Broken and bleeding chariot

Fled74 · 23-05-2007, 10:54 PM

Hitting an oily spot on the road during heavy drizzle while negotiating a corner at a relatively slow 30-35km/h is very,very bad. It causes near-instantaneous loss of traction and your car will slide straight into the kerb.

Well, at least that's what happened to my car on Monday afternoon, coming home from work.

Since the tyres had no grip because of the oil and water on the road, even a light touch on the brakes caused them to lock up, and just as I was about to countersteer in an attempt to recover - WHAM. My front left wheel slammed sideways into the concrete kerb, jumped up over it and down again, digging a short rut in the dirt on the other side. It happened in less than a second.

The rim was cracked, the suspension arms and drive shaft were buggered all to hell, and the wheel assembly had been pushed up and backward into the wheel well, deforming the front quarter panel and keeping the passenger-side door from opening. I stood there for nearly a minute staring at it while contemplating the unfairness of life, and hoping the car wasn't a write-off. Then I called my insurance company. Their tow truck came and took the car to my repairer, who told me that the damage can be fixed, thank God. With original parts, too, not cheap re-conditioned sh it.

It happened within seven blocks from home. At least my wife and daughter weren't in the car when I crashed.

The insurance assessor will have a look at it tomorrow. I've been assured by them that I won't have to pay a cent for the repairs, except for the standard excess.
So now I'm driving around in an '89 Toyota Corolla automatic whose steering wheel needs to be wrestled with everytime I want to make a turn. I'll have massive bulging biceps by the time i get my own car back.

Danny · 23-05-2007, 11:48 PM

Whoa, No good!

Trust me I had the same thing happen in my Fez, It had ABS, but seriously, even on Oil, ABS is useless as normal non ABS brakes.....

photn · 24-05-2007, 08:41 AM

DAMN!!!!!

that sucks.. and DAMN!!! look at that damage....

shazam mate. i feel sorry for you...

hope it doesnt take toooo long to get repaired.

Ives · 24-05-2007, 05:01 PM

NOOO!!!

Sorry to hear that mate. Looking on the positive side, nobody was hurt. I hope all the repairs will go as smooth as possible. Also I hope the car wont have a "scar".

Adsy01 · 24-05-2007, 06:09 PM

Spewing! I hope it drives as new when you get it back.

kiwijohn42 · 24-05-2007, 07:21 PM

Man that looks nasty. Hope she's as good as new when you get it back, will they even do your alloys as well. Don't see why not if you've declared them. Makes paying for something you hope you never need, worth it when you do. Good luck mate.

FOCUSonTHIS · 24-05-2007, 09:59 PM

Mate, hope the car gets back on the road. Hope to see you cruising soon

zetec · 24-05-2007, 10:02 PM

Did you photo the oil and prove you weren't speeding? Hope they didn't try to pin you for neg driving.

Sorry to see mate, hope she's back in time for Transformers at Coburg Drive-Ins!!!

Fled74 · 29-05-2007, 01:11 PM

Thanks guys.

I paid a visit to the suspension place yesterday; they'd stripped the damaged parts off and were waiting for the assessor to come in and give a final quote. It wasn't as bad as I'd feared - the drive shaft is OK, and the body damage isn't as serious as it looks. The rim and the suspension arms bore the brunt of the impact. They couldn't tell me exactly how long the whole job would take, so it looks like I'll be tooling around in the old Toyota for a little while yet.

Happily, Allianz didn't try to pin me with negligent driving; they just asked how long I'd had my licence (3 years here, 12 years overseas), and I told them about the oil slick and that this is the first time something like this has happened to me. They didn't argue or anything; they said that I wouldn't have to pay a cent on repairs.