Boo-hoo, I've bent it :-(

[RallySimon]

:'( :'( :'( :'(

Absolutely gutted. I can't put into words how upset I am at the moment.

Had an accident this morning and done a lot of damage to the front of my Yeti. Front near side wing, bonnet, headlight, bumper, radiator etc. is all stuffed

Was bearing down on lady in a Mini Cooper (new BMW sort) being driven at little more than 30mph in a 60mph limit on a straight piece of road, so I maintained my 50-60mph speed with the intention of passing her once I caught her... as I reached that point of deciding whether to pull out and floor it, or stay put and brake, I spotted a car through the trees some way off coming the other way, and while I'd still have had time to safely pass her, I decided it was safest not to bother and instead stayed behind her and braked to slow down to her speed... which would have been fine but at that point with a clear road in front of her, for absolutely no reason, she slammed the brakes on and did an emergency stop! As I was still braking from a higher speed I had no chance of stopping, and hit her up the backside. :(

I can't believe its happened, my pride and joy all damaged. Worse still, I was supposed to be going on holiday on Saturday for a week.

Anyone know what supply of parts are like? Its due to be taken away tomorrow morning but I just wondered if it was going to take ages if parts are hard to get hold of?

[DanGum]

i feel for you mate, i crashed my vrs 2 days ago went straight up the end of a l200 because the van in front of us wheel fell off!!!

Most important thing is that nobody got hurt

Good luck with the car buddy

Dan

[The Plumber]

Hi Simon

very to hear you've had a mishap but at least your OK which is the main thing :yes: Hopefully they can get your Monster back up and running fairly quickly for you but realistically it could take up to a couple of weeks.

TP

[bilun777]

Took me nearly 2 weeks just for a rear bumper assembly...Best of luck...

[Yeti_Man]

SOrry to read this. :( Im sure it will be back to full health soon, its just the inconvenience of the whole thing I guess. :(

What was her reasoning for doing an emergency stop btw? :wonder:

[Auric Goldfinger]

What was her reasoning for doing an emergency stop btw? :wonder:

..........To enable her to claim whiplash damages

Disclaimer:- " Maybe "

[giandougl]

It's early days yet 'RallySimon' depends on what damage you can't see underneath as well as what you can see above????

It probably will be an insurance job, so cost won't be in the ultimate equation for you, sorry.

[vRSsunroof]

I feel for you mate.... seen a close to faital incedent happen becuse of someone doing this, the person behind swerverd onto the oncoming traffic both traveling at 40 (combined head on of 80) hope someone stopped to see if you where all ok, and have witnesses.

Fingers crossed its all fixed.

[900000]

Grrr... it never ceases to amaze me what people can get up to on the road. Hopefully this has scared this stupid insecure driver for life so she will take the bus from now on. A bit harsh I guess but better for all of us.

Good luck getting the Yeti fixed.

[lfc958]

A few things here.

1- Why was she doing 30 in a 60 ?

1 - its illegal to stop suddenly for no apparent reason.

2- Watch out for claim on whiplash, as If you are correct & there was no reason for her to brake suddenly, it sounds very suspicious on a bogus insurance claim, tell the insurance company of your suspicions if there really wasnt any reason for sudden stopping.

[RogN]

Hope you got loads of photos too - stops any claims that it wasnt a straight road, good conditions etc..

[Ray_Green]

1 - its illegal to stop suddenly for no apparent reason.

Try proving that one. :(

[Gizmo]

A few things here.

1- Why was she doing 30 in a 60 ?

1 - its illegal to stop suddenly for no apparent reason.

It's a speed LIMIT not a target to hit though, so as annoying as it is she was doing no wrong (on a single carriageway)

As for why she braked? rabbit/cat/dog etc ran out? ... all impossible to prove otherwise.

[RallySimon]

Thanks for all the replies people. The car has now been taken away to a bodyshop for repairs (organised by my insurance), and they've left me with a very basic 1 litre Kia Picanto as a courtesy car instead. :'( I can hardly get in the thing!

Despite them telling me on the phone that there was no mileage restrictions, just pay for the fuel I use, the paper work that came with it which I read through in more detail last night says daily limit of just 50 miles, all extra mileage charged at 20p per mile, which kind of makes a weeks holiday away in it rather expensive - of course being a Saturday no one wants to answer the phone to discuss this either :wonder: - now sitting here trying to decide whether to cancel my weeks holiday or go and argue with them about it later - not going to be much fun in this piece of crap anyway.

As for why she stopped so suddenly, I asked her and her reply was she thought I was going to overtake her and had seen the same oncoming car in the distance that I had! Now if I'd pulled out onto the other side of the road to actually pass her then that might have been a valid excuse, but I hadn't and had already started to brake when she slammed on her brakes, which makes me think she wasn't fully aware of what was actually going on around her.

Why was she only doing 30ish? Seems a lot of people don't bother speeding up after the last village as theres traffic lights at the A14 junction half a mile further on, hence you'll often see people overtaking slower cars down there, normally completely safely. Wish I'd decided to continue and overtake her now, would have been safer than deciding to stay behind her :S

I took a couple of photos of my damage, and one of the two cars where they'd come to a halt, just in case there are any questions about who was where. No doubt she'll dispute what happened and try to make out I was driving like a some kind a lunatic - I'm sure despite her saying she was OK, the usual claim for whiplash will soon follow too.

Probably the most depressing birthday today that I've ever had. Totally fed up now :'(

[Leodhasach]

Ah man, I'm gutted just reading this!

[Llanigraham]

Sorry to here this Simon, and hope every thing turns out well.

Have the holiday and argue the toss later!! If they didn't point the mileage ruling out to you specifically can they make it stick?

[bilun777]

Try proving that one. :(

Many years ago a friend of mine had a similar incident.

A garage mechanic ,who had renewed the brakes on a car, did an emergency stop in it for no reason."Just to test the brakes."

My friend rear ended him and went through the windscreen.(before compulsory seatbelts.)

He was held as responsible, as he hit the car in front,even though the mechanic was honest about his reason for stopping

On the bright side it'll probably never happen to you again,as you'll be driving rather more defensively when near "those" sort of drivers.

[RallySimon]

Finally got my car back yesterday, 2 weeks after they took it away. It was actually all done by Tuesday apart from the radiator, as they were initially sent the wrong one, then the next one leaked, so 3 radiators later it was Friday!

Unfortunately its going back. :'(

While they seem to have made a nice job of the bodywork repairs, I discovered a different problem. I tested out all the usual things like headlights etc, and the screen washers. Windscreen washer worked fine until I turned the headlights on and tried it again, at which point the headlight washers had a go... for about 1 second before there was a loud pop inside the front bumper somewhere, the headlight washers immediately went back into the bumper and it promptly emptied the entire washer bottle contents all over the floor

Something's clearly come off, I can't see what or where, so they're having it back on Monday. Assuming they will reconnect the offending pipe, but it doesn't inspire much confidence now that it won't do that again a few months down the road...