Loophole !!

Our less than 2-month old car is hospitalised. We felt terribly angry & unjust!

Hubby has been careful with his driving but apparently not all the drivers are so! Last Wed morning he sent me to my office as usual & was on his way to his. He's somewhere near his office when he stopped at a junction, in the right most lane, waiting to turn right. Then came this idiotic driver with his lorry next to hubby's. As the lane the stupid man was in didn't allow him to turn right, he cut into Vince's lane without checking how near our car was. And before my honey could react, his lorry had already hit our left front!!! What a blind & reckless man!

Our poor car's left eye dropped out, with some other injuries.... that driver admitted it's his fault & suggested to bring our car to his brother's garage & he'd pay for the damages. Initially we're not comfortable with this arrangement as it's a brand new car so we preferred to have it repaired by C&C. But when hubby brought the car to C&C to assess, our jaws nearly dropped upon hearing the total estimated costs 44 $4k+!! And the bad news was the guy who assessed our car said from the damages it could not be determined the fault entirely lied with that idiot. So if we were to claim insurance, we might not be able to get full compensation if the culprit denied being at fault. It could be 50-50 or 40-60 or even 30-70. It's definitely not good for us as the newly insured. And we'd been advised by our agent that if the other party's insurance was from a particular insurer (which I'm not going to say here), it's worse as they'd fight till the end to avoid compensation. Furthermore when that idiot knew we intended to bring it back to C&C, he said his lorry belonged to his company who had already told them to bear all accident compensation. Then he told us he'd no $$ to pay for $4k+ & said we would most probably not be able to get the claim. Whereas at his brother's, he would bear all repair costs. So he's indirectly threatening us that he'd not admit it's his fault if we bring it to our insurer!? But what can we do???

Many passed different comments - like taking photos (well... we may, touch wood!, do that next time round but how effective is the evidence?) / should go ahead & claim his insurance (but we don't dare to take the risk!) / bring to our own trustable garage (he already said he'd NO MONEY to pay other than his bro's as he could pay by instalments). We asked around & every1 said there's no way to guarantee that we'll win the case unless damages are obvious, like hitting the rear or perhaps somewhere near the rear, then chances would be high.

We're in such a fix.... wanted our car to be properly repaired but were also considering the consequences if we go ahead with the insurance claim.

Finally after much discussions in less than half an hour, we decided to endure the immense anger & brought our car to his brother's garage. It's not wise to fight with him at this point of time. What if he decides to shake off the responsibility? The following day when we admitted our car, the brother said that younger bro of his had no $$ so no choice he'd have to help him. So I told him since he'd no money, he would better drive carefully! Really irresponsible!

It's just so unfair!! Many around us shared their experiences... some being victims like us, some were the culprits. Apparently we're not the only 1 which made us feel a lil better.

So we've to tell ourselves to look on the bright side : (1)The biggest consolation is my hubby's safety. He's not hurt at all & I really thank God for that. (2)It's better than a hit-&-run case. (3)At least he provides us a car for the time being, though it's a 10 y.o+ Corolla.

Guess it's part & parcel of driving.... But as long as my honey's safe & sound.