“Bang！”
The sound of impact, the sound of broken glass, the sound of children crying. Sitting in the driver's seat, I was a little confused, but I quickly reacted: a car crash!
It was a sunny Thursday, and I was driving with my mother and my daughter under 4 years old in Hamilton.
As the largest city in the Waikato region, the Hamilton on weekday afternoons is also full of traffic. On a busy street downtown, there seemed to be a right turn ahead, and I stopped and waited in turn.
Just then, a gray Nissan hit the red Holden, behind me and Holden hit me, and I hit the black Passat. in front of me.
In this way, I had my first car accident since I came to New Zealand, and it was a four-car crash.
Crashed, and then what?
I almost drive outside New Zealand, and as an old driver, I think I'm careful, but I can't stop people from making mistakes.
Get out of the car and take a look. The Nissan who caused the accident came down to two girls. The girl driving was not old, or "L" (learner's license), crying that she had just been attracted to the shop sign next to her, and when she was in a hurry, she stepped on the accelerator as a brake. Alas, it is a blessing not a curse, it is a disaster can not be avoided.
There was no small damage in the front of the car; the red Holden was very fierce before and after, and the glass was broken; my Mini Cooper was tough, nothing happened behind it, but in front of the Passat there was just a very hard trailer handle, and my water tank was punctured. In this way, four cars hang up three, fortunately, all the people in the car are okay.
What's next? The driver of the accident and the female driver of Holden are crying. I am confused as a "foreign tourist". Although there is no damage to the front of the Passat, the driver's uncle has taken on the responsibility for handling the accident.
He first called the police, took a lot of pictures of the scene of the accident, and then directed us to move the car to the side of the road. I didn't know where to change the paper and pen, drew the location of four cars, and asked us to fill in our name, address, phone number, driver's license number. License plate number and so on. This piece of paper later became an important basis for us to report to the insurance company.
A little while later, the police came too. After getting a rough look at the accident and looking at our driver's license, the police said they could arrange a trailer for us, or let us call the insurance company, and then gave us a report number and floated away.
It turns out that in New Zealand, there is no need to "protect the scene" after a car accident, and the most important thing is to save people. If no one is injured, quickly restore traffic order and prevent secondary traffic accidents. (how many people stood in the middle of the road after the accident and then were hit again?) In addition, it is important to leave behind the information of all the participants in the accident and distinguish the responsibility-because the accident is only a moment, handling the accident is a long process.
Insurance! Insurance! Insurance!
When the police left, we began to settle down and contact our respective insurance companies. It took a close look at the paper to see why the two female drivers in the back were crying-their cars were uninsured!
New Zealand's car insurance can be roughly divided into two types, one is the all-risk (Comprehensive Insurance), the other is the third-party risk (Third Party Insurance). According to my understanding, all-insurance is to hit a car not only to others but also to oneself, and a third-party insurance is to only compensate the other side's car, not its own car.
Repairing cars in New Zealand is very expensive, and we have previously reported that Chinese tourists are being repaired at a high price. Generally speaking, if your car is really broken, it is only worth two to three thousand dollars, the cost of repairing the car may be as high as 6,000 or even tens of thousands, then the long-term purchase of all-insurance may not be cost-effective. But if you don't even have a third-party risk, it's very possible to run into someone else's limousine and lose your fortune overnight!
For example, my accident, the driver hit three cars at once, the estimated repair costs may cost tens of thousands of dollars, this is the average person a full year's salary ah! No wonder the little girl has been crying.
The driver of the red Holden is not the wrong person. Why is she crying? It turns out that in addition to car repair, there is a very important function, that is, recovery. Because I have all risks, the insurance company will help me repair the car first, and then on behalf of the company to recover the repair costs from the perpetrators. The other side has insurance company OK, if not, then want to recover money from individual-meet unreasonable or really very poor, still have to go to court, this innumerable time and money in the middle of the cost, it is absolutely impossible for ordinary people to spend.
Think about the Holden driver's next possible encounter, really worried for her ah! I'm glad I'm totally insured!
People are more beautiful than the scenery.
Remember there is a travel advertisement saying: "Taiwan, the most beautiful scenery is people." I also joked with my colleagues that the most beautiful scenery in New Zealand was nobody. However, this accident, really felt the warmth of New Zealanders. It is always the most valuable to send charcoal in the snow.
Thank you for Passat's eighty-year-old grandfather in the car. My son is busy with car accident, and he's been busy talking to me. I may think that I am not a local, and drag the family, as soon as he got out of the car, he said to me, it's okay, small car accident, it doesn't matter, we've been through this kind of car accident. in Oakland before. Then remind me, and insureance company must be clear, I was hit by a rear-end collision into his son's car, not my responsibility. Then the old man ran forward against the sun to see if my car could drive.
Thank you for the witnesses. After the accident, a black pickup truck also stopped. Although the whole thing had nothing to do with him, he had been helping to restore the accident and left his name and telephone number. It is said that many passers-by called the police at the first time after the accident. Including him。
Thank you for the clerk at the Holden 4S store across the street. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was so sun that I had to put my mother and daughter in the booth at the bus stop. The clerk ran over and asked us what to drink, and then brought everyone a glass of water with a tray. Dealing with the accident, I turned to see mother and daughter in a safe place slowly drinking water, that moment really moved.
Thanks to the operators of the insurance company. After the accident, I called according to the emergency phone posted on the car glass. Because my insurance company is bigger, the business is more, transferred several times to find the person who handles the accident for me. Every time I turn, I say: "I just had a car accident." Every time is almost the voice does not fall, will hear the opposite side has the feeling to say very much: "my God!" Oh yeah? Are you all right? " I can't help but wonder how they have to take so many of these calls every day, how do they keep their enthusiasm so full of work? But for me at that time, it was really warm.
And when Mike, an insurance company employee who helped me deal with the accident, reported the incident, I was stunned that I didn't even know where the accident was, and ran over to ask. He always said in a very patient tone, don't worry, take your time, it's okay. The insurance company would have had to pay for our bus back from Hamilton to Oakland, but I heard I had to take my kids to Hobyton the next day. He rented us a car and let us go to Hobyton first, then drive back to Oakland slowly.
In short, everyone seems to be telling me, because of the car accident, I have any sense of anxiety and fear, is normal, understandable, I do not need to be strong, and I do not need to feel sorry for my weakness.
In this way, we got the insurance company to help rent the car, continue to travel. The daughter soon forgot to be afraid, but her mother was beginning to worry about road safety in New Zealand. As a driver, although a little scared, but as the bruises left behind by the seat belt slowly subsided, I slowly began to calm down. In any case, safety is a blessing, careful driving is the most important!