Accident, Repairs, Ritz Test Drive & Recovery

The title just about sums up the end of my past week and my weekend.

Accident: Last Thursday on the way back home from work was trying very hard to drive without getting bugged by the many jokers/morons/imbeciles on the road. I get no further than 5 km from office, when starting off from a signal,  in my Swift get hit by another Swift !  I was in the center lane going straight, had a Tata Ace to my left and the Swift on my right.

The signal changes and I start off on the way ahead since there is no traffic ahead of me. Tata Ace also starts off to my left. There is some two wheeler in front of the Swift to my right, waiting to turn right  so he cannot go straight ! What does the Swift joker do ? Turn left suddenly without checking whats moving on his left. I hear a the screech of metal on metal and though it didn’t sound too bad I knew my car was hit.  Since there was a lot of traffic I had to take car to go straight put on my left indicator and try to move to the left. I see the Swift that hit me also come up and ahead of me and stop.  I get out of my car to see that my car is scratched from the driver side door all the way down the rear passenger door till a little before the wheel arch  :-(.  Another point – the driver at the back has to take care not the one in front – our dude doesnt know all such rules. The location of the scratches is proof enough for me – from my driver door and backwards. I didnt even see the car to my left cutting into me since he was behind me and in my blind spot – but I was very clear – I was going straight and was in my lane.

Swift Accident
Scratches on Swift. Me and the Swift at the service center.

The guy driving the other car has come to my car by then and guess what – he asks me why I didn’t check before turning  in front of him !  I was pretty shocked and told him dude I was in the correct lane going straight and he was the one cutting lanes without looking.  He just didn’t want to listen.  Kept repeating that I turned in front of him and that he was in the right lane turning right and that I was turing right as well !

I go look at his car. Its hood and bonnet was covered with bird droppings and there were several dents and dings all over and the car looked like it hadnt been washed since the last rains. Its front number plate was bent in two places.  It was very obvious he was not a careful driver and more obvious that he didn’t take much care of his car.  His left mirror was folded in (probably busted already) and his bumper was hanging off its mounting brackets. The height of irritation for me was knowing that most of the dents on his car were not due to my car. Maximum there was a scratch on his bumper. I am willing to bet the bumper was already hanging loose !

I told him listen – your car has damage and so does mine – so what do you expect me to do ?  I stood there quietly for a while and said nothing (fuming inside). The guy realised he is not getting any money out of me  – he seemed more than happy to go away. I was bugged and furious that I took a photo of his number plate with my phone cam. I have the plate number with me.  What good is it for – will mention it a bit later.

I sat in the car for a bit to let my BP and heart rate come down – then resumed my journey.  Worst part was I was watching my speed before the hit while usually I have to admit I would have been speeding down that stretch ! The one day of all days I was going carefully.

Another 7 km later and within 2-3 km of where I stay I see the bird crap covered car.  All that he told me earlier about wanting to turn right was all lies. The place he was going to was totally in the direction I was going. He was in the wrong lane at that signal and cut lanes at the last minute !  I get the damage to my car !

Anyways after spending a miserable evening at home, the next day I leave the car at home and take the train to work. I schedule a service appointment for my 20K service and also to get the paint touched up. I was supposed to do a service booking but had forgotten about it till the scratches reminded me.

Repairs:

Swift Odo at 20K
Swift Odo at 20K
I was glad the service advisor wasn’t pushing me to get the whole door panels repainted and said that a touch up was enough.  Luckily there was only minor denting and nothing too drastic.  I mentioned the rattling sounds that were driving me nuts that came from the left passenger door and from the right driver door and from the hatch.  No mechanical issues. Mileage I was getting was on par with what was expected of the petrol swift. Was getting around 11.5+ when they said around 12 was normal for city driving.  I have 205 section tires so was expecting only that much.
One of my many buddies at the Service center offered to lookup the number plate of the Swift that hit me after he heard about the accidental damage  – but I told him not to bother since there was nothing further I was going to do to him anyways. I can fantasize about it but reality is that I am no goonda and dont have time to go take panga with every moron on the road.  :-(.
Yet another service advisor was intrigued and puzzled by the dog-bite mark damage on the front wheel arches. My car is being recognized as one with the bite marks by pretty much all the folks there !

Ritz VDI Diesel Test Drive:

While scheduling the service I had called up my favourite  sales person at the dealership Mr. Jayavel who had sold me my Swift and asked to schedule a TD of the Ritz diesel. I was not able to TD it the last time I had visited there with my friend who was looking to buy a new car.  Mr Jayavel knew I had no interest in buying a car but still ensured the car was there waiting for me. He even delayed a trip to a customer location to ensure I got my test drive – waiting for over one hour from the original time I had mentioned since I was stuck waiting for the service advisor to meet me and take my vehicle in for service.  That’s what I call service from a sales person who knew from the beginning that he will not make a paisa from giving me a test drive but still took the pains to arrange one for me .

For that reason alone I am doing something I haven’t done so far – If you are in Chennai or know someone in Chennai looking to buy a car (specifically a Maruti) – please do give a call to Mr Jayavel at 9841727884 and mention you heard of his service from his old customer (me).  He is part of the dealership team that is specific to handling corporate customers so be assured of professional service from him. Please note – I make no monetary benefit from mentioning his number or this – this is just my way of saying thanks !  (I refuse to mention which dealer – as I am not endorsing the dealer – please do not ask).

Ritz Diesel Experience: Only at the start was there some noise to indicate it was a diesel. After that it was super smooth and silent just like the Ritz Petrol. The clutch was as light as my own petrol Swift and the gears slotted in very very nicely with good feel just like the petrol Ritz. As I had mentioned in my comparison post the gear selector seemed better than the Swift. The steering was light and the car was easy to move through traffic. Just managed to drive it for 2-3 km as the sales person was needing to take it someplace to a customer’s home and was already late.  I didn’t get a chance to check its pickup or braking since it was in traffic but just one time I was able to floor the accelerator , the car hesitated a very little bit before picking up speed at a very fast pace after 2000 RPM bringing a wide smile to my face.  I really want a longer test drive. :-).

Recovery:

On Sunday managed to rest and recover from the shock the bill of the 20,000 Km  service gave me. Around Rs 6800 was the total amount of which 250 was for mud flaps that were changed on my request since one of them was torn after having been hit by a biker. The scratches were mostly removed by polish but the deeper gashes had to be touched up by hand. This wasn’t done very well but hides the damage for now and I do not have to worry about rust. I didn’t realize that the 20K service was this costly. Will scan the bill and put up the detailed break up in a separate post. This is the highest ever I have paid for scheduled service so far in my 2+ years of ownership.

11 thoughts on “Accident, Repairs, Ritz Test Drive & Recovery”

  1. Sushil it happens all the time. People never want to accept their mistakes and its a natural tendency to blame others. But We can’t do anything about it. The Ritz is known to have more linear power delivery, the Swift Diesel is still the king of Multijets.

  2. Yup – was pretty sad too. The “last” one was over two years ago and my BP goes up when I think of it. That needs a separate post in itself to describe the horrors. However this time around I was wanting to stay cool – inwardly I was fuming but outwardly was cool :-). I didnt know what else to do :-).

  3. Sushil, it does happen and the worst thing is people tend to blame you. Can’t do much about it. Anyways what difference did you find between the power delivery of the Ritz and the Swift?

  4. @Fas- sorry your comments got marked as spam. Dont know why Akismet decided so.

    I wish I could have a longer TD of the Ritz diesel and the Swift Diesel back to back on an empty road. The Ritz D seemed to get started past 2K rpm and then I got stuck in traffic and had to slow down in a hurry

  5. I wonder if the edge of the Swift will be blunted since the multijets are being tunded for BS4 and linear power delivery …

  6. Hi Rajesh – finally I get to see a comment from you ! I did nothing with it :-). I just have the plate# for reference.

  7. Sushil Ji,

    As u suggested, I finally selected Ritz VXI after comparaing I10 Kappa petrol & Swift LXI. Because I found space, milage & tyre better than I10 and milage & space better than swift in Ritz. Please tell me if u found anything negetive in Ritz or I am missing something to choose. My budget is 4.5 only.
    Thanks

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