Invisible car
Aug. 20th, 2021 02:57 pmAll I wanted to do was drive to an aerials class. Things were going fine. Turned onto Wilbraham road and clocked the Deliveroo bike edging out. Slowed down a bit but it looked like he saw me.
Clonk. BANG!
No he did not see me.
Got out to check he was okay. He got back on his bike and rode off. Guess he was fine. Poor Arachnia was less fine though. A couple of dents by themselves are kind of annoying, but nothing serious. The big annoyance is the active bonnet.
Sports cars these days have a safety feature to protect pedestrians. If the car gets hit hard enough at the front or side of the bonnet, two explosive bolts go off, push the bonnet up 15cm or so and give that extra bit of protection for the person the car hits. Great! That was the "BANG!". Downside is, the bonnet doesn't go back down again.
Got the car off the road and started to make some calls. First call; I had a card in with the manual that said "if you have an accident call us first" so I waited 10 minutes for the phone to be answered before I gave up and called the police non-emergency number. That was a bit quicker but still a while. They didn't do much except tell me to fill in an online incident report.
Then called the AA. I have to say, the AA was fantastic. They answered fairly quickly, and the lady seemed bright and helpful. Alas it seems my cover has expired. I was hoping it was still going to ba valid for a few weeks after downgrading my account. But she did offer to sign me up there and then. Seemed like a good idea. Then she told me that the car was registered with Ramp Recovery so didn't need even need to sign up. I had no idea what Ramp recovery was (and I'm still a bit vague on the details - something to do with the warranty) but apparently they were willing to recover the car to home and then take it to the garage. Seemed to be a single specific garage though (the one I bought it from, I think). Decided I really didn't want to wait though.
Meanwhile, some tit rode his bike (pedal cycle) into the car. "I was on the phone" says the cyclist.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
flickums had offered to come and provide me with snacks and company. She duly arrived. Gave me a bananas and yoghurts and a Diet Coke - we're on a health food kick so options were limited - But I took the opportunity to get a lift home.
Which just left dealing with insurance. That took all day. I want to use a Fiat approved bodyshop. Churchill put up a lot less of a fight over this than I expected. Finding one that was still operating took a while. Biggest problem is who to deal with first. I can;t really drive it with a bonnet coevering half my view. Bodyshop won't recover without instruction from insurance company. Insurance won't give instruction without an estimate. Bodyshop won't give estimate without a seeing it. Decided to cover the collection myself. I should be able to claim that back later.
Oh well. Car is now being looked at. Hopefully there's not much left for me to do.
Clonk. BANG!
No he did not see me.
Got out to check he was okay. He got back on his bike and rode off. Guess he was fine. Poor Arachnia was less fine though. A couple of dents by themselves are kind of annoying, but nothing serious. The big annoyance is the active bonnet.
Sports cars these days have a safety feature to protect pedestrians. If the car gets hit hard enough at the front or side of the bonnet, two explosive bolts go off, push the bonnet up 15cm or so and give that extra bit of protection for the person the car hits. Great! That was the "BANG!". Downside is, the bonnet doesn't go back down again.
Got the car off the road and started to make some calls. First call; I had a card in with the manual that said "if you have an accident call us first" so I waited 10 minutes for the phone to be answered before I gave up and called the police non-emergency number. That was a bit quicker but still a while. They didn't do much except tell me to fill in an online incident report.
Then called the AA. I have to say, the AA was fantastic. They answered fairly quickly, and the lady seemed bright and helpful. Alas it seems my cover has expired. I was hoping it was still going to ba valid for a few weeks after downgrading my account. But she did offer to sign me up there and then. Seemed like a good idea. Then she told me that the car was registered with Ramp Recovery so didn't need even need to sign up. I had no idea what Ramp recovery was (and I'm still a bit vague on the details - something to do with the warranty) but apparently they were willing to recover the car to home and then take it to the garage. Seemed to be a single specific garage though (the one I bought it from, I think). Decided I really didn't want to wait though.
Meanwhile, some tit rode his bike (pedal cycle) into the car. "I was on the phone" says the cyclist.
flickums had offered to come and provide me with snacks and company. She duly arrived. Gave me a bananas and yoghurts and a Diet Coke - we're on a health food kick so options were limited - But I took the opportunity to get a lift home.Which just left dealing with insurance. That took all day. I want to use a Fiat approved bodyshop. Churchill put up a lot less of a fight over this than I expected. Finding one that was still operating took a while. Biggest problem is who to deal with first. I can;t really drive it with a bonnet coevering half my view. Bodyshop won't recover without instruction from insurance company. Insurance won't give instruction without an estimate. Bodyshop won't give estimate without a seeing it. Decided to cover the collection myself. I should be able to claim that back later.
Oh well. Car is now being looked at. Hopefully there's not much left for me to do.
