Unfortunately after 37 years of no accident driving I rear ended a SUV rental just before Christmas. My ute came off way worse (not anything like yours GE). The rental had a small crack in the back, and my Toyota badge embedded in their chassis.
Now this is were things get a bit dodgy for me. I had been towing a mates big heavy Galvanised trailer. It was empty, but weighs a tonne and a bit literally. The last time I borrowed it, the trailer brakes were working....not this time. Old mate forgot to tell me that he had disengaged said brakes because they were ‘sticking’.
Now I don’t think you need a degree in physics to work out how when I hit my brakes to avoid rear-ending the car in front, and having no trailer brakes I just kept skidding along. (No ice GE, bone dry highway).
So we both pull over and I ask the female driver if shes ok. Yep, bit shaken, but fine. (She is driving a rental, because her car is in the shop getting fixed, after she’d been rear-ended a month prior!).
I’m looking at her car, and am amazed at how little damage there is. Then turn and look at mine to see a mangled bull-bar, smashed lights, and fog lights, and the bonnet with a nice crease in it. That’s when I go back to the trailer to find the brakes switched off.
By now I’m already thinking of the insurance assessor looking at pics of the damage to my car, and f/all to hers, and going WTF?
So I hedge my bets, and ask the female driver when she reports the damage that she was hit by a Ute ONLY. She’s looking straight at the monstrous trailer, obviously does the same physics calculation, and just says, trailer, what trailer?
So, in the end there was some curious questions from the insurance assessor, when looking at pics of both cars. But they gave the repairer the nod, and the uterus is being fixed . Ready tomorrow.
I rang the lady driver, and thanked her for keeping quiet about the trailer. She told me the reason she went along with it was because the first thing I did when we pulled over was run up to her window and ask if she and her daughter were ok.
So there you go. I’ve just admitted insurance fraud, but I’m playing that off against me thinking of others first. (Have to admit, how I’ve been accident free for37 years is more good luck, than good driving).
