Crap Day

Off-Topic
1

I recently purchased an apartment and we wanted to start with painting walls and repairing this and that next week especially since my dad took two weeks off (this was his last week before his holidays). Not wanting to waste a whole day of his holidays with taking the car to the workshop in order to do the regularly checks (each 15.000 km / year a small check and each 30.000 km / two years a big check), I managed to get an appointment in Mannheim where dad is also working. However, I also had to do some work in Karlsruhe, so I drove dad to work, came back to Karlsruhe, finished my job and was on my way to the workshop. However, I never reached the workshop in time, because half an hour before the appointment, there was an accident on A5 near Bruchsal and I was part of it. I was on the far left lane and drove at something like 140 km/h like the other cars on that lane for several minutes already without any big problems, so nothing too fancy. A few minutes later, I suddenly saw how cars start to get slower and slower and I began pushing the brake pedal. Eventually, we almost came to a complete halt when suddenly I hear a loud "boom!" behind me together with an impact. This is what happened:

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00504.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00505.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00506.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00507.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00508.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00509.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00510.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00511.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00512.JPG

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00513.JPG

As you can see from the pics, the front of my car has no damage at all, so I didn't bump into another car. Therefore, I hope that the whole thing turns out well for me and I don't have to pay anything since it was the fault of the driver behind me (with the dark VW Golf) who was too close. It's unclear though what happened to the Ford Escort and the Audi in front of me. The Golf driver said that he bumped into my car for sure. The police thinks that the Ford bumped into the Audi, then turned left while the Audi drove past me and then came to a halt. Anyways, keep your fingers crossed. :slight_smile:

2

Sorry to hear that, Sebastian! Hope that you're doing well and everything turns out to be good for you!

Cheers,
Florian

3

Thanks Florian!

The bumper is damaged, the backdoor (it still closes though), the trailer-hitch, the exhaust and something that I recall being named "Abschlussbalken" in German which is a solid bar that holds the bumper and makes the back of the car more stable. It's also possible that the trailer-hitch caused more damage to the car, but an expert has to check first.

My left shoulder hurts pretty bad now and also my back (probably because of the seatbelt). I had a very light pain in my neck yesterday, but it seems to be gone now. However, people I talked to said that the pain will most likely come back in a few days. I went to a doctor yesterday night and had my spine and shoulder checked but everything was OK (nothing broken).

Now I just got back from the Toyota workshop that I visit regularly, left the car there and they got in touch with a car rental company that gave me a Chrysler Voyager Diesel (the Toyota was Diesel too, which is great considering that 1 l unleaded gas is around 1.40 € and Diesel is only 1.15 €). They also recommended getting in touch with a lawyer (they also gave me the address of a lawyer they work with) since otherwise I could make big mistakes when filling out the forms and end up having half of the fault. Also, I could get compensation for the pain and the visit to the doctor.

BTW, right after the accident I was afraid to get out of the car because of the scratching noise the car made behind of us and people sounding the horn while driving past us.

Anyways, seems that my car is pretty solid looking at the other cars' damages. :stuck_out_tongue:

Here's a close-up view of my damages:

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00516.jpg

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00517.jpg

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00518.jpg

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00519.jpg

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00520.jpg

http://www.maresweb.de/miscellaneous/unfall/DSC00521.jpg

4

I am really sorry for you. But also thanks to God that you escape from the damage safely. Accidents on the road are really very dangerous and i am happy that you are fine. I hope you won't have to face this kind of trouble again. :sorcerer: