My poor pride and joy :-(

1781cc · #1 26th March 2016, 06:02 PM

Well, two months in, minding my own business in rushton , waiting at the traffic lights for the green and out of nowhere the old fart in his battered old Astra reverses into the rear bumper / quarter

Retaining my composure was the hardest part of the process, I was livid, dithering old fool asked me why I was angry? Because you just reversed into my car!

Silver lining is he admitted fault in an email with his details, and I've chosen Castle Coachworks as my repairer as I've seen their work and they are Audi approved

Gutted to say the least

M-A8 · #2 26th March 2016, 06:19 PM

Feel for you mate, I really do.
I have honestly never scratched the wheel or body work until an old lady with her d**k old husband decided to carry on straight from the left lane on the roundabout where left lane was left only and one I was on left and straight.

They've hit me in my left rear wheel and scratched a bit of the wing. I was going mental, absolutely crazy if you would watch me from the other side of the road. Then he started to argue with me and blaming me while lady was calm and all shaken. He was asking similar silly questions, why I'm so angry etc, it's nothing he said. Your beaten up fiesta maybe yeah, the wheels itself are more than your car - I don't wanted to sound like a **** there, but its just a brutal true and I do love my car and it takes endless hours to keep it in this condition. This is what I was trying to explain him, but he wouldn't have it.

Since then I wasn't able to match the original gunmetal colour of the wheels and quality of the paint has never been the same.

Delboy · #3 26th March 2016, 06:21 PM

Not good, feel for you

tintin · #4 26th March 2016, 06:36 PM

I have mixed feelings about this. The same happened to me, in my 8 week old, pristine Tesla. In my case it was a nice old lady, in an old blue Polo, who couldn't quite turn the (non-power assisted) steering wheel, so drove into my stationary Model S, with me sat in it, watching, in slow motion...

On the one hand, at that age, a car is more important to mobility that it would be to someone younger and more able bodied, so I couldn't be too cross. On the other hand, they seem to regularly cause this sort of accident - luckily normally at low speed, so not life threatening.

It took more than three months to get my car fixed (not her fault..) - and in the meantime a Glasgow lad who was definitely high on something managed to scratch the same car in exactly the same place about 6 weeks after the first incident. I had less sympathy for him.

I hope you get it fixed to your satisfaction, and quickly.

Norretal · #5 26th March 2016, 06:46 PM

Awful that, I hope you get sorted to your satisfaction soon.

I know in both cases mentioned it's and old duffer causing the accident and seeming to be amazed by the levels of anger shown but I think generally a massive percentage of drivers don't really care about their own vehicle (because it's lease, company car, banger) so they struggle to understand why someone can feel so passionately about what is "just a car"

Most 8 owners care, because they're more than "just a car" in whatever form they take

M-A8 · #6 26th March 2016, 06:51 PM

Just to clarify something here and reply to you Steven's point of you.

Anyone who knows me is well aware of my respect to elderly, I did, I do and always help an elderly person no matter what, I can't describe the respect I have to elderly people, no matter what the situation is, even if I have to stop the car and run to the other side of the road to give them a hand like I did few times.

BUT

If a guy who was WRONG (wrong lane), would NOT respect my attachment to the car, is screaming at me and blaming for the accident without even accepting my offer to walk back few feet to see the marking on the road and signs, then this is a completely different person to an elderly lady who needs a car for mobility and can't afford a car with a power steering.

To make my point I have kept in touch with the lady (I had to came back to their house so she can sign a paper saying it was her fault) when the situation calmed down and helped her with their laptop and setting up the connections between PC and TV for their DSLR cameras as they were both into photography. I bought all the kit and cables they needed and never even asked a penny for it because its the way I am.

Norretal · #7 26th March 2016, 07:00 PM

Sorry, double post, damn you BT

1781cc · #8 26th March 2016, 07:19 PM

Glad to see I am not alone in being unintentionally targeted by old drivers. His was a smashed up Blue Astra 2003, by the looks of things I am not his first victim and probably not his last.

I've been meticulous with this car since buying it, learning, servicing, scanning, the lot, at least I won't have to have a courtesy car as my cab is road legal for her 6 month service from April 1st.

I'd have been even more gutted if he'd driven into that car as values aren't yet what they should be for such a classic and it would surely have been written off.

This isn't about dissing the old, hopefully I will be old one day myself, but its just basic awareness to check the road is clear behind you before reversing, especially if you are reversing onto the high street of a busy dual lane town centre!

I'll open doors for women, pick up things people drop and hand them back, offer my seat to an old person, even drive a deaf woman home once when she realised that the delayed trains we were on arrived later than her last bus, and thats after carry her bags off the train for her.

But on the flip, I think it should become compulsory to retake a driving refresher course at age 60, if you are a good driver you will have no issues, if you aren't, you can do something about it.

At least this bottle of Zinfandel is numbing the pain tonight!

M-A8 - its a shame you feel that way about the paint still, I know what you mean though

tintin - wow, id be fuming as well 8 weeks into owning a new Tesla as well, thats terrible luck

tc4332 · #9 26th March 2016, 07:43 PM

I hope nobody misunderstands this.
As a doddering old fool I can see the problem from both sides and do get very frustrated when another old fogey lets the side down by not hanging up their keys when they are past their sell by dates. My family and friends (I do have some, somewhere) are under strict orders that when I reach that point and fail to spot the symptoms myself then they are duty bound to hide my keys.
I agree that other folk do not appreciate the way we care for our cars. They do not understand that we pay an awful lot of time and money to buy and maintain these rather beautiful vehicles. But then I am just the same with the larger vehicles that I drive.
Having been ASDA damaged a few times I feel for you. At least you have his admission in writing and hopefully are able to obtain a good repair. All mine have been of nobody there kind of mishap.

As for you Matt, you cannot deny in the future, we have it in writing, that you are just a great big softie. And please can you come to ours? We have a few problems that you could fix (Only joshing you)

1781cc · #10 26th March 2016, 08:18 PM

Here's a thing, I watched Jackie Stewart on top gear and thought to myself: "there is no reason why getting old means being useless" sure he's an ex-F1 driver, but he still keeps things sharp, he keeps pushing, it's part of the reason I got a track car, as an investment in my long term driving skills and reflexes, but driving standards are getting worse, today some idiot overtook on the hard shoulder of the slip road at J15 today before diving across 3 lanes to hog the outside one in his new Range Rover sport.

Standards are bad overall, but a mandatory assessment would rule a lot of older dangerous and ponderous drivers out, instead, they get hugely discounted insurance...

If you have all your marbles and skills behind the wheel, an assessment at 60 would be a breeze!