Front of the car ruined by ambulance

M94

Ok, I wouldn't be that angry if the ambulance was doing something that was necessary but it wasn't. The ambulance went into the hard shoulder long time before an exit on the part where there was all the stones the thing is that I wasn't necessary to do that since there was no traffic anyway he could have easily just went the normal way due to no cars being on the road at that time so what he did saved him no time whatsoever.

dunworth1

M94 wrote:

Ok, I wouldn't be that angry if the ambulance was doing something that was necessary but it wasn't. The ambulance went into the hard shoulder long time before an exit on the part where there was all the stones the thing is that I wasn't necessary to do that since there was no traffic anyway he could have easily just went the normal way due to no cars being on the road at that time so what he did saved him no time whatsoever.

Well if there was no cars on the road how did the car get damaged?

antodeco

Jesus. wrote: »

Jesus man. Talk about an overreaction!

Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?

M94

dunworth1 wrote: »

Well if there was no cars on the road how did the car get damaged?

There were no other cars preventing the ambulance from going the normal way so driving on the shoulder was completely unnecessary. By driving on the shoulder it sprayed my car with stones all the way to my lane. I guess it's my fault for being in the wrong lane haha should have been driving on the right like so many other drivers that drive on the 2nd or 3rd lane all the time for no reason.


I will post pictures during the day time it will be easier to see.

M94

colm_mcm wrote: »

A lot of Eastern Europeans for example use 'American' terms like hood, fender etc. I wouldn't assume everyone on here is Irish.

American English is taught in a lot of countries outside UK and Ireland.

colm_mcm

antodeco wrote: »

Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?

And he took his own name in vain!

OP did they have sirens or lights on?

testicles

This post has been deleted.

M94

testicles wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Except that I wasn't driving on the shoulder.

Dr Turk Turkelton

testicles wrote: »

Your choice to drive in the hard shoulder. Jog on.

You really made a balls of that post.

Jesus.

Why has there been a load of posts deleted from this thread?

gctest50

Site acting up the other day - if you clicked on "Quote" before logging in it'd give the " You've been banned and all subsequent generations of your family are banned " message

M94

https://postimg.org/gallery/wb81gdtw/


Here are few pictures of the damage, basically all of the front is like that.

Jesus.

gctest50 wrote: »

Site acting up the other day - if you clicked on "Quote" before logging in it'd give the " You've been banned and all subsequent generations of your family are banned " message

I get that anyway if the Site's acting up or not :P

Del2005

M94 wrote: »

Ok, I wouldn't be that angry if the ambulance was doing something that was necessary but it wasn't. The ambulance went into the hard shoulder long time before an exit on the part where there was all the stones the thing is that I wasn't necessary to do that since there was no traffic anyway he could have easily just went the normal way due to no cars being on the road at that time so what he did saved him no time whatsoever.

An ambulance is a big awkward vehicle that wouldn't take kindly to swinging from the driving lane to over taking lane back across 3 lanes to complete a left turn, especially if there is a patient being worked on in the back. I wouldn't like to do that in a car never mind an ambulance on an emergency call.

Del2005

M94 wrote: »

https://postimg.org/gallery/wb81gdtw/


Here are few pictures of the damage, basically all of the front is like that.

The thread title doesn't match them pictures. Yes the car is damaged but it's far from ruined, that's what happens to cars that drive on high speed roads get a bra.

kyote00

Thats really a pain, OP. I recently had a front fog light broken by a largish stone which 'shot' across the road from the other side. Just paid myself for a replacement (I have a 200euro excess so it was not worth the hassle).

It will be hard to prove that there are not just 'normal' stone chips - that are part of life on the roads in Ireland.

The silver paint does look very thin on the bonnet ? Is that normal for BMW or has it been repainted before.

M94 wrote: »

https://postimg.org/gallery/wb81gdtw/


Here are few pictures of the damage, basically all of the front is like that.

M94

Del2005 wrote: »

The thread title doesn't match them pictures. Yes the car is damaged but it's far from ruined, that's what happens to cars that drive on high speed roads get a bra.

I want to sell the car and I will have to lower the price by at least 1000 - 1500 so anyone would even consider buying it. I guess I should be happy about that.

kyote00 wrote: »

Thats really a pain, OP. I recently had a front fog light broken by a largish stone which 'shot' across the road from the other side. Just paid myself for a replacement (I have a 200euro excess so it was not worth the hassle).

It will be hard to prove that there are not just 'normal' stone chips - that are part of life on the roads in Ireland.

The silver paint does look very thin on the bonnet ? Is that normal for BMW or has it been repainted before.

True about the normal stone chips, still depressing however as I want to sell the car and that means getting much less than I would have before. The car has original paint.

Seth Brundle

I think what it comes down to is that there is absolutely no proof:
* that the ambulance fired up stones,
* that these stones hit your car
* that the stones that did hit your car caused any damage
* that any stones that damaged your car caused all of the damage you claim
* that your car was not damaged prior to the ambulance passing your vehicle


Without any proof, you are pretty much wasting your time. However, I'm not a solicitor so find one and check for yourself!

kirving

It looks from the pictures as though it has already been repainted.

Anyway, no way would that kind of damage knock €1000 off the selling price. What year is it anyway?

M94

Kevin Irving wrote: »

It looks from the pictures as though it has already been repainted.

Anyway, no way would that kind of damage knock 1000 off the selling price. What year is it anyway?

2006

M94

M94 wrote: »

Kevin Irving wrote: »

It looks from the pictures as though it has already been repainted.

Anyway, no way would that kind of damage knock 1000 off the selling price. What year is it anyway?

2006 it's not only the pictures the damage is all over the front including bumper and fender

grogi

M94 wrote: »

https://postimg.org/gallery/wb81gdtw/


Here are few pictures of the damage, basically all of the front is like that.

Move on...

I know it hurts like a wound on a heart, but that is how cars get older...

kirving

C'mon, it's at over 10 years old at this stage. It's depreciated 80-90% already, so a few stone chips aren't going to make a hoot of a difference at this stage.

I'd say what happened is that this incident drew your attention to them, I find it incredibly unlikely that a single incident caused all that.

gctest50

M94 wrote: »

2006 it's not only the pictures the damage is all over the front including bumper and fender

You'll have to get rid of it or paint it, soon as they start salting the roads it'll be full of rust holes

M94

M94 wrote: »

M94 wrote: »

2006 it's not only the pictures the damage is all over the front including bumper and fender

Why didn't you take pictures of the badly damaged parts then

gctest50

Littlefinger wrote: »

Why didn't you take pictures of the badly damaged parts then

They did, it's wrecked

M94 wrote: »

https://postimg.org/gallery/wb81gdtw/


Here are few pictures of the damage, basically all of the front is like that.

gctest50

gctest50 wrote: »

They did, it's wrecked

Guess I'd best go to specsavers because I can't see a huge pile of damage!

Cabaal

10 year old car, looks like wear and tear to me

M94

Cabaal wrote: »

10 year old car, looks like wear and tear to me

The car was in immaculate condition before and it looked better than many 2-3 year old cars and I always inspect it.

Edups

M94 wrote: »

The car was in immaculate condition before and it looked better than many 2-3 year old cars and I always inspect it.

Be that as it may, I could do more damage with a sponge. The fact you're looking for information on tracking down an ambulance who was on an emergency call is mental

ikeano29

Has to be one of the strangest tread I've seen in the motors section.
You need to just move on and not be getting to worried about a few little chips in the paint on the HOOD

M94

Edups wrote: »

M94 wrote: »

The car was in immaculate condition before and it looked better than many 2-3 year old cars and I always inspect it.

Be that as it may, I could do more damage with a sponge. The fact you're looking for information on tracking down an ambulance who was on an emergency call is mental

I knew from the start I wasn't getting paid, you can see my first message. I just wanted to know if you can actually get paid if you have a dash cam or any other proof.

D0NNELLY

Sam Kade wrote: »

A lot of Irish are as bad even though they never even set foot in America :mad:

From bonnet damage to emigration in three posts

#boardslogic

Peregrinus

M94 wrote: »

The car was in immaculate condition before and it looked better than many 2-3 year old cars and I always inspect it.

Immaculate cars don't stay immaculate for ever, unless they live in a garage under a dust sheet. They get driven at speed in a variety of weather conditions and environments, and this takes its toll.

If your car is damaged through somebody else's negligence you may have a cause of action. The question here is whether it is negligent for an ambulance on emergency call to drive in the the hard shoulder in order to bypass what would otherwise be an obstruction - slow or stationary traffic in the carriageway. In the nature of things, ambulance drivers get cut a certain amount of slack that wouldn't be available to your regular joe on his way to the shops or to work. Depending on the circumstances and the quality of the evidence it's possible that you might succeed in an action against the ambulance driver, but without seeing the evidence I think the smart money will be on the ambulance driver. A dash cam would help, in that it might identify the vehicle and of course it might show some egregious negligence on the part of the driver that wasn;t warranted by the circumstances. On the other hand, it might not show that.

My hunch is that a court is likely to take the view that this is the kind of unavoidable hazard of road use against which you should insure, if it's not a risk you are willing to run. If you can't carry the risk, but the cost of insuring the immaculateness of your car is too great for you, you should reconsider the wisdom of driving your immaculate car on the roads. You can buy fairly maculate cars more cheaply, and you're less bothered if their paintwork is damaged.

Isambard

M94 wrote: »

I knew from the start I wasn't getting paid, you can see my first message. I just wanted to know if you can actually get paid if you have a dash cam or any other proof.

it wouldn't prove anything.
All it would show is an ambulance pass and stones be thrown up.
It wouldn't prove they did the damage, which could have been done years previously.
I take your word that it did do the damage, because I understand love for an old car, but I don't think you have a claim. General road hazard, no ones fault.

Get a car bra perhaps?

minikin

Hi M94,

I'll get rid of them for you, have years of experience using the latest colour and tone matching techniques, will look as good as new.

I charge €50 p.h. X three hours.
High res psd supplied

AmboMan

What motorway/dual carriageway did this take place ? The dirt, water, debris from the active lanes tends to get pushed into the lesser used hard shoulder.
Emergency vehicles using the hard shoulder can at times throw up this debris, but that emergency vehicle/ambulance is not responsible for putting the debris there in the first instance.
You could contact the NRA or whoever is responsible for the road and suggest they clean the hard shoulder?
From experience I'd imagine because the ambulance did not make direct contact with the car it's not liable for any damage, this would be the case for example when an ambulance is going through a red light and some cars stop but the driver who shunts the yielding vehicle is at fault.
Unless the ambulance makes direct contact it's not liable for the damaged cars, sometimes the insurance companies may look for a statement from the ambulance crew but I haven't seen or heard of this for about 10 years or more now.

grogi

AmboMan wrote: »

From experience I'd imagine because the ambulance did not make direct contact with the car it's not liable for any damage

Not true.

If I fired a flash grenade that rendered you blind for few seconds and as a result you crashed, I would be liable despite not making any direct contact...

CJhaughey

Most if not all stone chips on my vehicle have resulted from other vehicles kicking up stones or gravel that happen to be on a road.
Roads are by design made from gravel/stone and bitumen and the wearing action of vehicles using the road plus debris falling from other vehicles will leave loose stones on the road surface.
I have often had a stone bounce off the windscreen or wing/bonnet from another car, its just a risk that you take driving on a public road.
I cannot see that you'd have a reasonable case against the Ambulance given the amount of stone chips already present, and there is no way that the few small chips shown have devalued your car by 1000-1500 euro.
I doubt any dashcam will show beyond reasonable doubt that the chips that hit your car came from the ambulance but as ever the choice is yours to proceed with any litigation.

Just remember that one day, you or one of your family may be in an ambulance and watching out for stonechips will be the absolute last thing on your mind in that instance.