Hypothetical car crash

Willeh Dee

Right, say someone was driving home from meeting some friends, say this guy went to fast round a corner (edit - but in no way broke any speed limits, it was black ice on the road that caused the skid and not pure speed because he wasn't going that fast) and skidded a fair bit, corrected it, but kept going round and hit his rear drivers side wheel against a curb, like so....



Now, I don't know how fast this guy was going, but the skidding slowed the car right down I think, so it couldnt of been that fast, and the car would appear to look fine apart from a scraped alloy, and the wheel doesn't look unaligned

Anyways, this guys kinda glad hes done it, because hes not been able to get the back end out properly, and now he gets how to with the help of people who explained how to do it , and he did it again on the same drive home, on a private bit of land he owns, to make sure he had learnt his lesson, only this time he successfully power slided because he now knew what it was all about, and it worked a treat. (thats a testament to how fine the car looked and felt)

My question is, what should this guy say to a garage if he were to take his car to make sure for certain nothing is messed up as he could be very paranoid, what should they be checking for and how should they check?

Aurin

I would just ask for a four wheel alignment personally.. and if you're asking a mechanic (not the dealership), just tell them the truth, that a curb got bumped.

If you're trying to take the car to a dealership... well good luck figuring out a way to tell them what happened and not have them charge to fix it. :P

Edit: To note, I have completely spun my car around in a circle in the rain, and it went up over a curb. No rim damage, and it still drives fine. But if you're paranoid, a four wheel alignment should make sure nothing is messed up.

Smasher

I'm not really sure what you're being paranoid about. I don't know where you live, but I wouldn't imagine you would have to file an accident report or anything if nobody else was involved and you didn't damage any property or anything. If you're worried about insurance costs, I haven't been in an accident but I believe that as long as you pay for any repairs yourself they shouldn't raise rates on you or anything.

khain

Just tell them that he skidded out on black ice and hit the curb with the back right tire. ITs snowing and given what you said probably in a area where it doesn't snow all that often so mechanics are going to expect people coming in with accidents like this one.

Also it probably varies state by state but where I live you don't need to report a accident if the damage is under $500.

Thanatos

Yeah, you don't have to file an accident report for that.

I don't even give a shit what the law says in your state, frankly, the police/DMV don't want the paperwork. So, you really don't need to do the "hypothetical" stuff.

And really, doing the "hypothetical" stuff just pisses me off if it's something I would ban you for, and makes me ban you for longer. :P

stigweard

At the least, you should pull that wheel off and have it re-balanced. The chaces are good that you bent it a bit and there is some wobble there. You won't feel it nearly as much because it is on the back, but it will still cause the tire to wear funny.

Zifnab

If he's worried about getting the cops called or something for some reason, it's really not that much of a worry. I hit some ice and went over a cinderblock last winter; blew both right tires, bent both rims, destroyed my right brakes, snapped the cores on both the struts, and tore the shit out of the underbody on that side. Called AAA, got it towed, filed an insurance claim, took it to a garage, boom boom, they fixed it up. Now I just have to live with a significantly higher premium and the shame of not even having a good story to go with my accident.

btw, if he hit a curb moving sideways, he probably bent something that he should get looked at, definitely.

Fellhand

Just get an alignment.
You don't have to report this as an accident.

Willeh Dee

Update - No damage whatsoever really, just paid £40 to have it 4 wheel laser realigned at Protyre who were very informative and chatty. Result. Thanks for all the H&A guys.