[palash987]

This happened to my car while it was parked in my colony.
My car (white swift vdi) was all for a toss. !




It was badly and i mean really bad hit by an INNOVA bearing Registration Number DL4CAE 2183.

All this happened on Wednesday, 30th January 2013 in the Afternoon.
(As told by the people who watched all this happening )

I don't know what to say except our sheer bad luck.

Since we were away from our home, we came to know of this incident only after we returned.

How.?

1st February 2013, Friday Afternoon ,

I went to clean my car, as usual, but on my reaching at the spot where my car was parked, things didn't look too familiar.

Note: I park my car in a straight line with tires pointing in a straight direction.

I couldn't believe what i saw.
I rubbed my eyes, rubbed again.
But reality cannot be hidden for long.

Yes. The car was in a state of mess.
I skipped an heartbeat.

I ran back home.

Called mom.
Told her everything i saw.

We both reached the spot again.

I was in despair.
So much for a car that was immaculately maintained and just 6 months young.

I couldn't recognize it for a second, seeing the state in which the car was.

Then reality flashed over.
And here we are.

After seeing the substantial damage done to the car,
i couldn't make out how this can be done to a car with cars in front and back and wall to the left.
AND IT WAS PARKED OFF THE ROAD WITH NO TRAFFIC OBSTRUCTION, whatsoever
and with sufficient space for two cars to pass parallel to my car at the same time.

Soon, we came to know how all this happened.

As told by the people who saw the incident:

The person driving the innova was OVER-SPEEDING in colony lanes,
while he turned the car in the corner,
he lost the balance and hit a senior citizen, who was badly injured
and
in a rush to get past (fear of being caught)
he steered away from the senior citizen (after hitting senior citizen)
and hit my car.

The impact of the speeding car (innova) was such that my car which was parked 5 inches away from the wall was smashed into the wall.

As told by the OWNER of the innova :

Person driving the innova = "AMIT KUMAR".

The owner Runs a School Named = "HORIZON MODEL SCHOOL"
Amit kumar, is employed by them as a conductor of the school bus.

Owner himself told us that amit doesn't know how to drive a car.

On Wednesday i.e the day of this incident:

Amit kumar took the keys of the innova from them in the afternoon for just giving it a thorough wash and clean the interiors as well as exterior of the car.

And the rest is history.

Now,
The owner of the innova is washing his hands away stating :

1) The Innova was driven by amit kumar, it is not his (owner) fault.
2) He (owner) will not pay any compensation for the incident caused by amit kumar.
3) Get your car repaired with your insurance and we will not pay anything.

Points to note :

1) I parked my car (swift) off the road with more than enough space for 2 vehicles to pass through parallel to my car.

2) HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE.?
If someone doesn't know how to drive a car yet he took the car, without the knowledge of the owner, made an accident and still he is there as a conductor of the school bus reporting at the school everyday.

3) INNOVA Driver Name : "AMIT KUMAR"

4) INNOVA Registration Number : DL4CAE 2183

5) SCHOOL NAME: "HORIZON MODEL SCHOOL, D-BLOCK, SARASWATI VIHAR, DELHI-110034.


I mean if someone comes and wrecks your car due to his incapacity of driving,
is it we who are to bear the loss??
Our car was damaged with no fault of ours,
and now we should bear the loss too...?????

Seek Your Valuable Inputs.


I'm Hereby attaching snaps of :

1) My car (Swift vdi)




















2) Innova - DL4CAE 2183

[NMS]

Sad to hear about your loss Palash.
Good thing that you have taken detailed pictures which will act as a substantial proof.
Have you so far considered the option of going to the Police for this?
Driver, Conductor, Knows driving, does not know driving, Amit Kumar, Horizon model school, let the police decide all of that.
All you should be worried about is the fact that your car has been damaged by this Innova and the guy who owns it is responsible. If you file a police complaint, as far as I know Police will right away impound the Innova, and that should be quite a deterrent for the owner, and might just pay up.

[ghodlur]

@Palash,

For some reasons the pics arent getting displayed properly.

Thats really sad, my sympathies are with you. For all reasons the Innova owner must be held responsible who handed over the car to a person who didnt know how to drive. First suggest you make an FIR and give all the details to the Police regarding the Innova. You have a very strong case. If the Innova owner still wants to act smart, you can nail him with a court case, he is liable to pay the damages with the TPL liability of his insurance on Innova. Meanwhile intimate your Insurer to send in an Surveyor and get the damages surveyed. Approach the school and let them know of the incident so that they dont employ the services of the Innova to ferry school children.

My heart goes for you man, sorry to see the state of the car for no reason of yours.

[sagarpadaki]

Thats a really bad shunt!

You have two options-

1. Repair it with your own insurance and ask the innova owner to pay the amount that is not covered by insurance and your no-claim bonus. IMO , the best solution. Its a win win situation. Ensure that you get this statement in writing from the Innvoa owner in a 100 rupees bond paper and get it signed in front of a notary.Ensure that both of you are present in front of the notary when you are doing this. And yeah, ask him to pay for the notary charges!

2. If the innova owner does not budge , then tell him that you will file a Police complaint against him and get the claim through his third party insurance. If he does not have an insurance then he is in a big soup. He can be arrested.

[ajmat]

Since a senior citizen got injured,, both of you together file a case with the police. They will need to take action on this.

[Dry Ice]

Really sad!

I would say file a complaint at your local police station and take it from there. Was the driver who caused this caught on the spot? If not, the owner could well be bluffing and paying this poor guy to take the hit for him. Even if there was another person driving this car, he can't be absolved of his responsibility - assuming he has not reported theft of his vehicle.

Also, as Ajmat suggested above, why don't you check with the elderly person who was hurt and try to file a complaint together.

One more thing, assuming he is running his own school and all, he might be well connected and will most probably try to get the cops on his side through some or the other trick. Be prepared and don't leave out any holes for him to exploit and slip away, do speak to your lawyer friends on how to handle this better.

[Enigmatic]

Hi palash987,

Its sad to see your car in such a state, more so when there was no fault of yours.

Anyways, don't get bogged down because of the same and don't worry the owner of the Innova bearing registration number DL-4CAE-2183 driven by Mr. AMIT KUMAR would have to pay you the entire compensation for your loss.
And here is why :-

Between an employee and an employer there exist a vicarious relationship.
This doctrine is enshrined under Tort Law which imposes responsibility upon one person for the failure of another, with whom the person has a special relationship (such as Parent and Child, employer and employee, or owner of vehicle and driver), to exercise such care as a reasonably prudent person would use under similar circumstances

This is based on the doctrine of Respondeat Superior (Latin for "let the master answer") and qui facit per alium facit per se(he who acts through another is deemed to have acted himself) and is based on the employer-employee relationship. The doctrine makes the employer responsible for a lack of care on the part of an employee in relation to those to whom the employer owes a duty of care.

Hence the owner of the Innova will have to pay up the damages, such incidents happen but what you need to remember is stay strong and do not let the person who owns a school over power you or else you would be taken for a ride.

Sorry im in a bit of hurry hence cannot write about the hit and run part, will update you on the same later. It is essential you bring up that as well because it helps in establishing a mind-frame of the driver and hence helps prove malice and negligence.

P.S. Im not a lawyer but a 3rd year law student.

[deepakchiniwal]

Set the innova on fire and ask him to claim from his insurance. Since it was fire that caused the incident, you are not responsible for it. Isn't that logic?.

File a complaint.

[aaggoswami]

I have faced almost similar situation when a builder/contractor took land which was for ring road, started construction of a commercial multistorey building, is still harassing us and has broken our Innova's rear windshield. The damage of Rs. 10000 was burnt we bore, he payed just rs. 3500. Did not have any energy to fight these scum of the earth sort of people.

Understanding your situation, the car is much more damaged. Once in workshop, the bill will be atleast in mid 5 figures with labor and all. If your car was parked parallel to wall, then it has taken a serious hit as the rear end is now out as compared to front.

Tell Owner of Innova that if he is not ready to pay the entire amount, you will file a legal complaint and then also use RTI to know what exactly is status of case. Be polite, but stay firm. Driving a vehicle which is as good as 1.7T 15 feel long moving mass on wheels, things should be more strict on schools' front. What if he was carrying kids and fell off a bridge while traveling ?

IMO, why should you claim insurance if its not your fault ? If the dealership is ready to give in writing that the monocoque of the car is significantly affected, push for the price of a new car. Dont let the dealer know who hit the car. The dealer might be connected with Innova owner.

[Sommos]

This is a very sad incidence indeed.
Talk with your insurance company for an estimate of the damages and also the process. First submit a police complain, it will anyway be needed for your insurance claim also.

I cant say anything. Sorry to see your new car in a bad state. I know, how a owner feels, when he sees his new car in such a state when there is no mistake from his side.

Comming to your car repair. It all depends on your will and work schedule.

If you want to take up the matters seriously, there are some serious advice provided above. Please note that you would be responsible for your deeds. iF you take it with Govt officials, then you may have to wait. Patience + Time + Bribing (if reqd) - Mental peace. If you are ready to take it up, Please go ahead. Teach the idiot a Lesson.
However, if you do not want to go to Police stations and taking up the nonsense, take your insurance claim. As your car is new, you should be getting significant amount being reimbursed. That shouldnt be an issue.

Please do update us on whats your next step. If possible, you would get some good advice from fellow Bhpians.

[manolin]

Simply put, owner of a car is responsible for damages caused by car - so long as the car was not stolen. Go ahead and file a police compliant - which you will need to claim third party insurance from the Innova's insurer. Don't delay this too long as the police will create hassles filing the compliant. Just give the Innova's owner a heads up that you are on your way to do that, because police problems will arise if it is done later - if he wants to settle then he will tell you right then (get a maruti dealer to check your car, and give estimate - and ideally take money in advance based on that estimate - with the threat of filing police compliant).

Talk to your insurance agent - he will tell you the procedure for filing police compliant and how to process third party insurance claims.

[speedmiester]

It is highly unfortunate to see your car in such a situation.

The owner of the car is responsible for any damages resulting from any accident. It does not matter if his car was stolen or taking away by force, the owner is always responsible.
Please file a complaint and make the owner of the Innova as a party to the accident. You can see him coming running to your doorsteps.

It would be better if you could get him to pay the no claim bonus and the extra money you have to shell out after getting the car repaired through Insurance.

[MetalBuff]

Hello Palash,

The Swift has definitely taken a bad hit. You, indeed must be feeling very helpless to see your beloved car in this condition. To add to it, the frustration due to the Innova owner not co-operating and owning up to this fault of his :(

Still wondering how he had the audacity to refuse paying up for this! He being the owner HAS to take this up on himself.

This is the very sole reason why we ensure that all paper work is correctly done and the necessary documents are forwarded to the concerned RTO, when selling a vehicle. So, even if the new owner doesn't follow the protocol of registering the vehicle in his name, we have done the needful from our end. That gives us the shield to move away from any untoward activities the car may see in the future.

As long as the vehicle is registered in someone's name, he IS bound to get summoned by the law if, the vehicle has participated in illegal affairs. No excuses!

-Shivang Gandotra

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Do the following:

- Keep the numbers of the eye witnesses. If possible, ask them to write down their statements in front of a magistrate.

- Take pictures of the damaged innova.

Will help you in your case.