[mchulet]

I had a freak accident this Monday(21st May 07) evening on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Was coming to Pune from Mumbai, had stopped to pay toll at Mumbai side of toll naka. My vehicle was stationary, a Tata 407 truck who had lost control came and rammed my car from behind almost at 60-70 Km/Hr speed.

The damage was extensive, JayVijay Pune has quoted 1L for the repairs. Because of the build quality of Fiat no one in the car got injured although it was fully occupied. But looks like there is some damage to various parts of the car because of the impact but I am not able to ascertain that...

The truck guy was a amateur and was travelling with his parents and brother, I thought of getting Police involved and jacking him up but they looked like decent people, so I let them go. They were offering to pay 5K but I did'nt want them to run out of money because of this so I declined and scrapped the cops idea too

Because of the impact the radiator had also got damaged and coolant leaked out, there was a roadside mechanic at the toll naka who did a good job of fixing it temporarily

So questions if you guys can please anwser:

Technical Questions:
<1> Will my car become as good as new after the repairs ?
<2> What all I need to ensure to get the car back in best shape ?
<3> How much will go from my pocket after insurance ? I am expecting around 25K

Reaction Questions:
<4> Would it have been better to get the cops involved ?
<5> Would it have been better to squeeze every penny out of the truck guy ?

-Thanks

[rishi_kapoor]

First of all...thank God that you are safe. I am myself a Petra owner, I often think about selling it becuase of parking constraints but have never been able to convince myself enough. I have done 5 time Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, 2.5 times in this car including once nonstop to Delhi but car has always stayed Rock Solid. Now, an attempt to answer your queries:

1. Dont worry until unless Chassis is involved (very very rare), there is nothing to worry about, the car can be restored to almost new. Insist on changing all components involved in accident do not agree for repairs. (If you can mail me pictures on my mail id than I can even show it to a very experienced Fiat works manager here in Delhi and take his opinion).

2. Insist on all parts changed that were involved in accident than their repairs. Check your car everyday while in repairs to ensure no cheating happens.

3. Expect a hit of 15-20K on your wallet and of course loss of no claim bonus for next year.

4. Cops are useless, they would themselves try to make some money than actually helping. They would had harressed the truck guy.

5. You forgave the guy, so dont worry, your kindness would not be wasted. God is fair. And I hope this guy learnt a lesson and would behave on road next time.

In case you have any challenges in getting support from Fiat India, do PM me and I would try to help.

Take care.

[rks]

Originally Posted by mchulet

I had a freak accident this Monday(21st May 07) evening on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Was coming to Pune from Mumbai, had stopped to pay toll at Mumbai side of toll naka. My vehicle was stationary, a Tata 407 truck who had lost control came and rammed my car from behind almost at 60-70 Km/Hr speed.

I drove from Mumbai to Pune that very morning on the Expressway and in fact I do this route every week. The possibility that I could get rammed from behind anywhere on the Expressway, including the toll nakas, is always on my mind and I keep glancing frequently in my rear-view mirrors. In this case there is not much you could have done to prevent the accident and it was generous of you to let off the offender. I would say you did the right thing if money was not your primary concern; looks like an honest mistake by the Tata 407 driver.

Edit: If your stationary vehicle was rammed at 60-70 kmph, the impact could easily have pushed your vehicle on to the vehicle in front unless you engaged your handbrake. And the pasengers would have gotten a severe jolt with considerable damage to the rear of your car. I normally am in neutral and do not engage handbrakes because of the need to crawl forward frequently at the toll nakas. I suspect that the truck would not have been at such a high speed at the moment of impact; it would help if you could post pictures of the damage.

[rks]

Originally Posted by mchulet

I had a freak accident this Monday(21st May 07) evening on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. ....
The damage was extensive, JayVijay Pune has quoted 1L for the repairs.
The truck guy was a amateur and was travelling with his parents and brother, I thought of getting Police involved and jacking him up but they looked like decent people, so I let them go. They were offering to pay 5K but I did'nt want them to run out of money because of this so I declined and scrapped the cops idea too....

So questions if you guys can please anwser:

Technical Questions:
<3> How much will go from my pocket after insurance ? I am expecting around 25K

Reaction Questions:
<4> Would it have been better to get the cops involved ?

I think you need to make a police complaint and get an accident report from them if you intend to claim insurance. If you have noted down the address/phone number of the Tata 407 driver, you can still try to make the complaint and have it corroborated by the Tata guy. I think the insurance company may not fork out any cash without a police accident report and your liability could be the full amount.

[moralfibre]

mchulet can I recommend B.U. Bhandari over Jay-Vijay? I bought my car from Jay-Vijay but always get it serviced at B.U. Bhandari who have a better facility than Jay-Vijay any day. They use good Du-Pont paints and have a better paint booth too. I liked their workmanship more than Jay-Vijay anyday.

[NIP]

you have to register a complaint to claim insurance AFAIK. besides, the truck insurance company will pay if it becomes a case...the driver will not spend from his pocket.

[kiranpashtakar]

Originally Posted by NIP

you have to register a complaint to claim insurance AFAIK. besides, the truck insurance company will pay if it becomes a case...the driver will not spend from his pocket.

I think this is the right thing to do lodge a police complaint and claim the insurance from the trucker's insurer.

[rahul_intlad]

Yes a police complaint is required to be lodged for claiming insurance.Also I think you need to get it done quickly.

Or atleast get in touch with your insurance guys ASAP.

[mchulet]

moralfibre even the insurance guy had suggested BU Bhandari, but since I have got my servicing done from JayVijay for long time I thought I'll get it done from there. Also I was having Shivaji's their top service guys number I could get in touch with him easily

I am not too happy with the quality of their work but I had never used BU Bhandari's facility so was a bit hesitant. Will surely try them for the next service.... for now my car is as I had left it at JayVijay. They are sloooow....

does anyone know Jay or Vijay of JayVijay to get this done faster please ?

[GTO]

Glad to hear you are safe. Dont worry, the car will be fine if the structural damage is not significant.

My vehicle was stationary, a Tata 407 truck who had lost control came and rammed my car from behind almost at 60-70 Km/Hr speed.

A certain "Rehaan" was going to do the same to my Vtec on our panchgani drive. Luckily, I was warned in the nick of time and sped ahead!

[greatDrive]

Nice to hear that you are safe.
I had exactly same accident(in 2005) when a TATA 207 hit my petra from behind on a signal. thank god that the speed was slow and impact was not much. Though there was not much damage, I still have to spend Rs3000 on painting car's dicky scratches. I did not claim insurance for that small amount.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by mchulet

does anyone know Jay or Vijay of JayVijay to get this done faster please ?

Try B.U. whenever you feel like.

Even if you know J or V it wouldn't make much of a difference. They have gone nuts now a days.

[mchulet]

pictures of the damaged car

[RX135]

@mchulet, sad to hear about that freakish accident. Was the 207 really that fast? At least the damage doesn't look that extensive from pictures. Or, may be the car is strong enough to absorb that heavy impact.

@moralfibre, does B.U. Bhandari offer pick-up and drop-off service? I want to get a spoiler fitted to my car, but don't want to (and can not) spend a day for that alone.

[Fiero]

quite some damage ... feels bad looking at the car ... when you said 60-70kmph tata 407 i expected the damage to be much more ... fiat quality is one thing .... but its hardly a tank ... i'm assuming that at the point of impact , the speed was thankfully , slower than you estimate ...