[Samarth 619]

Now I know of one incident which was handled very well by both parties.
Although, Rs. 18k is an exorbitant figure for PPF for just the front bumper. Am I missing a point, or is it just regular overcharging considering the premium car brand here?

The core issue was definitely lack of parking skills, from what I understood. I'm a biker but I know you steer in opposite directions while moving back and forth wihle negotiating tight curves, the lady apparently didn't steer at all. The car won't drift on its own.
But its ok. Well handled.

[GeeTee TSI]

Thanks for sharing such an insightful clip. This explains how the scratches and gashes miraculously appear on our parked cars (I have stopped losing sleep over such, with all the accumulated imperfections taken up during detailing)

Quite an impact, the way the car shook. Would this be enough to set off the car alarms or get the dashcam recording?

[Rachet]

Originally Posted by Samarth 619

Although, Rs. 18k is an exorbitant figure for PPF for just the front bumper. Am I missing a point, or is it just regular overcharging considering the premium car brand here?

PPF installation has nothing to do with the brand of the car. It is based on the rate/sq.ft of the product . I have installed original 10 years warranty product of Llumar for the whole car. And the product as such is costly. The only difference here is, the car is big and has a huge bumper. So the area to cover is also more, hence the price. And also the charge to get it installed from a quality detailing shop like OCD in Chennai is a bit high. The quality of product and work matters.

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

Quite an impact, the way the car shook. Would this be enough to set off the car alarms or get the dashcam recording?

It is enough for the dash cam to record.

[G20Rider]

Originally Posted by speed79

It is just lack of parking skills that many people suffer from. Such people do not understand that they need to turn the steering wheel in opposite direction in each back and forth.

This! I know exactly this from my experience trying to get my wife to park the car properly. She is a good driver and can drive well in most environments. But she just can’t park well. And she does this same repetitive back and forth without turning the steering in the opposite direction. And I can’t help but sarcastically ask “are u expecting something magical to happen if you keep going front and back without turning the steering wheel “

On the side note, glad to see such unfortunate incidents being handled in a very reasonable and mature way, by both parties.

I had an minor accident back in 2011. We just took delivery of a brand new Swift and I took it out for a spin on the highway on a rainy day. I made the mistake of keeping the umbrella on the dash and upon acceleration, it fell into my foot well. Took my eyes of the road for a few seconds to fetch it back and looking back, I see the car in front of me (A Zen) had almost stopped to turn into a petrol station. I braked hard, car squealed, skidded and crashed into the Zen maybe at around 10kmph. Thankfully the Zen was still moving forward, so impact pushed it further, reducing the impact.

The young me was terrified, got out and could see the driver, a middle aged man was visibly upset. I asked if he is ok, checked his car and profusely apologised and accepted it was my mistake (as it was). And that calmed him down and he said it’s ok and to be careful the next time.

Damage was also limited to just some scratches on the zen, but this has caused a slight tear and misalignment on my Swift.

Funny thing, some locals had already assembled and few started blaming the Zen for stopping on the highway (that didn’t make sense, he had his turn indicators ON and it was not a sudden stop) and few blamed me. But crowd evaporated the moment it was clear both parties had no intention of escalating.

But lesson learnt. Being calm and polite, accepting mistakes (if it’s your mistake) and apologising goes a long way in diffusing most tense situations.

[dsr001]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

18k is a bit too steep for the lady to pay don't you think considering she is a humble Maruti owner. I would have helped her out a bit by asking to pay say half the amount after all she did owe up her mistake. I am not saying she should not pay at all and that you should bear all the cost all yourself but in the end we are all humans and we tend to make mistakes.

I agree with this as one needs to show appreciation for the promptness and willingness to pay. Also, being grateful that nothing major happened.

Sharing costs would be a concrete way to do that.

Regarding her confidence, would surely have been more without the payment.

Not a nice post for front page on women's day.

[HighRevving]

Originally Posted by VaibhaoT

Sorry to say, but I feel some of the post are over critical towards driver and that too on International Women' Day. I personally feel we should be more supportive in situation like this than be critical.

We have to understand that a small car with less than 50bhp can cause catastrophic damage to life and limb, at even low city speeds. Cars are built with many safety features for the driver but only few for others, like pedestrian protection system which are only in high-end cars - again, that is no excuse to drive with inadequate skills. Driving is a big responsibility and there is no point discounting it in the name of women's day. If someone is not able to drive properly, they should seek professional help; putting lives at danger in the name of 'learning' could be too expensive.

In this case, it was just a bumper - but thankfully she did not knock out the headlights or crack the bumper otherwise OP would have lost a lot in insurance premium as I am assume she would have trouble coughing up for replacement of parts.

This is where I believe learners should utilise more technology if their skills are not up to the mark. Not everyone is good at judging the length of the car or the turning radius, so they should install front bumper sensors and rear view cameras until they master their skills of driving in tight spots.

[samuelv]

I am so amazed by your reaction to this situation. In this world of road rage, such examples stand out as a Role Model showing us the way. Truly appreciate both the parties for being honest, patient and humble. Nowadays a small scratch on an Alto itself will result in a scuffle.

We in India need to learn to understand that it’s ok to be in these situations and it’s not the end of the World.

I feel so nice reading this post and this is truly an example that I will carry with me while I drive.

Thank you

[vredesbyrd]

Glad that it was just PPF otherwise it would have been really expensive and time-consuming. NCB would get thrown out of the window as well.
I guess I should get PPF too.

OT:

Originally Posted by robby0707

I do not understand how people are justifying the lady saying that she is learning how to drive.

Agreed but any rebuke against the fairer sex is equivalent of career suicide and exile from the society.

Originally Posted by VaibhaoT

Sorry to say, but I feel some of the post are over critical towards driver and that too on International Women' Day. I personally feel we should be more supportive in situation like this than be critical.

What if she hits a street vendor's stall? What if she runs over a small animal?
What if she runs over a person?

Will you still defend her to the end?

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by VaibhaoT

Sorry to say, but I feel some of the post are over critical towards driver and that too on International Women' Day. I personally feel we should be more supportive in situation like this than be critical.

Why does International Women's Day have anything to do with the criticisms shared here? Nobody is pointing fingers at the driver because she is a woman.

The comments shared on this thread are absolutely agnostic of the age/gender/caste/creed/race/sexual orientation of the driver. All the criticism applies to anyone who would do such a mistake.

The strong criticism stems from the fact that there really isn't anything tricky in this situation. There was ample space around for a much bigger vehicle to maneuver, there was nobody pressurizing the driver to make a move, there was no vehicle movement or distractions around and there was sufficient visibility as it seems to be a bright day. There is no point coddling such mistakes with the excuse of "novice driver" and "they are learning" etc. I mean, the driver had all the reason in the world to stop the car and ask for help.

It is the responsibility of the driver to ensure they have learnt all aspects before operating a potential weapon out on the roads. The standard "H" test for getting the DL invariably involves reversing the car and using the steering inputs at the same time. If any driver has properly trained themselves for it, then they would know how to handle this basic situation. Either this was bypassed by the driver here, or they did not fully inculcate the skill. There are also tons of online videos showing basic driving skills and parking skills which could have been reviewed. This in my opinion is just a manifestation of a general callous attitude towards learning the driving skill. Many people have this attitude and the strong comments on this thread are merely using this example to point that out.

[Kashief]

Good that the investment you made on PPF has saved the expensive BMW lights from cracking. From the footage, we can see that the car is parked beyond the parking limit(I believe its till the paver blocks) in the drive way. That may also be a reason contributing in this accident.

I understand that 6GT is more that 16 Feet length and usual parking space provided by builders would be somewhere between 14-16 Feet.

[VaibhaoT]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

What if she hits a street vendor's stall? What if she runs over a small animal?
What if she runs over a person?

Will you still defend her to the end?

Originally Posted by krishnakumar

Why does International Women's Day have anything to do with the criticisms shared here? Nobody is pointing fingers at the driver because she is a woman.

I am not defending her. There is no denying that it was her mistake and luckily it was reversible upto good extend and there was no damage to any individual. Even the driver has accepted that it was totally her mistake, compensated the victim and hopefully she has taken corrective measures. For me this is the most important part.

Regarding Women's day reference, I feel in our society is there is unconscious bias, when it comes to women driver. For example, few days back, our cab driver was not getting enough space while overtaking, he quickly said she must be a lady and when the driver in next car was actually a lady, he grinned like "told you so".

That's why I feel, if she has taken her lesson, then we should be more supportive than be critical. If we are too critical then that might discourage her from continue practicing.

[RT13]

Nice of you and that lady. Basic courtesy seems to be sorely lacking in the world these days and such examples are a pleasant departure. I have had the same issue of neighbours hitting my car (and running) but simply not caring or having such courtesy, constantly claiming they were ‘novice drivers’ as if that justifies it. Alas, I didn’t have a cctv then.

On a separate note, and I have no empirical evidence to back this up but it’s a general observation and gut feel, I think the advent of the modern, cheap AMT has been a disaster as far as road manners and skills are concerned. Once upon a time, one needed to actually learn how to drive and a manual gearbox required time, effort, patience and a basic level of skill to even get from point A to B. If you couldn’t clutch, shift, accelerate and brake all in sync, you wouldnt get 10m, let alone 10km. The car would simply stall. By the time you could do those things, you’d learn how to operate a steering wheel quite well (something stunningly lacking here). Heck, getting into first gear and moving without jerking was a huge win!

Auto gearboxes were expensive and almost nobody got a first car that was an auto, let alone learnt on one.

Today, cheap and accessible gearboxes have given many first time car owners access to machines which they can simply point and squirt in any direction without any time or effort put into that developing driving skill.

As a former owner of a Celerio, but one who had driven manuals for years before that, I now try and give them a wide berth when I see them on the road. My better half who drives across Bangalore now makes it a point to try and avoid SPressos too. What’s less funny is that today one even sees many first time owners with something like a Sonet or Seltos which has tons more power mated to the auto. Which is an even bigger recipe for disaster.

And of course, with EVs, things will only get worse IMO.

So, I guess one has no choice but to drive even more defensively every day.

Of course, I don’t know how one would go about parking defensively but hey, it is what it is I suppose.

Rant/lament over.

[vinya_jag]

Originally Posted by Kashief

I understand that 6GT is more that 16 Feet length and usual parking space provided by builders would be somewhere between 14-16 Feet.

I too had the same thought. The parking space is close to the driveway, and the Car is Jetting out quite a bit from the Yellow line markings.

See if you can exchange your parking space towards the end. If not, place a cone at the edge. Once bitten, twice shy

[W16rocks]

Originally Posted by HighRevving

With people like her, the problem is reluctance - they have limited skills but still want to drive - the root cause of our traffic situation today. If she cannot make it here by reversing a few times by steering in the opposite direction, she does not deserve to be behind the steering wheel. I hope people understand their limitations and not cause damage to others' property but then, maybe I am asking for too much.

I respectfully disagree with your viewpoint, mistakes happen and I believe the OP handled it well by supporting the lady, and helping her regain confidence, if we stop people from driving after every small incident, most of the drivers on the road, wouldn’t be driving.

What we can do is, help them learn the right way to do it, the situation is best handled when both parties can learn something valuable.

[Samarth 619]

No point debating whether it was ok to take Rs. 18,000 from the lady or it should've been shared or borne by the owner partially or fully.I think we're getting unreasonably sentimental here:- A damage has been caused to the vehicle, and it has been compensated by the party responsible.

Yes, I give full respects to the lady, who could've run, could've gone hostile, maybe even used the woman factor to escape the payment, but no. She did the noble thing.

But, it doesn't matter if the owner owns a BMW or has 10 or 100 crs. in bank balance or anything, if s/he's been aggrieved, s/he must be compensated. Parking space technicalities don't matter, as its not the cause of accident here.

I might not get many positive responses, but I believe we should be careful of judging on internet. Maybe the lady herself is richer than the thread starter/ GT owner? Maybe the thread starter guy is going through tough phase?
Do we know for sure? Does it even matter, when he just got his car damaged for no fault of his?

Feel sorry for the lady all you want, even I do, but hey, justice should prevail, right?