Advanced Driving Hub

Silk wrote:

Imsensible wrote:...but then I had the misfortune of reading your posts on ADUK too

You could have stopped at one, but you had to read them all.

Yes, it's like one of those books that starts off badly and gets progressively worse, but then you just keep reading to see how bad it can get. Basically, you're the Mills and Boon of the AD world

So.




I picked up my car today.

And promptly had the first ever mishap in my entire driving experience.

I went out to a pub with my parents to celebrate me getting my first car, and when I pulled into the pub car park, I found a space with a bush on the right as I reversed in, and suddenly, two cars appeared, one to the left and one to the right, waiting for me to get out of the way, so I reversed in quickly, and misjudged how much steering lock I needed to apply, and reversed into the bush with quite a loud crunch. The slight pressure combined with me forgetting the car didn't have reversing sensors, added on top of me still getting used to the car in general, resulted in me managing to gouge out a chip from the paint on the rear bumper, and it's gone down to the black plastic.



Good job I'm planning on keeping the car until the wheels fall off, isn't it?

Congratulations on a fab looking car... and don't worry about it - I picked up a saab turbo once - reversed onto a friend's drive and scraped the side on a concrete planter - it happens! Enjoy driving it - perfect wheel positioning at the corners to be a little go-kart around the lanes - looks fun... (and a chip / scratch company should be able to sort out the chip...

Alasdair

The amusing thing is, when I'd reversed into the bush (must've had a large branch poking out which was cut off), the rear bumper crunched so loudly my parents' first thought was that I was going to have to phone the insurance company and get the bumper replaced.

But the bark was certainly worse than the bite, the chip is no more than 1/2 a centimetre and there's a few scratches on the surface around the chip but it's not something that'll bother me in the long run.

What does bother me is how stupid I was for doing it in the first place, as I literally said to myself when I left the dealership that I would have to be careful when reversing the car, as there are no parking sensors.

Oh well, I'll leave it for a bit and if the chip genuinely bothers me that much, I'll get a dent/scratch repair person to come out and sort it. But until then, I'll live with it.

I could argue that now it's chipped, the rest of the paintwork will be protected from damage as I've got the necessary damage on it

Can it be touched up? If not, a mobile guy should be able to do a decent job of it for £50 or so.

Congrats on the new car anyway - hope to see it at an ADH day at some point.

TheInsanity1234 wrote:What does bother me is how stupid I was for doing it in the first place, as I literally said to myself when I left the dealership that I would have to be careful when reversing the car, as there are no parking sensors.

Tip for the day: It doesn't matter whether your car has parking sensors or not. Turn your head and look out of the bloody window!

NB: I say this in a friendly way and do not intend it as an admonishment. I have been guilty of similar myself. Parking sensors are great, but they are only there to assist. You should not rely on them.

Go to your dealer and get a touch-up pencil kit and touch in the chip. The scuffs can be polished out with T-Cut or metal polish. Look after your car rather than just shrugging your shoulders and it'll last longer and be worth more in the end.

Just needs a louder exhaust, some go faster stripes, a silly body kit with a spoiler and you'll be sorted!

It looks great. Hope you have lots of (safe) fun.

Imsensible wrote:Just needs a louder exhaust, some go faster stripes, a silly body kit with a spoiler and you'll be sorted!

Don't forget the under-car UV/Blue LEDs

That's so turn of the century. Interior 'mood' lighting is clearly du jour...