Christ I hate peak hour traffic

[mike-s]

Driving the tuna can (Car) home from work this morning (12 hr nightshift) i get to the point where i line up like a good box to get onto the shithouse M5 at 8:10 in the middle of peak hour traffic.

I leave a gap in front of me as theres a side street that people get stuck trying to turn out of all the time (even though theres no one there at the moment). Minding my own business and then feel a thump and my car shunt forward a tiny bit.

As it is peak hour there is no bloody way i am going to stop for that. I grab the rego number and what i *think* is the company name ( one of those flatbed rigging hire companies). I call the company this arvo after waking my sorry arse up only to be told they dont have a kenworth, only a yellow ford something or other and no longer rent trucks out. I was bumped by a white Kenworth..

So ive been told to make a police report & get it assessed, however im unsure if i could be arsed doing it as the damage is very minor (2-3mm ding on body just below the boot as well as a slight paint removal in the same spot. Bumper has some slight crazing up top where they hit me, but can only be seen in good sunlight. Only significant damage is the bumper has a 8-10mm tear from the edge of their grille about 10cm from the bottom where the top & bottom half of the bumper meets (its a 2 peice).

Can i be bothered claiming it? i only have a $500 excess if they cant get the driver (but i have the time of the incident and the trucks rego) & it wont affect my ncb/renewal. Only thing is i had planned to actually pay my bike rego in the next fortnight

Either way its a pain in the arse i didnt bloody need. only had a "sorry i didnt see your stationary car as i was reversing" claim 3 months ago.

[Felix]

Report it to the police, and put in a Intention to Claim for your insurance.

If they find the driver, then you can action your claim. Or you can action your claim in 6 months. But if you don't do the boring stuff now, it will be a lot messier later, especially if you find some other damage you didn't see.

When Miss Felix was rear ended by a drunk driver, the damage didn't look too bad. But there was damage to the rear boot tray, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Expensive stuff.

Cover yourself, it is only paperwork, and shouldn't take too long to do.

[mike-s]

i know. i was going to seriously consider doing it in the morning, but after feeling wiped out from night shift it was just so bloody annoying i felt like throwing my hands in the air about it all.

Basically you've covered what i was thinking of doing. Visit cop shop in person tomorrow morning & go from there. but still feels like or maybe even

but insurance is good protection either way

[Damon Z1000]

Unlucky Mike,
Bit of a pisser after 12 hours straight too.

[Colette]

Sorry to hear Mike

[Neka79]

bummer dude..wot kinda car is it?? i mean if its a "shitbox run-around go to work" car then i wouldnt bother...but if its a nice,tidy car u may want to sell one day...then i would,....yea do wot felix said..seems to make sense...

[James]

Mike,

Id suggest the first thing you do is get a quote for the damage so you know what you're up for. I would not contact the insurance company at all until you decide whether you want to claim or not, which will probably be decided by what the repair cost is. Its not as simple as giving the insurance company the rego and have them find the details of who is at fault. Most policy terms and conditions state that you need to provide the at fault party's details. More often than not all the insurance company can find out via the rego number is the owner of the vehicle, which may not necessarily be the driver who was at fault. You've got more chance of the police finding the driver at fault, but from my experience most of them couldnt be bothered for a minor incident.

And while your current policy terms say that your NCB wont be affected by lodging a claim, it will affect any future policies you take out as you have had an 'incident' and worse case senario is that the renewal of your poilcy may not be offered.

I hope this helps

[mike-s]

Neka it's a 1998 Corolla which aside from some minor cat-scratches (it's a lovely charcoal black colour & a heat magnet for the bloody things) is in immaculate condition (it better have, considering it cost me 12 thou to get!)

I'll be going to the assessor to see what they think and then go from there to
cop shop in the morning to just have a quick word with them & take it from there. I might not make a claim, but we'll see what happens.

Cheers for the imput guys, i just dont want to get screwed over by insurance or by being left with a bingle in the car i'd otherwise not have.

Damon: pisser indeed, i *hate* making the trip home after night shift because of the M5, but this was just the icing on the cake.

Colette: indeed, but what can you do? :-\

[Neka79]

Colette: indeed, but what can you do? :-\

carry a big BIG stick??