grrrr on behalf of my SIL

[meriad]

Yesterday she was driving along a fairly windy country road to get to a client, when a white van came around the corner apparently nearly 1/2 way in her lane. She instinctively swerved left to avoid him and hit the side of the road really hard with her wheels, resulting in both the front and back passenger tyres being damaged and (so they found out later) the rims have a small dent in them. They were hoping for a fairly quick rim & tyre repair but the garage are now double checking as they suspect the suspension may also be damaged which would mean the car being out of action a lot longer than expected.

Needless to say - white van man didn't stop.

Thankfully Nadine wasn't injured and the car can be (hopefully) repaired... but it's just so frustrating.

[Workingman]

I suppose it goes without saying that we do not mess about with rims and tyres. It is much better/safer to replace than repair. Actually, repairing a pressed steel rim is prohibitively expensive.

I would be surprised if the suspension is damaged, but certainly would have the front tracking re-set.

WVM must have known that he had caused the accident, but the chances of him being caught or having the conscience to admit it are remote. I guess it is for these sorts of incidents that we have insurance. I hope that Nadine has her no-claims bonus protected.

[meriad]

They thankfully do have their no claims protected Frank, yes.

Apparently the reason the garage is suspecting that the suspension may be damaged is because Karl (my brother) told them to make sure the tracking was re-set (although I'd have hoped they'd done that anyway) before releasing the car but they are struggling to get it right (something to do with a camber if I understood Nadine correctly?)

[Lozzles]

Thank goodness Nadine was ok. We have lots of narrow twisty roads around here and van drivers just don't think about oncoming traffic

[Workingman]

Camber is not usually adjustable on most cars, if it is out it will be down to buckling of the wishbone or control arm. Not a big job, but it must be done.

In these cases it really is better to be safe than sorry.

Loz, if you have driven one you would probably know why. Sad to say, they are big and the driver is well over height of most cars, it does give the idiot ones a sense of invincibility.