As some of you know, I purchased Ross's old Elise and subsequently managed to roll it the 4th time I drove it! Not proud, felt and still feel like a bit of a twat. Was waiting until the insurance was settled before i posted, but it seems that they are selling the Elise already on the
Bluecycle website. Without going into too much detail..... It was a bit damp, much more greasy than I realised, came round a bend, lost the back end and went into a wall/embankment (B road) and rolled over a couple of times, according to witnesses and ended up parked upsides down. Really not my best moment, and in 18 years of driving, I've never had an accident that was my fault. I'm VERY thankful that I never managed to collide with anyone else and keep reminding myself how lucky I was not to have any injuries beyond some bruising across the top of my legs from the seatbelt and a deep cut to my thumb. After seeing the state of my laptop bag, I can't help but think what would have happened to me had I not been wearing my seatbelt. I remember rolling then sliding along the road on the roof, pretty much waiting for a tree or rocks from the wall to come through the windscreen and take me out. Thankfully that never happened, when I finally came to rest - I released the seatbelt and dropped to the ground, I think forgetting I was upside down. Stupidly, when I realised I was ok, I actually paused before trying to slide out of the passenger window, trying to decide how to get through the glass and muck without getting dirty etc!! I then immediately started thinking about petrol & fire and then got the feck out of there just incase! Witnesses I think were about as shocked as I was, thinking that I wasn't going to be walking away from that one. Ambulance and Police showed up and all asked for numbers for the lottery and continually reminded me how lucky I was - to the point it was getting irritating. Police spoke to all the witnesses who all confirmed I wasn't speeding, or driving too fast so they were happy, however, had I hit someone else, it would have been a different story. One of the coppers actually told me he'd done the same thing not so long ago himself. Breathalyser obviously negative having been at work the whole day, and the fact I don't drink and drive!
Apologies for the blurry photo, it was taken while I was still shaking, on my Blackberry, which unfortunately survived the crash unlike my (works) laptop. I have been through many emotions since the event, never wanting one again - that lasted a week! Then thought about buying it back from the insurance, but it would probably take me far to long to get it back on the road, so I've decided not to go down that route. I will have another! I know a few people have showed interest in buying the car, if it's any consoldation, the rear clam I think might be repairable. I have the feeling that the car has been assessed as Cat C by the photos, do they even send people to do this properly these days? I was expecting a cheque before the car was auctioned, but that's not happened yet. The rest of the damage can be seen from the photos. Front nearside suspension damage too. Unfortunately they appear to have left the car sitting out in the p1ssing rain.
I never even managed to take my own photos of the car pre-accident. However, in it's former glory....
Sorry for destroying your car Ross!
Take it easy out there folks, I see there were two incidents posted yesterday too. I still can't get my head round how easily the back end went.
Really sorry to hear this, but can sympathise as I went through the same sequence of emotions after I wrote my S1 off all those years ago ...
Hope the insurance are good to you with their payout. I wonder if they will give you the amount you valued the car at given it was so recently insured?
At DDtB
