Eddie1980

Sorry to rant here, but on some of the threads recently there have been people making claims along the lines of "not had an accident in 20 years of motoring".

This annoys me because like most statistics its meaningless. There is a big big difference between 20 years of no accidents at a few miles a week, and people like myself who have had accidents, but for the last 5 years have been averaging 1000miles a week. Incidentally the last 5 years have cost me one mirror and one front wing, not what you would call notable accidents.

So when saying you have only had one accident in 40 years of driving its meaningless, as far as I can tell it means "I drive 6 miles to and from work each day in a quiet urban area and so far have only plowed though one school bus queue".

Rant over

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Insurance quote on a claim

" I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel "


and this school bus , was it playing snooker or pool

Eddie1980

Jack Dee used to use that quote dint he?

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

I think brummie comedian Jasper Carrot used it years ago

Bodgit

this annoys me when it comes to insurance quotes. I used to cover approx 100k per year in the UK and Europe.

I did this for 2 years and that possibly puts me as covering more mile than some do in their lifetime.

I had no accidents yet I only got 2 years no claims. If I had only covered 2k miles a year I would have got the same discount. It doesnt make sense.

Spoon

Bless all the bad drivers whining.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Had an interesting phone call this week.

I insured a guy 6-7 months ago on his Skyline, and at the time he was moaning for over 20 minutes that he was fed up paying a lot of money to insure his car. He went on about how he'd never had a claim, and he was 'well known' in the area, so nobody would ever steal the car from him.

So guess why he was on the phone this week.......

subaruturbo_18

i love people like that

corradoboy

YouTube - jasper carrott -- car insurance

Eddie1980

Knew it was some standup!

NotoriousREV

I've had 2 accidents in 15 years of driving (estimate something like 400,000 miles). What's your point?

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

1 accident in 500000 miles, what's your point? maybe you are just sh1te

Underworld

were those miles done in a car or plane???

ScoobyWon't

I've never crashed into anyone or anything.

Although some **** in a Vectra drove into the back of my first car, a lovely XR2. Then again, I'm not surprised, only ***** drive Vectras.

Klaatu

I think someone has a "size" issue with other peoples milages.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

i suppose heres a point to consider also.

remembering accidents can be caused by other people too, if that makes sence.

ie ive had a couple of nasty crashes, my fault etc, im big enough to accept blame and any incurring insurance premuims. but what about numptys who crash into you?

if some folk are happy and wear their ncb round their necks like some afro-american 'gangsta rappa', and some ***** crashes into the side of them.... no more 600 years without an accident.

end of the day accidents happen, hopefully not everyday, but i wont hold someone with 600years accident free over someone with 2 months accident free. as above the accident may be anothers fault. its a two way thing

my tuppenth.

Beef

I know a few bad drivers who've never been in an accident. Seen a lot though...

DaveD

iTrader: (2)

I don't quite follow your argument - a crap driver will always be a crap driver.

Funnily enough, I've been driving for over 20 years (over 100,000 miles in a Mk2 Astra at 20,000 miles a year, and over 120,000 miles in the scoob in 8 years) and have never caused an accident.

However, I have been rear-ended twice at roundabouts (first time wrote-off the Astra).

The higher the miles you do, naturally the more likely you are to be invloved in an accident, but it shouldn't mean that you're more likely to cause an accident.

NotoriousREV

My own 2 accidents are: 1st one at 17 trying to drift a Mk2 Escort in the rain and ran out of talent. 2nd one, not my fault, numpty pulled out in front of me without looking.

I still don't get the point the OP is trying to make?

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

ummmm 12 years of driving - no accidents that were my fault!

1st someone drove into the side of my car as they pulled out of a junction (lucky it wasn't a second or so earlier or i'd have been in the side of them)

2nd - Bike actually got knocked off by the wind which sounds pretty unbeliveable. Push the chop i was riding into the floor though so the exhaust touched down, sprang back and bounced me off

3rd - Car was parked, i wasn't even in it when a lorry went right down the side of it.

4th - Hit a bus on a blind bend, he was on wrong side of the road.

All on all, not too bad i don't think!

5t.

Eddie1980

The point I am trying to make is that everything has a risk factor, everyone makes mistakes. You need to measure this in the amount you do it, not the time thats past since you started doing it.

nooobyscoooby

I worked out on another SN thread the other day that I've had fourteen accidents in about 1 million miles. The first two were both my fault when I was a youngster - the rest of the time I was hit by others when I was stationery - 6 cyclists, 5 cars and a bluddy great motorway sign blown down in high winds! Wrong place - wrong time! However, I've only claimed on my own insurance twice - the rest of the time I've dealt directly with the other driver's insurers, highways agency insurers or got the other driver/cyclist to pay directly if the damage was worth getting fixed - amazing what T-cut will do.

No one hurt in any of them except the first bump where my passenger cut his left eyelid and after Gloucester Royal stiched him up he could still see when he closed his eyelid as they'd left a hole which he thought was cool!!