How would you feel if....

[Aprilis]

...you heard a very loud and very worrying crashing noise then went outside to investigate only to find that your car....that had been innocently parked at the roadside minding it's own business....had been totalled by an old man who, on turning a corner, had not braked but put his foot hard down on the accelerator? This happened to me this morning.

On going out to investigate further I found that he had not only written off my car by ramming it up the rear end and spinning it round so hard that it ended up on the pavement sideways and facing into the road, but he had also gone through a neighbour's wall, straight over said neighbour's motorbike flattening it, hit the front of TWO houses (listed buildings no less) and crushed another neighbour's' gas mains pipe.

By some miracle, despite the front of his car looking like crushed tin foil and having no aibag, the old man actually walked away from the carnage into an ambulance and was released from hospital two hours later. His son brought him back to the crash scene where the bewildered old man apologised for 'causing all this trouble'. Bless him. I felt very sorry for him but it was little consolation for watching my car being towed away most likely never to be seen again.

My car is a four door, executive saloon. The insurance covers provision of a hire car and what did they offer.....a bl00dy Ford Ka!!!! Did I accept this? Not a damned chance! My 'like for like' hire vehicle, whatever it may be, is expected to arrive tomorrow.

I keep telling myself that the important thing is that no-one was injured (or worse) but that isn't helping me to get over my car being wrecked. I insisted on driving it myself, complete with tyre hanging off the wheel rim, onto the recovery truck, then sadly watched it driven away with it's boot open and it's @rse hanging off. It's only a material posession so why do I feel so traumatised by it?

[Aprilis]

Spudqueen, thanks for sharing your story. That was an awful situation for you and your Auntie to have to deal with at any time, let alone on returning from a funeral.

It's kind of strangely comforting to hear that others have been through similar experiences, although I am very sorry to hear that anyone else has had things happen that are far worse than I am experiencing.

I am still feeling guilty about being so highly strung about it all when, in the grand scheme of things, it really isn't such a big deal. Not when I think about the what some people have to put up with in their lives.

I have changed my conclusion since last night....I AM being shallow and that, I think, is the crux of the matter. I am finding it hard to accept that as usually I am not that superficial. But I doubt I am unique in just wanting things the way they were before all this happened. I'm not a control freak but like to know where I'm at and being stuck in limbo while everything is still up in the air is hard.

It will no doubt all get sorted soon and I will wonder why I was such a drama queen!

[Pippa68]

Aprilis, my lovely car was written off by a stupid biatch in a people carrier. She drove out of her driveway while I was driving past, and spun my car round.

This happened 5 years ago and I still get tearful about it now. How I loved that car ~ it was an old car compared to most (a 1987 BMW 525i) but it was the car I wanted ever since passing my test ....the exact colour and spec, minty condition.

I am still quite surprised at how upset I feel about it!

[Aprilis]

Pippa, I sympathise with how you must feel when it's your pride and joy that's taken away. Sadly, my car wasn't anything to shout about but it was the best car I'd had since passing my test....2L Executive model, low mileage, good condition, leather interior, full service history etc. Mine was getting on a bit so maybe I'll end up with a better one...doubtful but who knows?

But it's the thought of any amount of time without a car at all that really gets to me. I am stuffed without my own transport and I will only get a hire car for a max of 14 days or until the claim is settled, whichever is sooner. The worrying thing is that the insurance made an offer today(that won't be accepted) and if we settle soon we won't have a car for when we go away in less than 3 weeks time unless we take over payment of the hire car. It maddens me that it will end up costing us one way or another when we weren't at fault and it's contentious whether we will get out of pocket expenses back from the offenders insurance Co. Victims of these situations should never have to be left out of pocket in my opinion but it seems unavoidable.

[JB]

All of this happened this morning and the insurance company have already made an offer of settlement??? I'm flabbergasted!! Has an engineer seen the car? Insist that mileage, condition etc. are taken into account, and offer examples of equivalent cars available for sale in local publications.. In regards to the hire car, it sounds like your own insurers are providing this under the terms of your own policy - may be worth contacting the old man's insurers to see what they will do for you. At the very least you should get a car until you have received and banked a cheque for the value of your car. If, for any reason, you find yourself without a car before you have received settlement, you should consider claiming for inconvenience/loss of use.

[Aprilis]

JB, I originally posted late last night so it was yesterday morning that it happened. Still quick to get an insurance offer though, I've never known it to happen that soon after.

I have covered all the bases where mileage, condition etc. are concerned and spoken to the engineer myself. Surprisngly he brought up the matter of it's condition, service history and mileage and assured that these factors have been taken into consideration. We turned down the original offer as nobody in their right mind accepts the first one. I turned down the second one too! It was only �225 more than the previous one. We have been asked to provide evidence of five equivalent cars currently for sale to prove that will cost more than they have offered to replace ours but we were already onto that last night.

I think it has been done quicker because the fact that only one person was involved in the incident means there are no arguments over liability.

I have just taken receipt of the hire car in the last hour. They have given me a new 2L Mondeo which is more adequate for our needs than the dinky Ford Ka originally offered. Proof that it pays to stick to your guns and not accept first offers. We will be fighting for the cost of a hire car against his insurance Co. until we have found a replacement vehicle. If I don't get paid for being off work today sorting all this out, I will be claiming for that too.