Car Written Off!

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

What a time of year to be stuck without our daily!

 

Pulling out of a petrol station and this is the result

 

The story goes...stopped at garage for a fill up went to pull out looked left saw no headlights looked right saw no lights so presumed it was ok to pull out, did so and SMASH! On coming car comes straight across front end of our car doing about 70mph, 10mph over the speed limit for the road. First panic was make sure my 8 month pregnant girlfriend was ok luckily she was even though we went via ambulance to hospital to confirm! On the way back from hospital we had to drive back past the accident site so we pulled in to the petrol station to see how the accident could have happened. So we pulled up as I did a few hours earlier, again looked left, saw the road clearly looked right and saw this

 

This photo is taken from left hand lane as if you were turning left I was in the right lane turning right at time of crash so closer to the sign hence less vision!

 

After been sat there for a few minutes watching cars go but we realised the headlights of on coming cars were hidden by this sign in like a time window of about 4 second when on coming towards us hence why I pulled out thinking the road was clear and with the sign been black as night, I thought it was an empty stretch of road, how wrong was I!?! To add insult to injury the police are trying to prosecute me for carless driving, slightly unfair in the circumstances I feel.

 

On the up side when we bought our new a3 we took out GAP insurance, highly recommend this to any new car buyers as now we get our full £23,500 back to settle our finance which we only owe £16,000 on now so the remainder is forwarded in a cheque to us to do whatever we want with. Probs spend on legal costs to sue the petrol station with the ill-placed sign!

Edited December 31, 2013 by Rams_gti6

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

How it used to look....

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Anyone think there's a case to pursue in regards to the situation of the sign?

[dcc 855]

Im not sure on your udp, but theres something along the lines of 200m clear view from 2.4m from the edge of the road required. so if your stood 2.4 m from edge of the road, and cannot see, then yes, the likelyhood is you have a case.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Thanks for the reply, I've heard a few measurements mentioned regarding views on highways need to get some solid facts from our local council I'm guessing regarding their regulations

[dcc 855]

Ask to speak to a planning liaison engineer or the road design manager (or even a design engineer), depending on what guidance they use. Personally I would go measure up asap and take lots of photos and try to show the issue with the headlight obstruction - but out of curiosity did you not see the lamp spread lighting up the road? There are plenty of junctions on blind corners and obscured views to be able to know to take your time etc...

[iPlod999 143 1 Cars]

12.1 may help.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=hxTDUoxQi5LsBrHqgfgM&url=http://www.planningni.gov.uk/index/policy/supplementary_guidance/dcans/dcan15-vehicular-access.pdf&cd=1&ved=0CCoQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNEmM4_v6qON896W1frhXIC_QKQe4A

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Thanks a lot, I found similar info on the gov.uk website aswel. Looks like the petrol station could be in for a shock come new year!

[Slo 283 1 Cars]

And so are you because pulling out in front of traffic is regarded as at fault as far as the insurance is concerned, look on the bright side though your both alive and well and if you were in the 205 you would be probably dead :/

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Yeah I know I realised that I've already admitted fault my insurance company are dealing with it it as far as the advertising board goes it's position is not within regulations therefore the reason why I had the accident was because I didn't see the on coming car due to the sign. As for seeing the headlights shining on the road, I didn't look but then again who does, if you look and see no headlights you never stop and think to look for them if it looks an empty stretch of road

[snooks 5]

If you looked you would have seen a big sign in the way. I guess you glanced saw no lights and went, if no other accidents occur with the sign in that location then I can't imagine you'll get any where.

[deathbringer929 49 1 Cars]

working for a large accident repairer i hear every day how it wasn't the drivers fault. a very large majority are, as is yours. your insured and your claim is being paid and best of all no one is injured. take it on the chin and admit it was your fault. what do you stand to gain from pursuing the garage? if i'd felt so strongly it was the sign fault i'd have ripped it out the floor by now.

[stu8v 68 1 Cars]

Take it on the chin and move on.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

working for a large accident repairer i hear every day how it wasn't the drivers fault. a very large majority are, as is yours. your insured and your claim is being paid and best of all no one is injured. take it on the chin and admit it was your fault. what do you stand to gain from pursuing the garage? if i'd felt so strongly it was the sign fault i'd have ripped it out the floor by now.

I'm accepting it was my fault but can't leave the fact that the illegally placed sign could of ended my unborn child's life long with ours. I'm at fault for not noticing the sign but it shouldn't of been there, by law!

[TooMany2cvs 65]

I'm at fault for not noticing the sign

And that's the end of it. If you'd seen it, you would have inched forward until you knew the road was clear. The sign is obvious in that photo, purely because it blanks out a lot of the forecourt lighting.

 

I'm struggling a bit to see how the damage to your car occurred - unless you pulled out straight into the passenger side of the other car, approaching from your driver side. Even if he was doing 70mph (according to who? You didn't see him at all, so you can't guess), then he was travelling at just over 30 metres per second. That gives you quite a few clear seconds to see him approaching. If he'd been doing 60mph, then he'd have only been doing 4m/s - a small car length - less. Very little effective difference. Remember, the legal minimum driving eyesight requirement is to read the 80x50mm characters on a numberplate at 22 metres distance...

 

but it shouldn't of been there, by law!

Whether it should've been there or not isn't, frankly, relevant to your collision. It was there for you to see. You didn't see it, let alone take account of it.

 

Change positions with the other driver. If it'd been you hit by somebody pulling off a forecourt without looking, you'd be screaming blue murder.

[mowflow 67]

Are you sure that's how gap insurance works? My understanding is that it covers the short fall if their is one. Not that it just pays a set amount no matter what.

 

Your insurance will pay market value for the car. If the finance settlement is more then gap will pay that amount. If it's less then gap pay nothing.

 

I'm glad neither you, your girlfriend nor the baby were hurt. Hopefully the same goes for the occupants of the other vehicle. I am however slightly perplexed by you trying to place some blame on the garage. The fact you had to go back to the scene to notice it speaks volumes and I'm afraid making any kind of legal claim here based on the facts as you have presented them will result in nothing more than a large bill for you.

[McDude 33]

Are you sure that's how gap insurance works? My understanding is that it covers the short fall if their is one. Not that it just pays a set amount no matter what.

 

Your insurance will pay market value for the car. If the finance settlement is more then gap will pay that amount. If it's less then gap pay nothing.

What mowflow said!

 

GAP stands for Guaranteed Auto Protection and it exists to protect you from negative equity NOT to get you the full price you paid for the vehicle.

 

Sorry to rain on your parade as it sounds like you've had a stressful few weeks - but I'm confident that GAP is a bit of a scam really and that it is only worthwhile if you are 100% financed and plan on crashing the vehicle soon after taking the keys - I think you've only ticked one of these boxes (sorry again!)

[TooMany2cvs 65]

but I'm confident that GAP is a bit of a scam really

<shrug> It's an insurance policy, like any other insurance policy. It's as much or as little a "scam" as any other policy is.

 

Insurers always intend to make a profit, after covering their admin costs, marketing costs, AND paying claims. If you needed it, you're thankful for it. If you didn't, then surely that's a good thing because you didn't write your car off...?

 

Anyway, is that Audi even a write-off? I'd be surprised.

Edited January 2, 2014 by TooMany2cvs

[McDude 33]

<shrug> It's an insurance policy, like any other insurance policy. It's as much or as little a "scam" as any other policy is.

 

Insurers always intend to make a profit, after covering their admin costs, marketing costs, AND paying claims. If you needed it, you're thankful for it. If you didn't, then surely that's a good thing because you didn't write your car off...?

 

Anyway, is that Audi even a write-off? I'd be surprised.

Sorry - you are right; I think the 'scam' is how it is sold (all in my experience!!!) It is sold as the original poster describes it - you get your money back for your new car even though it has depreciated. Whereas it is actually a protection of the finance. I've bought cars with cash and the salesperson has tried to sell GAP - that's scamming along the lines of PPI where there is no way you could ever make a claim or profit from it.

[GLPoomobile 958]

First of all, I'm sorry to hear of your accident and glad you and your girlfriend are OK. I can understand how worrying it ws given that she is heavily pregnant, and no doubt your are stil stressed and angry by that.

I'm afraid I have to agree with some of the other posts about the signage. I know it's not what you want to hear, but I don't think you can really apportion balme to it.

Having said that, I do agree with you that it shouldn't be there. It really seems like a bloody stupid oversight by the garage, who I'm sure will be mortified now to hear that (in your opinion) their sign played a part in this accident. It's not just the visibility of cars pulling out that it's going to affect, but it also means that cars in that position will be blocked from the view of traffic travelling along that road, so it removes the opportunity for those drivers to see a potential risk and prepare themselves for it.

Where I think you've not doen yourself any favours though is....

As for seeing the headlights shining on the road, I didn't look but then again who does, if you look and see no headlights you never stop and think to look for them if it looks an empty stretch of road

As I've grown older I've found myself become more and more cautious when pulling out of junctions, for no real reason other than how bad other drivers are. I don't just glance one way and then the next. I usually find myself checking both ways twice, if not 3 times, and still keep checking as I pull out. It makes me chuckle to myself sometimes when I realise I'm doing it, as I feel like a right old fart (maybe it's the Volvo!). Given that you had your pregnant GF in the car I would have thought that you'd be extremely cautious, yet your description of the events doesn't read that way. Not trying to be a s*it about it as I know you will be feeling like crap and don't want a lecture too, just saying how it's come across on here.

Also, whilst I can see how a black sign aginst the blackness of an unlit road at night could disappear, the very end of that sign (where I presume you would have been looking if you thought it was the road) has big writing on it, which I guess must have been at least a little visible (presumably there was some light from the forecourt). If the bakground of the sign was invisible to you, surely it must have looked like there were faint words floating in the road

 

This is the sort of challenge you are going to get if you try and persue any action against the garage.

[mowflow 67]

I dare say that car could be fixed but that's not really what an insurance write off means these days. It's the economic repair thing. Headlights are a grand each to start so the cost will soon soar once all the usual over priced courtesy cars etc are thrown in. Very quickly it becomes cheaper to just write off a car even at £20k.

 

As for gap. It's easy for people to get scammed with it. Dealers charge silly money for it for example and its really not necessary with a sizeable deposit.

 

Looking at the figures presented here I doubt it was needed. There must have been a decent deposit in to get the balance so low on a car that must only be a year old. The good thing is this means there is obviously equity in the car which means there should be money left over from the insurance pay out.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Thanks. The repair bill is. £13,000 more than the % that's allowed before they write it off .We got the gap for free. The insurers pay what they deem the car to be worth i.e £18000, the gap then bump that up to the original £23,000 we paid. With the money we have to then settle the finance what we still owe which is £23,000 minus 13 monthly payments and the deposit about £7000 in total so we still owe £16,000. The remainder is ours to keep. Seems everyone thinks it's a scam even though we got it for free! This is the way the system works I've spent numerous days in the dealerships since the accident regarding getting a replacement car, we now have £7000 to put on as a deposit. If you think you know better, do some research.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

Had me thinking seconds thoughts the lot of you! Lol. just had to ring the dealership up to confirm! What I wrote is correct.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Rams_gti6

[TooMany2cvs 65]

The hit on your insurance for a few years is going to be a lot cheaper than a year's worth of depreciation on a new Audi.

[Rams_gti6 12 1 Cars]

I'm not following...?