Thursday, April 02, 2009

How my car was mowed down by a truck...

Actually my car was not mowed down, but it was damaged badly. This is a delayed post. The incident happened on March 08.

What happened was that i had gone with my friends and my wife to jaipur. And on the way back, we were in peak traffic. After driving for around 250 kms, We were around 2 kms from home and we were standing at a red light. There was a truck (not the big one, just a small one) on our right and lots of bikes on our left. We were waiting for the red light to turn green. After the light turned green, i just stood still allowing the bikes on the left to more out of my way. At that exact time i felt my door moving. I turned right and saw that the door was bending at an absurd angle. Actually it was coming off. And then my friend's wife from the back seat notified me that something was wrong. I looked up and saw the truck pushing my driver side door and trying to take it off with it.

My friend got down and asked the truck driver to move back. There were tons of vehicles behind us and all of them were honking. Also note thatthere was a police chowki just 10 meters from where the accident took place. No one got down to help us. Not even the respected police men. Anyways, the brawl started. My brain boiled with anger. After the car and the truck were unentangled, we got the truck to cross the red light andstop at the side of the road. I drove my car and stopped it right in front of the truck. And then joined the brawl.

The truck was having 1 driver and 4 passengers - all sqeezed in the tiny space at the front of the truck. We got the driver to come down. We could see a policeman coming. First of all, without even having a look at the vehicles, the policeman was sure that i was the culptript. Maybe that was because - i was the wealthier party and would have been able to oil his hands well (make a better offer to him for letting the matter dissolve). But when he saw the car, he was sure that the truck was at mistake. And as soon as he realized that he could not make anything out ofthis matter, he simply disappeared - leaving us to take justice in our own way. Why do the hell i pay my taxes then, so that the policeman would leave me without support at the time of need. This happens in india only - i believe.

I was so angry that i offered the truck driver my car. I told him that you take my car and get it repaired and give it back to me. I would drive around your truck for the time being. The truck driver was just trying to comprehend was i wanted to say. Anyways, after lots of argueing and haggling, the truck driver fell to my knees and asked me to let him go. And i did that in return of just Rs 2000/- so that he can go ahead and mow down someone else's car. I would like to extend my appologies if any truck by the number UP-21-N-0568 mows down another car.

The next day was another fight to figure out the cheapest way to get the car back in shape. I went over to Shiva motors - the authorized dealer for GM cars, and they gave me a quote of around 60,000/-. I was shocked. My heart stopped for a moment. They wanted to replace both the righthand side doors and the front bumper along with paint job and labour. I also went to another "bajaj allianz" authorized workshop and they gaveme a quote of around 30,000/-. My insurance is from bajaj allianz - so i was basically looking for the cashless facility.

By chance i came across a workshop in noida sector 5 "Kashyap auto works". They took a look at my car and told me that they would arrange all the parts and it should cost me around 25,000/-. I said ok, cause this was the best deal i had got. I intimated the insurance claim to bajaj allianz and left my car at the workshop. The surveyor from Bajaj Allianz came and saw the car - took photos. It took them 2 weeks to repair the car along with labor and new parts. The door cost me around 5000/- and the beading and handle of the door cost me 3000/- The total cost came to be around 15,500/-. I claimed and got 80%. But i lost my no claim bonus for the next year.

The morale of the story is, stay as far away from a truck as possible while driving. The indian police only steps in when they see a probability of making some money for themselves. Prevention is better than cure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jest remember that we are already in Hell(India)...don't expect any humanity from any body here(Even politician, government servants, and then finally they made people also like that).

Our great Amma (Sonia) said Indians are highly tolerated....