Sad Day

[bandrew465]

Well

I was in the right hand lane of a roundabout today exiting in the right lane, the roundabout is clearly marked and some guy drives his mondeo into the side of the superb. No photos yeat as it was dark by the time we got the car home and we put gaffer tape over the sharp edges as the mondeo left a long cut in the door.

Lower sill also well dented, and the curtain and passanger side airbag deployed.

Very frustraiting that no one stopped, I even asked one person but she didnt want to get involve, what has this world come to.

I imagine the superb 1.8Tsi will have to go at insurance renewal, I only have 4 years no claims so couldnt protect and I think with this been on a roundabout with no witness it will go 50/50? Anyone got similar experiance?

This was the only photo I could get, very busy roundabout at 5pm ish with my 2.5 year old with me. He claims I pulled into him, damage is to the whole passanger side, main initial impact was front pasanger door and then his front wing slid down my car until I came to a stop as seen in the photo.....

B

Edited 30 September, 2011 by bandrew465

[bandrew465]

Edited 30 September, 2011 by bandrew465

[Graeme B]

i always thought it was the responsibility of the person behind to leave enough space to react so if your damage is to the side then its his fault..... maybe i am totally missing the point but the damage is to the passenger side so either:

He joined the roundabout without giving way to people coming from the right hand side

He was in the wrong lane for the exit.

Maybe i am wrong but its the way i see it...

[bandrew465]

Thats the way I see it, but he claimed I pulled into the side of him whilst he was in the left lane, after changing his mind several time about what had happend.... Wish I had started the voice recorder on my iphone but in the heat of the moment and all that.

Hopefully the insurance companies will realise we wouldnt have both pulled to the right if it had happend on the left :-(

I hate cars when stuff like this happens.

B

[barts2]

Did u not phone the police ?

[bandrew465]

I did, and they said if no one was injured then it was up to the insurance comapny. I almost said I could maybe smell alcohol but thought better of been dishonest...

[Graeme B]

if you say there was a smell of alcohol on the persons breather you are right to say that the police have to attend if you are wrong you are wrong no issues there, maybe he had a cigarette and you miss-smelt. Not an issue there at all. You would also get a report and statements but unfortunately its all in hindsight.

Hopefully the insurance will go through things logically but it does show what kind of world we live in where no one stopped to assist or give a witness statement. Its actually a crying shame the world we live in now.

I remember getting a phone call from my mother saying she had broken down during the winter when it was around -5 and not 1 person stopped to see if she was allright she was on her own for 2 hours before i got there and another 1 hour before the rescue service arrived.

[adstalker]

If you are involved in a RTC and you phone the police, they will normally fob you off and say that they don't need to attend if no one is injured. At this point, you should request that they attend and they are obliged to.

I had an RTC in Feb 2000 where I was the last car to be hit in a four car shunt at a set of temporary traffic lights at road works. I phoned the police to notify them of the collision and they told me that if no one was hurt that we should exchange details and just get on with it. I requested that they attend and begrudgingly they did.

Looking at the photograph you took at the time of the collision, the entry lanes to the roundabout look very wide. Based on the fact that you were in the offside lane and he was in the near side lane, the only way the two of you could have collided is if one of you changed lanes. Based on the fact that when the cars have come to rest you are both in the offside lane, it can only be surmised that the Mondeo pulled into the side of you. Unfortunately, due to no witnesses, the insurance companies will probably settle for a 50/50 nock as it is the least work for them. I would stress that you put pressure to your insurance company to get the claim in your favour; after all you pay them for this service.

All the above said and done, a car is only a piece of metal at the end of the day, as long as you and your child are ok that’s the main thing.

I hope everything works out for you.

Anthony

Edited 30 September, 2011 by adstalker

[Guest]

have you checked to see whether there were any traffic cameras on that roundabout?

[barts2]

In Ireland you have to call the Gardai/police they determin who's at fault they take all the details of the crash

[jonnb]

In Ireland you have to call the Gardai/police they determin who's at fault they take all the details of the crash

As far as I am aware, if the incident involves only body damage to both vehicles, and there are no injuries, you do not have to contact Gardai, but merely exchange insurance details, making sure that you are satisfied as to the driver of other vehicle and it's insurance and tax details.

The only time you need to report an accident only damage to the Gardai, is if the owner of the property damaged is not present ( hitting a parked car), and you are obliged to do this as sonn as possible at a Garda station.

[St]

See an airbag triggered just to add to the expense. Sympathies about this.

Is that a roundabout at a junction under construction? There appears to be an "exit" which is blocked off to the rear and right of where you both stopped. Could this mean that the layout of the lanes is a bit confusing or not so intuitive, maybe even temporary layout.

Certainly from the photo it appears as if RH lane has nowhere to go other than the route you must have taken, but it's going to be one of those with no winners only both parties being losers unfortunately. :(

[jrw]

How i see it:

There is no damage to the front of your car or the front wing? This clears up the fact that he was further behind than you. You were also in the right hand lane. Any other cars to the left must yield to the cars on the right or in front. You were in front and to the right, so your right of way. This is basic traffic law.

Can't see how it is anything but his fault tbh. Would be interesting to see if there are any cameras on the road as it seems a busy island. This would hopefully clear it up. If not then i am afraid it will probably lead to court.

[Superbjoser]

Yikes!

Most important no one was hurt. The rest is just money... and quite lot of hard work for the work shop. My guess is about 10-15 hours work to get this in order. A heavy toll of these hours are in fact the airbags. Its all work around it that takes some good patience from the mechanic. The paint shop has a challenge here as well since its a black car. They have to "hide" it from the eye where the new paint starts and ends on the whole side of the car.

That may be a week and a half, maybe two, without a car unless you have rental car in your insurance.

/Superbjoser

Edited 1 October, 2011 by Superbjoser

[bandrew465]

[bandrew465]

Got an estimate from the VW bodyshop yesterday, with the VAT it's £6k worth of repairs....

[ukcruiser]

OUCH!

But, as has been said, as long as all humans are Ok. The car, can be fixed... i presume he's admitting responsibility and going on his insurance? - If it is, make sure the hire car when yours is off the road, is of "Similar Stature" to your own, ie, not a Polo or a Micra!

Al.

[philpix]

OUCH!

But, as has been said, as long as all humans are Ok. The car, can be fixed... i presume he's admitting responsibility and going on his insurance? - If it is, make sure the hire car when yours is off the road, is of "Similar Stature" to your own, ie, not a Polo or a Micra!

Al.

+1

[Jigger72]

Glad you and your child are OK but looking at the damage, it could have been caused by you pulling into him.

I'm not saying you did but that's what his insurance will say and you'll have to prove otherwise.

I hope you get it sorted and your little 'un isn't shook up by it

[jrw]

Glad you and your child are OK but looking at the damage, it could have been caused by you pulling into him.

I'm not saying you did but that's what his insurance will say and you'll have to prove otherwise.

I hope you get it sorted and your little 'un isn't shook up by it

But the OP was clearly to the right of the Mondeo and ahead.

[stevehg]

Just out of interest, where is this roundabout that takes you round anti-clockwise? I assume it's part of a one way system to do that.

[Jigger72]

But the OP was clearly to the right of the Mondeo and ahead.

… and decided to pull left without checking the mirrors? it's not outside the realms of possibility and I was just thinking like an insurer. I do feel dirty now though :(

More to the point, I woke up in the night and couldn't get to sleep trying to work out how that roundabout works? It appears to be French :S

[bandrew465]

Okay

You all have me confused now, it's in the UK, it the dual carriage way link between 2 large roundabouts.

B

[Superbalicious]

Very sorry to hear about your accident, they happen so easily these days with everyone rushing around and not giving due consideration to what others are doing. Being a fellow Superb owner (and not having been there to see what happened) it was clearly the fault of the Mondeo driver, I just hope at the end of it you get your car back looking like new and you and your family are ok...!

Just out of interest, where is this roundabout that takes you round anti-clockwise? I assume it's part of a one way system to do that.

Anti-clockwise...?

The photo was taken on the exit of the roundabout, hence the vehicles are turning to the left. The roundabout itself is in the distance and can be seen continuing to the left of the image (through the Superb window).

Does the road at this point drop from two lanes to one lane, as is often the case at the exit of roundabouts?

[Wardy]

Bit of nasty damage there. Glad you're OK. Care to post up a Google Map link, with the incident location? I'm a bit confused at the location as well. Plus having a note of that, with the rest place of both cars will be useful for your records too.