Ah, nuts! :(

Petrified · Post by **Petrified** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 11:41 am

Managed to get meself in the middle of a 7 car pile up on the M4 on Saturday.

All is good though, no one was hurt. The only minor damage to the car (bonnet, grille...vw badge in tact)

I was quite supprised with how well the car performed in an emergancy. Slowed down from 70 to around 10mph in a matter of seconds, no skidding, nothing. Just a shame I couldn't have slowed down to 0.

I know on the mk5 I had problems with brakes especially in emergancy situation, but this was a hell of a lot better.

Sorry no pics, the car is already being fixed, should be done by the end of the week.

James.

Speedlaw · Post by **Speedlaw** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:07 pm

Good to hear you're allright. Scary stuff!

Scorpio1 · Post by **Scorpio1** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:16 pm

Blimey, sorry to hear that mate.

Main thing is you're okay and your car slowed like it did.

Damn motorways

harry · Post by **harry** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:26 pm

so long as you ok m8, cars can be fixed..

Post by **Josh_PoloGTi** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 12:29 pm

Glad you are ok mate.

Good to hear that your car isn't too badly damaged either... Modern cars seem to write-off quite easilly due to all the crumple zones etc, good for you and me, but not so good for the car!

Hope you get it back soon!

Petrified · Post by **Petrified** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 2:12 pm

Thanks guys,

Yeah, cars can be fixed. Well it survived a trip to London the following day and nothing fell off, so I guess they are pretty tough, the guy at the garage said it looked more like a parking mishap than a motorway crash. So I guess I'm pretty lucky, some of the other cars didn't come off as well...

James.

KarlM · Post by **KarlM** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 10:08 pm

so there is some truth in VW statement

Small but tough

Petrified · Post by **Petrified** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 9:54 am

I was a bit gutted really. I had an ABT Sports Grille fitted, only just got it off ebay. I thought I'd try it out before I painted it. Of course it wasn't on the insurance yet (and it wouldn't have cost anything to put it on!) so I'll be back to the standard one now.

I can't wait to get it back, I get this Rover 25 hire car. Not great. But at least it's not a C*rsa, S*xo or F*** K*

James.

Speedlaw · Post by **Speedlaw** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 10:03 am

So on a side note,

Does your insurance go up after claiming?

Since UK insurances are mind blowing already, is there a chance that the companies don't use the up/down system we have here?

[Meaning; crash = up, no crash for a year = down]

Petrified · Post by **Petrified** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 10:52 am

My Insurance won't change until I come to renew it. Which luckily is in 11 months.

I had 3 years no claims which is something like 50% discount . So when I come to renew I will have no discount because I've claimed.

But luckily by that time I'll be 25 (luckily?

) so it would have come down quite a bit anyhow (different age band).

At the moment I pay around Â£420 so next year if I was under 25 I'd probably be paying close to Â£850-900 without the discount, but as I'll be 25 it'll be closer to Â£600, so it's not all bad.

Some insurance companies take away your discount for the current year meaning if you have an accident you immediatly start paying more. But I'm with the Tesco No Frills Driving Experience tm who don't do this.

Of course all this depends on if I can't prove it wasn't my fault. If I could then I wouldn't have to pay anything extra.

Hope that makes sense.
James.

Speedlaw · Post by **Speedlaw** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 1:41 pm

Makes perfect sense.

It's still odd to hear "Tesco" and 'insurance' in one sentence... Always think of the supermarket, forgetting they have other activities as well.

Is there any chance of shifting accountability?

polo2k · Post by **polo2k** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 1:56 pm

if you hit the back of them with the front of your car and you wern`t pushed then your up the creek without a paddal because the law thinks that means you were driving too close/fast for the conditions

Speedlaw · Post by **Speedlaw** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 5:33 pm

Right, it's down to whether or not he stopped in time. Wonder how you can prove that?