My BiL has had a singularly bad piece of luck. Driving his 2 year old Auris diesel with his wife and both adult children as passengers in Neasden or Wembley, he was run into by another car and the Auris written off.
He said the other car, containing an Indian family with a baby in a child seat, came round a l/h bend - r/h to my BiL of course - apparently out of control, hit the kerb on its own n/s and came across the road, hit a parked car and then crashed head-on into my BiL's car, n/s front to n/s front... 'so he was inside, on the left'.
The Auris's air bags deployed, my BiL commenting that the knee-level ones seemed to have been particularly effective in preventing injury, but his wife and daughter, sitting behind each other on the n/s of the car, were both shaken and bruised, his wife who has chronic health problems being severely shocked. He has a stiff neck and his son is apparently all right.
The other car was insured but will 'market value' get him another as-new, perfectly maintained Auris diesel? He is toying with the idea of sharing his wife's car from now on as she doesn't use it much, and both the children have their own cars, the son a motor bike as well.
He is as near-perfect a driver as anyone I know, far more disciplined and restrained than I am, a lifelong car enthusiast and long-time big biker. So: it can happen to anyone, any time. Be careful and don't doze at the wheel.
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Unfortunately, driving within the law, according to conditions, carefully, being alert .......are all mitigation, nothing more. Mitigation reduces your chances of an accident, doesn't guarantee 100 per cent success as your BIL found out. There but for the grace of a higher authority we go.
Hope all goes well.
Edited by tack on 16/07/2009 at 20:46
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I avoided an accident before, somebody coming back from a funeral (near a cemetry) was turning right at the lights, I was at the lights it was on green I was going on straight ahead and the car suddenly just turned into my path car realised his mistake and slammed the brakes on but if I had lost my concentration for one second I would have gone into him, it would have still been his fault int he eyes of the law but I always drive to avoid an accident who ever is to blame. There are times though when nothing in the world can avoid an accident.
Hopefully your BiL and his family will all recover quickly.
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Lud
based on the description of the accident, I would say your BiL should be pursuing the other drivers inc co for some rather large sums of money. Certainly sufficient to get a brand new car
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Lud,
Of what relevance was it that the TP were Indian?
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And whats the relevance of you taking that one small piece of background descriptive text out of a narative thats full of descriptive text and highlighting it out of context?
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Implying that someone is racist is not relevant to this thread. If you were offended please notify the mods. I was not offended and I am a member of an ethinic/religious minority.
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Espada, I not implying Lud is a racist for one moment, or that he was trying to offend anyone. Lud provides some of the best posts here. I'm not offended either and I'm not of an ethnic/religious minority. If I said I was white, british and straight it would offend someone somewhere.
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The other car was insured but will 'market value' get him another as-new, perfectly maintained Auris diesel? >>
for authoratiative "market value" guidance, see
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/techni...l
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombuds...l
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombuds...m
p.s. I agree with the query as to why Lud felt the need to mention the ethnic origin of occupants of the other car.
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Lud said it because it how we speak. I describe people by the colour and ethnic origin (I'm Jewish BTW as most people here know) and so do my staff (who are white, British and Catholic). It figures in conversation. Yes we all generalise - get over it!
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Yes we all generalise - get over it! >>
Sorry, but those days are over.
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I don't think Lud's mention of the family being Indian merits any more comment than if someone had highlighted that he said the other car contained a child in baby seat.
I always enjoy Lud's posts, well written, descriptive with amusing and often inflammatory injections of alternative thought, the forum is a much better place for his contributions.
His posts often describe various types of people of different backgrounds with humour and warmth and bring the world he lives in to life, many of us don't encounter his rich source of human difference, i welcome every one of his contributions.
To highlight our differences, SWMBO is from Greece originally, her driving is typically Greek...furious but competent, her temper is typically Greek...short....does this offend anyone?
Edited by gordonbennet on 17/07/2009 at 14:02
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if someone had highlighted that he said the other car contained a child in baby seat. >>
I did read his post twice to check what I was missing with regard to the child and the babyseat. I was expecting Lud to say that somehow the presence of the child in a babyseat had contributed to the accident or something! Similarly, I thought that the ethnicity was going to feature somehow in the cause or aftermath of the accident. But there are no such furhter details in the account. So I remain puzzled.
Edited by jbif on 17/07/2009 at 14:06
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Can we please just imagine I didn't post my question to Lud? It was addressed to Lud, not the thought police.
I didn't do it to provoke another tit for tat argument to derail a post - something that happens too frequently here.
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I am far more concerned that luds mate didnt know if he was in Neasden or Wembley. That show a fair level of day dreaming....
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The reference to the TP being Indian is relevant to me - that is my ' neck of the woods ' and I've been almost totalled by Asians driving very badly , so that bit of information makes sense to me. They are worse drivers than Europeans , by my observations . At night it appears that cars with one working headlamp are driven solely by ethnics - keep watching and see for yourself .
Edited by motorprop on 17/07/2009 at 14:20
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This thread is swiftly moving towards heavy edit and/or closure. Please can we move on?
smokie, Moderator
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At night it appears that cars with one working headlamp >>
Could it be that the nearside one is U/S because they keep totalling Lud's relatives' cars?
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The ethnicity of the passengers in the other car is really neither here nor there. I did think about withdrawing that detail, but decided to leave it in as background material (the Wembley area has many Asian residents). Actually the make and model of their car would have been more interesting, but I forgot to ask. I need hardly add that neither I nor my BiL (a Yorkshireman) has anything against any ethnic group. But I am all blushes at some of the kind posts in my defence.
One detail that may interest AE: my BiL and the driver of the other car are both insured with the same company.
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One detail that may interest AE: my BiL and the driver of the other car are both insured with the same company.
oh dear, thats an unwelcome conflict of interest. I would be lookiing at getting independent legal advice.
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Lets not be under any doubt here, its perfectly acceptable to employ a solicitor to recover damages for yourself (for both loss and personal injury) from your own insurance company.
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I had a bump with 2 cars - both insured in an "East Anglian Town".
I was stationary and blameless.
One insured was through a commercial Ins Policy, "one private and Direct"
2 claims offices of same company could not agree to pay as neither wanted to take the it of £7,000 - each office said the other would pay! Obviously same company but different "profit & loss" accounts.
21 months it took b4 I got my oop expenses and NCB back.
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I had a bump with 2 cars - both insured in an "East Anglian Town".
Through various different subsidiaries they insure 20% of UK drivers, so there must be plenty of crashes between their policyholdrers.
21 months it took b4 I got my oop expenses and NCB back.
That's extreme, but I've rarely heard a good word for their customer service.
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An update: my SiL has a fractured sternum and a couple of cracked ribs. She isn't feeling too awful but is injured. The daughter has some slight, it is thought, neurological damage but being a physiotherapist will I suppose get good, intelligent teatment. The men are all right.
My BiL was impressed by the instant payout, above book price, that the insurance company came up with. OK, well and good, but I've got a feeling they think there may be more to come. There should be I think.
Departing from serious matters, he has ordered a non-auto (I think) Yaris with the same engine as the Auris. Got to be quicker, I said, accelerate out of trouble! No one is feeling all that jolly yet though. My BiL of all people says the incident has made him feel more timid on the road. These things do, but what a PITA all the same.
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>>> 21 months it took b4 I got my oop expenses and NCB back.
That's extreme, but I've rarely heard a good word for their customer service.
I got so fed up with them accusing me of cashing a cheque for £100, that I knew nothing about, so I set a solicitor on them and umpteen letters later found they had cashed a cheque that was raised for ME (by name) from the insurers of the other driver.
Their total inefficiency cost them dear as my solicitors wanted their time and effort payed for. My paper chase lasted well over a year. I did not in the end chase them re the accusations leveled at me.
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"I had a bump with 2 cars - both insured in an "East Anglian Town"."
They are now changing their name to sound like a clapped-out Vauxhall. It would be nice to think that rebranding might mean a new-look customer service policy - and a willingness to answer a phone - but I won't hold my breath.
I've been with Zurich for a few years - one small claim, dealt with very efficiently - but my broker has recommended the aforesaid as the premium is much lower. I'll go with it I think and rely on the broker to help if I have a claim.
Edited by Avant on 23/07/2009 at 22:57
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