My Car Did A Wheelie Last Night

[MarcTS]

Well I was driving down the M40 last night and I heard a rattling sound immediately followed by lots of vibrations through the steering wheel. I managed to pull into the inside lane and slow to about 40-45mph then all of a sudden, the side of the car pretty much explodes and I'm coasting onto the gard shoulder on my brake disc.

Basically the wheel flew off and shattered (or vice-versa) and very very luckily left me sitting on the hard shoulder with no personal injuries.

Just waiting for the insurance company to contact a local garage to go and collect it from the recovery company and then drop off a courtesy car.

If memory serves me, I think I even remember a piece of body work flying towards my face and then bouncing off the windscreen.

All in all, I'm extremely glad that I can sit here and am able to type this rather than being in hospital or even worse.

[Cablechap]

Well I was driving down the M40 last night and I heard a rattling sound immediately followed by lots of vibrations through the steering wheel. I managed to pull into the inside lane and slow to about 40-45mph then all of a sudden, the side of the car pretty much explodes and I'm coasting onto the gard shoulder on my brake disc.

Basically the wheel flew off and shattered (or vice-versa) and very very luckily left me sitting on the hard shoulder with no personal injuries.

Just waiting for the insurance company to contact a local garage to go and collect it from the recovery company and then drop off a courtesy car.

If memory serves me, I think I even remember a piece of body work flying towards my face and then bouncing off the windscreen.

All in all, I'm extremely glad that I can sit here and am able to type this rather than being in hospital or even worse.

Glad You are alright. Hope it didn't start with a wheel bearing problem..........

[DaveSR]

Wow ..... that's pretty bad, any idea what happend?

Are you on stock rims?

[mac12]

glad your alright mate...terrible news...

[Chris.S]

Geez sounds nasty

Glad you're ok, i think that M40 is jinxed cus thats where my IS200 engine blew up

[UK86_MarK]

Glad to hear you are ok mate!

Mark

[K19NE G]

Geez sounds nasty

Glad you're ok, i think that M40 is jinxed cus thats where my IS200 engine blew up

The M40 has been downright dangerous this last few weeks!!!

[K19NE G]

Well I was driving down the M40 last night and I heard a rattling sound immediately followed by lots of vibrations through the steering wheel. I managed to pull into the inside lane and slow to about 40-45mph then all of a sudden, the side of the car pretty much explodes and I'm coasting onto the gard shoulder on my brake disc.

Basically the wheel flew off and shattered (or vice-versa) and very very luckily left me sitting on the hard shoulder with no personal injuries.

Just waiting for the insurance company to contact a local garage to go and collect it from the recovery company and then drop off a courtesy car.

If memory serves me, I think I even remember a piece of body work flying towards my face and then bouncing off the windscreen.

All in all, I'm extremely glad that I can sit here and am able to type this rather than being in hospital or even worse.

Lucky guy considering... glad you're okay. I hope you get the car sorted without any hitches with the insurance company...

[GRD008]

glad u're ok... could have ended much worse.

[dvw]

Glad you're OK!! You write about it almost humerously but I bet you were glad to get to a stand still. Not good. Hope the insurance look after you like you deserve. All the best. Hope you're giving it some back out there soon!

All the best.

[MarcTS]

Hi guys thanks for your comments. I'm well aware of how lucky I am and the cop's and Highway Agency guy's faces said it all when I told them the wheel fell off. None of them could believe how safely the car managed to stop.

I know I'm joking about it now, but that's just the way I deal with things but I'm still shaken by it all.

Oh and I'm currently driving around in a 1.0 Ford Fiesta Style courtesy of the insurance company. I find the gearbox very strange as I don't need to put any effort into the changes (on a related note, a forum member who is a toyota tech sent me some details on how to resove the heavy/notchy gear changes in the rolla but I got the email about 2 hours before the accident so haven't had a chance to test it out. If/when I get the car back, I try out his suggestion and post back here).

[MarcTS]

Well I just spoke to the garage that are going to be repairing the car and the guy has said so far the damage has totalled £2900. He says that the Cusco Strut is bent aswell and obviously the front drivers side Black Diamond disc is totally ruined too :(

[mac12]

Well I just spoke to the garage that are going to be repairing the car and the guy has said so far the damage has totalled £2900. He says that the Cusco Strut is bent aswell and obviously the front drivers side Black Diamond disc is totally ruined too :(

BLIMEY!

Thats no good at all!!

You cant put a price on safety....

Hope insurance do their bit...

[MarcTS]

Well as expected, the insurance company are trying to avoid paying out. They are quoting improper maintenance of the vehicle because a torque wrench wasn't used to tighten the alloy nuts. I have spoken to the garage who have my car and they think it's a load of bovine brown stuff, I also spoke to the Insurance Ombudsman to see if they had come across this before and the guy said it sounds very weak and they would certainly take on the complaint if I wanted them to.

Going to call back the insurance company later today and see what they say about it all. I mean if it is a requirement for alloys to be tightened using a torque wrench then why isn't it a legal requirement for every vehicle manufacturer to supply one with any car that comes with alloys? The insurance company are also implying that if someone had a flat, and replaced their wheel, then they would no longer be covered under their car insurance.

[Jock Fran]

That is ridiculous!! What insurance company is it? Name and shame!!

[UK86_MarK]

That is absolutely rubbish. Typical insurance companys!!

Mark

[MarcTS]

Well it's getting stupid now, I had a response from them this morning back tracking on their reasoning. Apparently now they are saying it has nothing to do with what tools I used to fit the wheels, but that it was "incorrectly fitted". How's that for the vaguest of reasons. I have now asked for them to clearly define what "incorrectly fitted" means with regards to my situation. I don't really see how it's possible to fit a wheel incorrectly as you can't put it on upside down and putting it on backwards would be immediately obvious. And just to top it off, the tyres actually had LEFT and RIGHT printed on them so you knew which way the tread went.

I am looking forward to their response.

[UK86_MarK]

LOL! Sounds to me that they just don't want to pay out mate. Do you know what the actual price for repair is?

To be honest with you mate, it sounds like there just trying to stall around, (apparently there good at doing that, my friends still waiting for a pay out and its been months!) is it a larger insurance company?

MarK

[MarcTS]

OK well I might as well say it. I'm insured with SwiftCover and the cost of repairs is £3k

[UK86_MarK]

lol swift my ***** :)

Its ok mate, things will work out for ya!

Mark