My Safari Storme gets rear ended by a bus: Damage done, repair & costs

It is my first car accident in over 2 decades and 6,00,000 km of driving.

BHPian PrasannaDhana recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I haven't updated this thread in a while. I was planning to do it after 75,000 km service (which will be at 73000 km as I did 60k km service at 58,000 km).

24 th November 2023

I was driving the storme in the city. We were stopped at a busy signal. An omni was in my front and a government bus was behind me. The signal turned green and we started to move. About 50 meters from the signal, the omni in front of me (about a meter gap from my Storme), hit a motorcyclist and stopped suddenly. I slammed the brakes and stopped the car mere mm away from the omni. The government bus behind me didn't have time to brake/ couldn't stop within the distance and slammed into the rear of Storme.

The handle below the windshield of the bus broke the storme's windshield, the metal projection below the headlight, near the number plate, tore into the lower part of the Storme bumper.

The car took the impact very well. I didn't feel any whiplash to be felt. Got down, checked the damages. Then moved the storme to the side of the road. Since it was a busy signal, cops were already there. The omni and 2 wheeler fled the scene. Cops asked me what I wanted to do. I asked the bus driver if they had insurance, for which he told no.

I then told the cops that I will take care of my repairs through insurance and that I don't want any complaint to be filed on the bus driver. He might have not braked/ the brakes couldn't stop the fully loaded bus in time. Accident wasn't entirely his fault. Even I didn't expect omni to abruptly stop from 30 kmph to standstill. I had no space on either side of the road to evade the impact on omni, as both sides were filled with two wheelers and every one was rushing from the signal that just turned green. Only option was to brake hard. If I hadnt braked, the omni would have had severe damages.

It is my first car accident in over 2 decades and 6,00,000 km of driving. So the procedure were new to me. Traffic investigation wing was notified and an investigating officer reached the spot. He took our statements and asked of I wanted to file a case, for which I said no. TNSTC depot manager and TNSTC Accident surveyer reached the spot and were glad that I wasn't pointing fingers at them. Investigating officer got letters from both parties. I was asked to visit the police station with original DL, storme RC and insurance copies if I wanted CSR. I reached the station and gave a requisition letter and attached photocopies of documents. Received the CSR 3 days later.

On the day of Accident, I also notified my insurance agent (he takes care of all my school vehicles and personal vehicles). Took the storme to Kaveri Tata, which was just 2 km from the spot of Accident.

The repair estimate was 1.05 lakhs!

 Entire tailgate had to be replaced. The wait started. 2 weeks went by, still no sign of Storme parts from Tata plant. I told the bodyshop manager to tinker the existing door. The work started on 9th December.

The tailgate was tinkered, painted and new windshield was installed and I went today to take the delivery.

I accompanied to see if water seepage was there during water spray test. There wasn't any leakage.

Back on the saddle after exactly one day short of 1 month since accident.

Many thanks to CRM Mr. Rajesh and Bodyshop manager Mr. Raja for the work. Storme parts were rare to find, being a model which isn't being manufactured anymore.

Totally damage to wallet was 55k

The windshield does have a slight misalignment at the top portion. Its visible only when noticed very keenly. Usually, there won't be rubber beading before the windshield, but here there is a rubber beading on the top which causes that misalignment. Since there was no water seepage and the windshield was properly sealed, I didn't mind. I will try sorting it out during the 75000 km service in first week of January 2024.

This accident also led me thinking of the consequences if I was driving my celerio. Celerio is my dad's daily ride. I decided to get another safe car for him, and have booked Tata Punch . Delivery scheduled within next 2 weeks. Celerio will stay as a city beater car. Punch replaces my Kwid 1.0 which I sold last year.

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