A warning to anyone involved in even a 'minor' car accident

[ozfrog]

Sorry for the long story.

I don't know the best way to put this. I'm still quite gutted and I keep telling myself, "It's only a car". But it isn't helping much at the moment.

For about the past 15 years, I've been complaining that the headlights on my 1999 model 406 have been woeful. They used to be great. But something happened and I didn't know what it was.

I thought maybe the polycarbonate lenses had suddenly clouded over, but it really seemed too sudden for that. I had friends look at them, try and adjust them (after I had been doing that many, many times. One person went to the extent of removing both L and R headlight housings and starting from scratch. I didn't tell him, but he made things worse.

Finally, last week I went to a smash repairer I had been to before for some insurance work. I told him my sob story and he booked the car in for yesterday and promised to not go crazy spending money on it without first asking me. I was surprised when he rang me after about 90 minutes to tell me that the car was ready - but then there was the bad news. They had done the best they could. They had not been able to fix it.

When I went back to collect the car, he simply said that the car must have had some impact that wasn't fixed properly. He showed me that my top radiator mountings were out of alignment by about 2 cm between left and right. And then he showed me the line down to where the radiator mounts at the bottom. Even to my untrained eye, once it was pointed out, it was very obvious how out of alignment the car is. I said that I had owned the car for just under 20 years and the only damage that had occurred during my ownership was when a Toyota Prado sideswiped me when he wanted my lane. The Prado driver didn't stop, and I tried to chase him, but when he continued going through red lights, I had to give up my chase. I wasn't prepared to do that.

I had a witness to what happened. We both had the same number plate in our heads and then we both wrote it down - separately - before going to the police. It's an offence to not stop after an accident, even if there's no one injured. When we gave the police the number plate, it didn't match the car. It was nothing like the car. Now I knew why he didn't want to stop!

Back to the smash repairer yesterday. As soon as I said that the Prado had sideswiped me and I showed him the minor damage to the front right mudguard, he said that'll be it. What you think is a minor scrape, or a minor nudge or something similar, can actually push the who car out of alignment. You know those little Toyota Yaris cars? If a RAM even barely touches that, the Toyota is written off.

My warning is that if anyone does minor - or what you think is minor - damage to your car, make sure you get it checked properly and professionally.

I asked if I should buy any parts to make the repair of the 406 any cheaper. No. Everything that's wrong is repairable. It is just going to cost thousands of dollars. I'm sure the insurance company would have written it off at that time, but I wouldn't have been spending the money I have been in the meantime getting the car I enjoy driving the most back to tip top condition. It'll be eligible for concession registration in 2029 and this was going to be my pride and joy. I can't see myself spending thousands getting the car straightened. And I can't see my wife letting me, either.

[Stickyfinger]

Sideswiped but has frontal damage ?.....not sure how that would happen...

[ozfrog]

If that was your biggest takeaway, I think you missed something.

Nevertheless, no sideswipe is 100% straight/parallel. There is always going to be a push in more than one direction. If you think that it can't happen like that, then please …

I give up.

[Stickyfinger]

Not the biggest at all, just one....

Please don't give up.....