Well, given that we're sharing, I'll tell you about my little crash in my old TT Roadster. Was driving up Putney Hill in London towards the A3, just set off from the lights. Saab 95 waiting to pull out from a side road, driver doesn't even look at me and he goes for it. I'm doing just under 40mph and there's only about 10 metres or so distance between me and the Saab. I swerve to the right, hard on the brakes, and slam straight into the front right wing and wheel of his car. Unfortunately where the Saab driver came out from, there's a central railing in the main road and I bounce hard off the kerb and scrape along the railing, with the Saab on my left. I hit the Saab so hard that he spun round and I sailed straight past him.
I'm still on the brakes and heave the wheel to the left to get to the kerb, when BANG I get slammed from behind and get pushed about 30 metres up the road. I get out and suddenly realise that the Saab driver had rammed into me after I'd gone past him, and pushed my car up the road.
That's when I realise that the driver is in excess of 70 years old, his wife is in the passenger seat, and there's a baby seat in the back. Obviously I was a bit scared for the baby, but fortunately baby was ok. The driver looked like he was having a heart attack - ambulance etc but all ok. It eventually transpires that the driver's foot slipped off the brake pedal and hit the accelerator, and he couldn't free his foot as it had got trapped underneath the brake pedal.
So the damage to the TT? Well, no airbags went off fortunately, and the damage was to the entire left side of the car. Needed a whole new front quarter, including engine components, new sills, doors, wings, glass, rear wing, rear tailgate, bumper, four new wheels, offside wing, door, rear quarter panel, bonnet... I think you get the picture.. every single panel and part was replaced on the car, except for the interior and the main engine block. Every single item of running gear was replaced. Total repair bill? £15,500. If it had been an extra £250 it would have been a right-off.
I sold it the day after I got it back!
Oh, and the Saab? Complete and utter right-off. Entire front part of the chassis bent out of shape. Says a lot about the old TT, and not a lot about the Saab...
Pics below..
