The Taigun didn’t even feel like it had been in an accident still handled just as well aside from the increased wind noise and also a minor heaviness on the steering.
BHPian al90 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
No matter how safely you drive on our roads, you cant control your fate or others on the road.
The trip:
We had planned for a trip back to my hometown in Trivandrum from Chennai via Velankanni on the 14/01 (reach Velankanni) & travel down to Trivandrum from there on 15/01. We had started off around 9 am in the morning, we usually start even earlier as am not a big fan of driving at night, I prefer to drive as long as there is traffic and people on the roads so we call it a day by 10pm, before the truckers are on the roads
The accident:
So on 14th at around 8.20pm we were nearing a place called Thirukadaiyur about an hour from Velankanni and we were doing 70-80 kms as it was already night and low lighting on the roads plus this was a narrow section of the ECR.
We were about 5kms from Thirukadaiyur when disaster struck, A man on a Bajaj discover coming on the opposite side decided to turn into our lane and right into our car just as we reached the other side of the road. This is the part where am glad I chose the Taigun over the many other options that I had, we didn’t feel any vibration or backlash from the hit, the man was riding at a considerable speed as well I assume, all we heard was the sound of the hit and the right hand mirror breaking off, along with the sudden bight light from the headlamps of the bike right in my face from the right and nothing else, my son who was sleeping didn’t even wake up. We pulled over to the side and luckily the only other vehicles on the road were a guy on a bike behind the guy who ran into us and a few locals in an Innova behind us ( we were lucky that they didn’t cash into us or the motorist).
People started to gather and I got out to check on the guy after moving the vehicle to the side of the road, called 109 and by then the locals in the Innova behind corroborated my version with the other locals that I was not at fault. Its worrisome when a crowd gathers even if you are not at fault. The ambulance took a good 30 mins to reach and a few locals suggested to take him to the hospital in my vehicle. I agreed but a few were against it since we didn’t know the extend of his injuries other than the bruises we could see. We checked the man, he was breathing and then we got the root cause, the man was drunk to the brim, we could smell the alcohol in his breath.
Finally after 30 mins the ambulance and the cops arrived. If that man had some serious injury he would have died by the time it took them to get there. The cops took the statement from the people in the Innova and the locals and told us to take the car and the family to a nearby town and to drop the family and return the vehicle to the police station. The Taigun was still running, no error on the dash except for when I turned right because of the broken fog lamp and the right hand mirror. (this made me really happy with my decision).
The locals were extremely helpful in getting us a place to stay, because it was Pongal the next day hotels were not taking in guests as people were taking rooms to get drunk, atleast that’s what we were told. After going in and out of 3 hotels with 2 locals they finally made some calls and got us a room.
The next day:
Now begin my rounds of the police station. Called the cop who was at the scene, he said that they haven’t been able to find the guy and did not get any information on which hospital he’s been taken to. By around 11 am I went back to the station post which they took the number of the bike from me and made a few calls to trace the guy’s whereabouts. Now came the talks of how much it would cost to get my car, have the FIR filed, compensation for that guy. I was lucky to have people help me who made a few calls and finally the cops told me that they couldn’t file an FIR without knowing the condition of the guy and told me it would take about 5 days since it was a long holiday because of Pongal.
Now the cops suggested taking the blame as then it would be an open and shut case for them else they will have to treat it as a drunk drive case on that guy and it might take about 1.5 -2 years to be closed with me having to go down to Thirukadyaiur every time they summon me, and the injured guy might get some compensation. Nothing for me as the guy riding didn’t have a helmet, no license and neither insurance or any other documents on him. Iprotested, but later agreed as this was the best option as suggest by a lawyer friend and this is the norm.
The aftermath:
We didn’t return to Chennai, we went ahead to Velankanni as the misses suggested. We were originally heading there to offer prayers for my deceased father. We returned back to Chennai via cab on 16/01 and waited for the call from the cops.
Finally got the call and went back to pick up the car on 19/01 with a friend. There were some minor hiccups but finished at the police station with the FIR took the car to the ME at the RTO and then we drove it back to Chennai.
The Taigun didn’t even feel like it had been in an accident still handled just as well aside from the increased wind noise and also a minor heaviness on the steering, which am not sure was with the car or something physcological.
Drove it to Chennai and gave it to the Volkswagen service center on 20/01.
The service centre:
They took the car and told me an estimate of 1.3 -1.4 lakhs. I had already initiated a claim with the insurance. They made me fill out a claim form and also a satisfaction letter, the latter which I wasn’t very happy to sign without seeing the work done, but on the service centers insistence, I signed as they told me else I have to pay from my pockets and claim from the insurance. For some reason they kept insisting on polishing the car which didn’t fall under the insurance. I told them that the car was anyways due for its second service so polishing can be done post that if required.
Tata AIG insurance has been hassle free up until now, will keep you updated on the details as things progress, I have comprehensive insurance with addons for consumables and hotel stay and transport and also with engine protect.
So what’s giving me restlessness is that the body shop manager told me that it would cost 1.3-1.4 lakhs and I will have to shell out 3-4K from my pocket. They gave an estimate of 80K to the insurance and yesterday 31/01 they called me and told me it will be 1.5 lakhs and I will have to shell out 20K from my pocket.
Again insisting on polishing, I told them today 01/02 morning to hold off the polishing until after the 2nd service is done, first repair the car and let me inspect it.
I will keep you all posted on things as and when they progress, attached are the pics, I really pray I get her back the same way as she was before the accident.
Keyword: Drunk biker crashes into my Taigun: Rs. 1.5 lakh of damage