Stu's incident last night! Panel beater required

[Guest]

I'm so sad right now... last night I was in St Kilda down a back street. I pulled into a small carpark, got to the footpath. Upon realising the carpark was full, I slowly started to back out.

I heard a horn sound and stopped. I'd probably travelled like 2 metres at this stage. I was like wtf.. I wasn't aware of any cars around me, the street was dead. I looked around, rear view mirrors & head check, couldn't see squat. Kept reversing slowly, horn blast again, *crunch!*

WTF!

Some guy had tailed me into the carpark with no headlights on, and we hit when I'd moved less than 5m back

We got out and he started spouting in asian, I was pretty calm about it. He drove some crappy daihatsu little-fwd thingy. We checked the damage as he kept going on - he couldn't speak a word of english.

The back corner of my car had hit his bull bar. But his bull bar wasn't worth squad and had hit back against his bonnet, which had sort of 'bent up' a little at both sides.

As for my car (no pics yet sorry), theres a small dent in the boot, but the bottom bumper has large scrapes and dent, not sure if that will need replacing (probably).

I obviously don't have a quote yet, JustCars said either way the excess would be $500, so I'll probably end up making a claim.

Can anyone recommend somewhere to get it checked out? I was so in love driving my pristine leggy around, and now its like clouds have come over the experience till I get it fixed. Ah well - it could have been worse!

Edit: We exchanged details through a translator he grabbed from a nearby restaurant - they seemed to think it was my fault or that I'd be paying for it, I just said we'd let the insurance companies work it out. I don't even know what he told them (a group had formed of about 6 people all talking loudly, me and my date just talked amongst ourselves not knowing what they were saying hehe, it was kind of comical really).

 

[mallen]

I think Genelle (Veer4) will better explain this but in car parks I'm sure it's like 50/50 fault... Something like that... But my condolences btw... Hope it's fixed soon..

 

[Esoteric]

I'm sorry to hear about that man, hard luck and well done for keeping a cool head about it.

 

[snickells]

Ahh... the curse of the expensive black legnum strikes again I see. I think you might just have to find a decent panel shop and point them in the direction of the kempys website for some replacement parts. Ask buzzpuppy, he had some work done on his super and it looks schmic as.

 

[VR4Rocket]

So about the date then.......
Nah mate bad to hear, I am always a bit paranoid about having anything happen to the baby Leggie

 

[naughtika]

how stupid of that asian driver (mind you im asian too).. why didnt he have his lights on? maybe he's got nightvision goggles..

 

[hawks]

Damn, sorry to hear about your stack! I hope it sorts itself out easily.

 

[Guest]

Ahh... the curse of the expensive black legnum strikes again I see. I think you might just have to find a decent panel shop and point them in the direction of the kempys website for some replacement parts. Ask buzzpuppy, he had some work done on his super and it looks schmic as.

http://www.kempys.co.nz/? Cool, cheers for that.

I'll be sure to take some before and after pics, but I'm strapped for cash atm - not sure if it'll be fixed before Christmas.

Perhaps if I ask nicely Santa will bring me a new rear bumper

 

[bradc]

if he didn't have his lights on and it was dark then surely it is his fault.

 

[RaZZa137]

lol, i think it's better to leave the insurance company to work it out, lol, i mean he did use his horn but he did have his lights off, who knows what'll happen, lolz, but then again if he doens't speak english how would he know what you told the insurance company, lolz!!! it'd be pretty slack if you told them he tailgated you n wasn't watching n then *crash* lolz

 

[snickells]

Yea, that's a damn good point there. It's against the law to be driving with out your lights on when it's dark. So technically he is in the wrong as you could not SEE him.

 

[RaZZa137]

lol, maybe he smashed someone earlier n his headlights were broken!!, lolz

 

[Guest]

Unless you have a third party witness ie not in the car, it's going to be your word against his. How do you prove he did not have his lights on? Any CCTV?

Best of luck!

 

[RaZZa137]

lol, maybe caz his lights were off he couldn't see where he was going n then he smashed your car????? lol

 

[Guest]

bad luck dude hope it gets fixed soon.. i hate people that drive shit cars and dont care if they smash into you..

 

[Guest]

My wife had a similar incident in a car park where a 4WD backed into her, she was stationary and tooting the horn and the other woman driving here tank kept going, result was that her insurance and our insurance said car parks are different, if your engine is running (even if you are not moving, in park with the hand break on) you are at fault as well 50/50. Bullshit i know.

 

[Kristian]

In terms of crash repairs, speak to drifter_x, his Dad has a panel shop and does awesome work.

 

[snickells]

That's who I was thinking of, We really should list that shop's phone number on here somewhere.

 

[bogan bob]

If you make an insurance claim, be sure to consider how it will affect your premium and/or excesses in the future, and whether its worth it in the long run.

My stolen car claim prior to insuring the legnum meant just cars wanted $1900 excess if i made a theft claim, which the guy said was about $500 extra and was due to making a recent claim

 

[Guest]

my wife was saying to me if you happen to have 2 witnesses who can confirm your side of the story you should be right(use your best mates).