Anyone born just before the 80's is no doubt right now humming the Billy Ocean classic, but this has nothing to do with music from 1985.
It is fair to say 2022 has been one of my most miserable years, plagued with every problem you can imagine, extensive amount of staff missing work for all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons meaning I have to cover their work along with my own, pulling my back in May which resulted in a good six weeks of miserable pain while popping Iburofen like candy just to barely function, various bouts of illness making the incessant necessity of working without a decent break even harder then it already is. And to top all this misery off, in April someone decided to accelerate out of a side road without double checking the road was clear - straight into the side of my car.
Now you might look at that and say well it's just a bit of cosmetic damage, but the side impact smashed the front wheel alloy, deflated the tyre, broke the suspension badly, front bumper obviously damaged, side wing damaged, front passenger door damaged, rear passenger door damaged, rear tyre deflated and more suspension damage, rear bumper damaged. In fact when the insurance garage finally returned it I was provided two and a half A4 pages of 12point text listing every single part that needed replacing - including getting a specialist to come in and replace the entire main wiring harness (the fuse box is just above the front left wheel).
Basically what happened is this - on that late April morning at 7.30am I took my usual route to drive to work, this point is just about half way to where I work. The speed limit on the road is 30 mph, which I was definately doing, just prior to this section there are multiple fixed speed cameras, when you reach this stretch of road it is narrow and as you can see road parking on the left, the road parking breaks for the junction my ram raider dived out of, and then restarts on the opposite side as the road narrows. So you can not possibly exceed the speed limit, the road is too narrow and once you clear this section the parked cars narrow it so much anything bigger then a car (bus, lorry etc) make it such a tight fit you have to slow down to safely get through.
Anyway, driving along minding my own business (quick reminder in the UK we drive on the left side of the road) in the picture top right you can see a large white van parked - which really is in a terrible position because it blocks the view of anyone at the junction - anyway as I passed it a car sat waiting at the junction to pull out - nothing surprising really - until it literally accelerated towards me.
At this point I distinctly remember shouting "no" - which was entirely pointless, driving alone to work only the car would hear and I am sure it had no interest in my random outburst. In a vain attempt to avoid the inevitable smash I did swerve to the right - but as the car attempting to leave the junction intended to go in the opposite direction to me - it would always end up hitting my car.
What actually happened is a large bang from the impact and some rocking around inside my car, I stopped very quickly and the air bags did not go off - testament to my slow speed on the road. At this point my car had stopped blocking the oncoming lane, and traffic had quickly built up - the car itself had multiple warning messages on the display including accident detect - take to service immediately. It did however crawl to the side of the road so I was not blocking, and I got out to survey the damage. The other driver appeared and we exchanged "are you alright" which we both were, he admitted he was at fault (hard not to really) and said he did not see me coming. He did ask one of the cars passing slowly from the opposite direction if they had seen what happened, she repied "Yes, there car you hit could not have done anything to avoid it" - so a definate not my fault. We exchanged e-mail, mobile and registration for our insurers. And then I had to get to work, so I limped my stricken car to a not illegally parked but not really great parking position, and hit the Uber app. Given I now only had 20 minutes left to get to work before the staff arrived I needed to let in - it was just good fortune a driver who was about to clock off decided to take the job as he was close - and got me there just as the staff were walking up.
One thing to take from this, in 24 years of driving I have never had an accident - so this was new and rather unwelcome experience. So having got to work and needing to get the daily work done - I also had to work out the best way to deal with my badly damaged car which I had left not very well parked 3 miles away. Basically contact my insurance and file a claim as a non fault accident, they confirmed the other driver agreed it was their fault and their insurance would cover all costs. My insurance said they would recover and repair the vehicle and arrange a loan car.
From arranging all that at 9am, it took until 2pm for the repair company to call to arrange recovery - and they were going to book it the next day. I pointed out my car was very badly damaged and left in a hazardous position on the side of the road, and they managed to arrange it for an hour later instead. Of course I had to return to the car to meet the recovery driver as I still had the key and the car was locked - he actually backed my car onto the flat bed with no problem and complimented the Toyota build quality.
Two days later my loan car arrived, a Kia Sportage Sport - the insurance are supposed to provide a vehicle of equivalent value to the one being repaired, and same body style. The Sportage is an SUV, and surprisingly the list price is the same for the year as my Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid - but honestly the Sportage is horrible in comparison.
Now I don't want to enrage Sportage owners worldwide, for sure it is a very nice car - well trimmed, comfortable with the usual toys like front and rear parking sensors, reversing camera and Sat Nav (Although the front parking sensors only seemed to work when they felt like it - which is a bit pointless in a stopping you driving into things sort of way). The Sportage had a manual tailgate, which is not a huge downside but after getting used to using the Rav 4 keyfob to open or close the tailgate - having to manually open and lift it or pull it down to close felt a bit dark ages.
But the major downfall of the Kia Sportage Sport by far was it's gearbox, because my Rav 4 Hybrid had to be automatic (requirement of the Hybrid system), and after all my driving life using manual gearbox - having finally discovered how easy automatics are to drive - I insisted the loan car had to be automatic. And maybe I was spoiled with the Toyota Hybrid auto drive train, which is super smooth and just accelerates perfectly as you press the accelerator. The Kia Sportage was the complete opposite, the gear changes were horrendously jerky - it just changed up and down at random. And for a sport model the acceleration from a standing start was simply rubbish, press the accelerator pedal a little and nothing really happens, press it some more and still nothing - foot to the floor and a good minute and a half later and finally it remembers when that pedal is down it should do something and it screams off like a stabbed rat.
All this meant when two weeks later the loan car company said they needed to collect the Kia because the repair company were scheduled to complete my repair - I was more then happy for them to come and take it away.
However, after a carless weekend the repair company was still showing my car should be done by the previous Friday. So I contacted them and they said - oh sorry no it's going to be ready for another four weeks - we ordered the wrong bumper for your model and the correct one is on back order with Toyota. Obviously this put me in a bit of a predicament as the loan car company had taken the hateful Kia back, so I rang my insurance yet again, they agreed it was a strange circumstance and said they would arrange a new loan car - putting me straight through to that company.
The loan company said they would arrange another car for as long as needed - but I would have to sign new loan documents which they e-mailed. I read through as they were different to the first set, and one clause stopped me dead - in the event the in fault motorist insurance provider refuses to pay the loan car rental - you will be liable for the full loan cost.
Those prices are per day - I rang them straight back and of course the first thing she said is - "oh is your query with the deferred charges?" Basically I was told that only in exceptional circumstances would that apply if the other parties insurance decided to query the need of use of an vehicle by the claimant. I ended up signing the document because I did need the car - because the very expensive car to me I am paying for is in for repair because someone drove into the side of it. It did make we wonder how they could possibly decide someone who owned a car - did so without actually needing it?
Loan car number 2 - Seat Tarraco. Initially I was disappointed because by the number plate it was a year older than my Rav 4. But this was the very top Spec model Seat produced of the seven seater - and it was super luxurious. Loved the DRL's which also acted as the front indicator, rear dynamic indicators, all round parking sensors, powered tailgate - but only open with keyfob you had to press the button on the tailgate to close it. Diesel automatic, not quick but better than the Kia - just still so clunky compared to the super smooth Rav 4.
Four weeks with the Seat and it was ok, not amazing and I think my favourite part was the external looks - those DRL's are so nice
I borrowed that from a Seat brochure because I forgot to take a photo at the time.
Finally from the accident occurring on 26th April my car finally returned on 23rd June. I hate to think what the total cost came to for repairs and loan cars - all because someone did not double check the road was clear before setting off. And it cost me personally anyway, I claimed on my insurance and paid an excess for that - because my car is leased and it has to be returned "perfect" - I knew my insurance would fix it pristine whatever the cost - his insurance had I used them to save the excess would have used the cheapest option possible because they have to pay for it. But also fuel cost during the loan cars, the Kia Sportage was terrible - barely 20mpg average on my daily commutes, the diesel Seat faired a little better at just under 30mpg again average daily commute - both terrible compared to the 45mpg the Rav 4 Hybrid manages on the same daily commute.
The whole experience was another big hassle I did not need in my life, and for anyone that does drive you never actually realise until it happens to you - however good you are at not running into things, you are by no means safe. Any time on any trip someone could pull out of a side road like I experienced, run a red light while you are crossing a junction, or just not be paying attention when you stop and run into the back of you.
I can't fault the Toyota Rav 4 though, solid and reliable with van like boot space when the back seats are down. I will be sad to see it go next May, it's replacement was going to be all electric but the way electricity prices are going at the moment that makes no sense - if the market for electricity is the same next year I might have to go for a Plug in Hybrid Rav 4 and my daily commute will be all electric at least.
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