services and parking charges if I don't get the car repaired.

What do you guys suggest? I am thinking I will ask them the 8.5L + 40K (workshop expenses) as the payoff.

Thanks.

[Jakku]

Originally Posted by androdev

3. I get a call after few hours and I am told if I opt for cash offer without repair and leave the vehicle to ICICI, the payout would be 8.25 Lakhs. Where as the payoff if I choose to keep the vehicle with me would be 3.35 Lakhs as stated originally.

BTW, IDV is 9.66 Lakhs (2007 Laura L&K MT with 52K on the odo) and I will have to shell out close to 40K to workshop towards estimation services and parking charges if I don't get the car repaired.

What do you guys suggest? I am thinking I will ask them the 8.5L + 40K (workshop expenses) as the payoff.

Thanks.

I hope you should ask them to give you 8.5L and the rest liability is theirs like to take from the workshop or to get it repaired there itself or scrap there (anything of their choice, you just walk away with 8.5L).

I cannot confirm it completly, but a distant relative of mine back in Kerala did the same thing with his M800, some years ago. He negotiated for a price and walked away, the insurer taking the liability of the same. I was not a party of this, but came to know through my relatives.

[.anshuman]

8.5 lakh Rupees looks like a good offer. In such situation i would accept it(I actually did with my Accent).