[GForceEnjoyer]

Really good to see that your wife emerged unscathed, that would surely have been a massive relief. And about your car, hope it will stay in the same excellent state it was restored to! I think you got incredibly lucky in terms of acceptable panel gaps and not having any rattles so far. If it stays that way, it was a job well done despite the time taken. All the best.

[roy1010]

Originally Posted by Guru_Shikhar

Firstly thank god your better half is very safe after this horrific incident.

Secondly the European car quality is reflected in this event since you have mentioned the car rides even better after the incident. These things keep you pulling towards the European players overlooking the flaws they have.

The basic estimate is always high from dealers in most of the cases; also they take their own time to fix once car lies at their end for repairs. Best way is to make relations with the car advisor at the time of servicing and try to make it quick. But for imported parts there is nothing can be done.

Please keep updating about the after drive experiences.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers.

Thank you ! Quite impressed with the strength of the car. I really wish I could get the traffic footage to see how fast the bus was!

I realised a lot of things post this experience and will draft a small bit out if it.

Dealer here are at least honest and kind. I am sure they did their best. This time line was after consistent follow ups and nagging from my end. Estimated timeline by SA was one month but the technician said 3 months. Lot of hold up was due to spares. If you actually look at the scope of work it looks big but it is not.

Removing and reinstalling the dash and other screwed panels won’t take time if you have a impact driver/wrench. Body panel/ section renewing also is not time taking since it is cut/measure/overlap insert/tack/full weld/grind/bondo.
The most critical part is pulling/aligning and adjusting panel gaps. This needs expertise and a fine eye.

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by roy1010

My first major accident repair experience!

Good to hear that no one is hurt.

Could you please share some details like location of the crash, time of the day etc., Also how far is the signal from the crash site ?

Thank You.

[roy1010]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

Good to hear that no one is hurt.

Could you please share some details like location of the crash, time of the day etc., Also how far is the signal from the crash site ?

Thank You.

This was in Vizag - Birla Jn.
Daytime. Intercity pharma bus crashed after jumping the previous signal. The bus came from the service lane. Too little time for wife to stop or accelerate to avoid the bus by the time she spotted it.

[TheLizardKing]

Originally Posted by roy1010

I had to pay 10% salvage charge which I contested with Reliance Grievance,IRDAI and almost wanted to go for Ombudsman but gave up since it had taken so long.

Glad to hear that your wife walked away uninjured from such a serious accident, and happy to know that the car is back on the road and driving better than ever. A great outcome all around.

The salvage charge scam seems to be very common in case of large claims. I had to face the same when my GT TSI had an accident a couple of years back. In my case, I escalated as high as possible up the insurance company's chain, and even wrote an email to the ombudsman with the insurance company in cc. Just like you, I too wanted to give in at some point, and had to draw deep on my reserves of patience. I refused to take delivery of the car unless the bogus charge was removed. They offered to bring it down to 5% initially, and eventually agreed to waive it off completely.

[roy1010]

Originally Posted by TheLizardKing

Glad to hear that your wife walked away uninjured from such a serious accident, and happy to know that the car is back on the road and driving better than ever. A great outcome all around.

The salvage charge scam seems to be very common in case of large claims. I had to face the same when my GT TSI had an accident a couple of years back. In my case, I escalated as high as possible up the insurance company's chain, and even wrote an email to the ombudsman with the insurance company in cc. Just like you, I too wanted to give in at some point, and had to draw deep on my reserves of patience. I refused to take delivery of the car unless the bogus charge was removed. They offered to bring it down to 5% initially, and eventually agreed to waive it off completely.

You are right. If I was willing to wait some more and pursued, I could have the charge waived off.

This is something that is being charged by almost every insurance company and most of them have no mention of this in their policy wordings. Since this is not an implied warranty , it has to be exclusively mentioned in the policy - I think.

This is something for everyone to know , so they can exercise their rights in such claims. By subrogation , the insurer gets the right to own and dispose off the metal parts renewed. They simply don’t want to do it themselves so they push the burden to us by charging a salvage fee. It’s basically us paying them for buying back the metal scrap from them. All the panels had deep and sharp kinks - tough to fix them to look right.

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by roy1010

Wife was approaching the highway from a minor road and a bus, which had just jumped the previous signal, rammed onto the driver side.

There is something to be said about defensive driving in this case.

If you emerge from a minor road to a major one (or actually any road to any without a traffic signal, but speed differences are always higher when minor roads intersect highways), it makes sense to make a complete stop, look right - left - right, before proceeding.

Rather than react to a dangerous situation on the highway, try to prevent it at the intersection. Of course, easier said than done on our roads.

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by roy1010

This was in Vizag - Birla Jn.

What a Coincidence I used to drive on the same road whenever I come to Vizag, my parents stay there in an apartment near by. Will PM the details.

I assume the circled area is the accident spot. The road marked with black arrow has an incline towards the service road and the service road is a two-way service road.



Vizag Roads have high number of Blindspots, thanks to the high density bushes at the median and on either side of the road. I see this kind of road marking for every 1km in entire Vizag City.



Also, as per the pics most of the impact is on front door on driver side and right wheel arch, indicating the car is halfway through the service road; so it is surprising, how a big bus was failed to notice. Defensive Driving is a must on all intersections.

[roy1010]

Originally Posted by roy1010

My first major accident repair experience

Originally Posted by dust-n-bones

There is something to be said about defensive driving in this case.

Unfortunately or Not, There was a traffic signal. She proceeded when it turned green for her, but since bus was trying to jump the signal while being in a blind spot, made it worse.

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

What a Coincidence I used to drive on the same road whenever I come to Vizag, my parents stay there in an apartment near by.

I still do not understand the traffic flow in this city. Since the highway cuts through the city, you have a mix of heavy vehicles plying interstate and then you have the local traffic. Potent mix.

[Kalash_6324]

First things first, its good to hear that your wife came out of this terrible experience relatively physically unscathed.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this to you.
So I'd like to point out that from the pictures, its clearly evident that the chassis took a decent impact and no matter how good a job the service centre does, it won't ever be as good as new.
Which basically means that there's a high probability the chassis won't function (distribute impact) the way OEM intended it to.

After having dealt with multiple service centres in the past 2 years for 2 of my totalled cars (Innova Crysta and Brezza), I've learnt that it's better to get rid of a car that has had structural damage because (god forbid) it won't be able to keep you safe like it did the first time around.

So I would strongly recommend against letting this be your wife's daily driver again.

Would love it if other members with some knowledge on this issue could chime in here.