Hi all,

my brother has a new Monte Carlo with around 1500miles from new. He was parked by the side of the road with his front wheels pointing out (residential area). He returned to his car and immediately felt his car pulling left...he had to hold the steering wheel turned to the right to go straight...

We deduced that somebody must have clipped/reversed into his front wheel while he was parked up as the car was perfect in the morning! Other than that no visible damage.

Any ideas if this is likely to be what caused the trouble? How much would a repair bill be for such damage? i.e. is it worth claiming on his insurance? He is 17, recently passed his driving test so I presume the insurance would skyrocket. It is frustrating as young drivers get so much stick for being unsafe and whathaveyou and to no error of his own he'll have to fork out so much either way (even more insurance or repair bill).

Well for a start its not an axle (FWD wishbones etc)

First think it tracking id image in a residential area no major impact would of been suffered so id image its pulled/pushed the tracking (this being the cheapest and easiest thing.)

I would advise taking it to a dealer to check mainly as if any other damage is cause they more likely to notice then a tyre shop who most likely just going to check/adjust your tracking

re The Insurance Sky Rocketing,

is it not already in the stratosphere with no NCB.? Also quite a high compulsory Excess.

I hate to doubt your brothers story, but having children that clip kerbs, hit pot holes, sliding into the kerb on slippy roads etc

and forget that when asked why the steering is off, know nothing about it,

i tend to think your brother might have a selective memory.

He needs the vehicle checked over & put right by a professional anyway.

The cost of putting things right & paying hisself might well be less than the Excess for an insurance claim.

Untill inspected to see what the damage is, you will not know.

george

re The Insurance Sky Rocketing,

is it not already in the stratosphere with no NCB.? Also quite a high compulsory Excess.

I hate to doubt your brothers story, but having children that clip kerbs, hit pot holes, sliding into the kerb on slippy roads etc

and forget that when asked why the steering is off, know nothing about it,

i tend to think your brother might have a selective memory.

He needs the vehicle checked over & put right by a professional anyway.

The cost of putting things right & paying hisself might well be less than the Excess for an insurance claim.

Untill inspected to see what the damage is, you will not know.

george

+1....even if the story is correct it's sloppy to park with the front wheels on lock when it only takes a few seconds more to straighten them up...which is a lesson he should now have learnt.

+1....even if the story is correct it's sloppy to park with the front wheels on lock when it only takes a few seconds more to straighten them up...which is a lesson he should now have learnt.

It may be sloppy parking, but it's even sloppier driving by the driver of the other car. Not having straightened his wheels is perhaps 'better' as the other vehicle concerned may have slammed into the bodywork.

His memory is certainly not selective as I was in the car with him that morning when he dropped me off to work and parked up maybe 200 metres further down... there is no way he could have offset the tracking in 200 metres...he would have had to slam right into a kerb.

I was also surprised by the story that someone would have have clipped the wheel as there really is no other visible damage. But in the morning I was sat in the car and it was perfect...I'm baffled what else could have caused it.

Let us know what the diagnosis is then on the damage that has been done.

I think it is as likely that he had his wheel turned in parking and forced the turned wheel against the kerb as a direct hit on the offside wheel by a moving car.

ie slammed into the kerb on full lock while reversing into the space and then just left parked that way,

steering never straightened untill driving out of the space.

?how did he leave it then, car parked straight with the front of the drivers tyre out on full lock or the rear of front wheel out out and front in?

Strange things happen in life & parked in residential areas has as much chance of getting a HGV hitting a tyre as anyplace else,

usually wing mirrors they get tho.

Bad luck all round.

george

It may be sloppy parking, but it's even sloppier driving by the driver of the other car. Not having straightened his wheels is perhaps 'better' as the other vehicle concerned may have slammed into the bodywork.

His memory is certainly not selective as I was in the car with him that morning when he dropped me off to work and parked up maybe 200 metres further down... there is no way he could have offset the tracking in 200 metres...he would have had to slam right into a kerb.

I was also surprised by the story that someone would have have clipped the wheel as there really is no other visible damage. But in the morning I was sat in the car and it was perfect...I'm baffled what else could have caused it.

Don't agree .This happens a lot.On a narrow street a driver will mainly focus on missing the sides of cars he is passing ,I.e miss the side of the car but not notice the wheel sticking out.Agree the driver who hit it is at fault but also IMO anyone who parks like this is partly responsible for the mishap.

thing is to get close enough to hit a turned wheel, you are normally close enough to smack wing mirrors and there would have been damage to the other car as well which i doubt the owner would have been happy with

so while the theory in the initial post is not impossible i would say unlikely