[K.S.]

Hi Fellow Team-Bhpians,

An unfortunate day today. As I write this post, just 15 minutes back, someone rammed on my (parked) Swift in my street making a big dent and door damage - front left.

A little background -
I am living in Chennai.
I Had an Elantra, enjoyed it to the fullest. Sold it and bought an used Swift Ldi Black, a month back.

I had parked the car outside my house, pretty much out of the way before the gates of a locked house this night. Some fifteen minutes back, I heard a loud banging noise and when I went out, the people at the ground floor said that a white Tavera by number TN22 ?? 4035 had rammed my car heavily in a hefty speed as it lost control while reversing. The Tavera (likely a call center cab) vanished in no time.
My car was dragged some 5 feet away with heavy damage to front left side and door. Fortunately the bonnet was good. I will check the car and post more tomorrow. Front right door was not opening.

Can someone please guide me on -
1. I am yet to transfer the car to my name. Insurance is valid.
2. Can I just ignore this and go ahead fix the car myself? :(
3. Can I find the car as I partially know the registration number (how?) and get those guys to attend this?
4. What is the best way to react?

It feels so bad to deal with this as this is a new car for us.

Mods, Apologies if I am posting in wrong place. Please move the post to appropriate thread. Thanks

[ad75]

K.S. Sorry about you car damage

heres my take on your queries

1.since you have not transferred the vehicle and insurance in your name, you might require the previous owner to sign up claim forms. prefer a cashless repair, else the payment cheque from insurance co will come in the name of the previous owner

2. going legal and filing a hit and run complaint will only bring hassle since you do not have the full number of the offending vehicle.I would suggest get it done yourself and move on.

3. searching for a car with a partial number is possible if you get hold of an agent in TN22 RTO.however its gonna cost you money.

4. if you have the time to go in search of the correct vehicle number and then filing an FIR with the number and then follow up with police and cour procedure, then go ahead else, as said earlier claim insurance and get your car done.

If the car is in drivable/usable condition then first get the regn and insurance changed to your name and then claim insurance.im not sure if insurance co will ask for an inspection of the vehicle before transfer.if so you will have trouble.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by K.S.

Can someone please guide me on -
1. I am yet to transfer the car to my name. Insurance is valid.
2. Can I just ignore this and go ahead fix the car myself? :(
3. Can I find the car as I partially know the registration number (how?) and get those guys to attend this?
4. What is the best way to react?

I can imagine your reaction to this infortunate event. hit and runs are unfortunately too common these days on our streets.

If you would like to get hold of this guy, you can try to contact your local RTO (where the other vehicle has been registered). Also, keep your eyes open for similar cabs in the area at the same time of the accident on subsequent days. It is quite possible that a different cab would be deployed by that company on the same route. You can always get hold of cab drivers around that time and ask them if they know anything about this vehicle. If you want to do any of this, you will need to be quick on your feet as your only evidence would be the impact on the other vehicle. You need to find the vehicle before it is repaired/ fixed.

For the insurance itself, please fix it after you have resolved (either way) the earlier point about getting hold of the culprit. Ideally try to get it fixed by the signature of the previous owner. This may be an issue if that guy is carrying forward any NCB from this car onto another one.

[K.S.]

Thanks guys for your replies.

After a closer look in day light, I found that the damages are to the skirt (plastic piece below Fender), Fender and Front left door.
Front left door opens only 20%.
Bonnet is luckily unaffected.

The car is very much driveable. Had a quick check with a local tinker and his quote to fix them was 6000 Rs.

I am trying to find out the car owner's name through GM as it is a Chevrolet Tavera and those guys can easily pick up the owner details. I guess if I could find a contact in GM, this is far more easier than fiddling with RTO.
I don't have high hopes of getting this fixed by the call center cabs, but just wanted to test waters as they should not take any such incident for granted in future.

Heard from the ground floor folks who were standing outside to send off someone (they saw the whole thing and noted down the car number / car details for me. I just heard a loud noise) - that the driver was probably drunk and reversing at a very high speed when he lost control and rammed on my car.

[Arun.K]

Sorry to hear about the bad incident K.S.

Originally Posted by K.S.

I am trying to find out the car owner's name through GM as it is a Chevrolet Tavera and those guys can easily pick up the owner details. I guess if I could find a contact in GM, this is far more easier than fiddling with RTO.

This is a right move. GM guys will be able to give you full details of the owner. Take the owner/driver to task. If it is contract cab for a call center/company, put a complaint to them too. Let them know about the rash drivers.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by K.S.

I am yet to transfer the car to my name. Insurance is valid.

As mentioned in our used car buying article, UNLESS you have transferred the insurance to your name, your car is currently running without cover. Technically atleast. This is the most frequent mistake made by used car buyers. If you want to claim insurance, you will have to get in touch with the previous owner.

4. What is the best way to react?

Get the car repaired and move on. Rubbish happens.

[longhorn]

Welcome to the club K.S. This is Chennai at its best. I got a treatment similar to yours a couple of weeks back though fortunately for me the damage is not as bad as in your case. I had parked my car as close to the kerb as possible (know fully well how the maniacs here drive) and had gone to the supermarket. When I returned a good half an hour later, there was a scratch along with a dent on the car. This happened on a wide road, not on any bylane. No idea which retard did that. Just have to get it fixed or live with it. No use going to the cops for this. If I ever get hold of him, he'll be living without his two front teeth for the rest of his life.

[honeybee]

A similar thing had happened soon after I had got my Santro (from my uncle). An autorickshaw managed to shatter the rear glass (leaving the boot door intact). I am as yet not sure how it even occurred.

Moving on I took pictures of the damages and also of the damaged auto, and called up the local police station to register a complaint. The policeman stated that unless there's any bodily injury to anyone because of the accident, the complaint won't be registered on phone and me and the auto driver will have to go to the police station to lodge the complaint. So dropped the idea.

Later claimed the insurance and got the glass replaced. The car hadn't been transferred in my name yet, so I had to get the previous owner's signatures on the claim forms, but there were no hassles.

So my advice is get the damage repaired under insurance (or otherwise if you wish) and move on. Even if you register a complaint against the errant vehicle driver, tracing him down and bringing him to book will require considerable effort. Better treat it as an accident (which it is) than a crime.

And don't worry or lose your sleep over it. Things go wrong.

[shashank.nk]

Unfortunately my car parked right in front of my house was damaged today thanks to a reckless two wheeler rider. I had parked close to the kerb as I usually do and had gone to the nearby grocery store by walk when the accident happened.

I saw the CCTV footage much later, this lady on an activa drove at a high speed and crashed straight into the front left tyre. I wonder what made her do this as there was no vehicle coming from the opposite side, no vehicle behind or parked at the other side of the road. The impact was such it tore the bumper and left the lady dizzy.

We didn't ask her to pay up for the damages and let her go as she was in pain.
I'm now beginning to question that decision as I have to shell out 8000 to fix this

Note- The vehicles parked on the right side weren't there when the accident happened. The pic was clicked much later.