"Bang, saya langgar kereta saya, bagaimana claim insuran ya?"
"Huh, banyak cepatnya,"
That's my car sales agent's response to the news of me involving in car accident after getting my new car for merely one month. Same goes to my family members and friends. I consider myself lucky as it was a minor accident without injuries, and I was able to cope with the emotional trauma after the accident.
The accident happened in August, when I was heading home after attending an event. As a beginner driver, that was my first time driving in an area which I'm not familiar with. The leading cause of the accident was me driving into the incorrect lane. I was supposed to drive into the middle or left lane of a three-lane road as my intention was to go straight ahead after the traffic lights. However, I accidentally drove into the right lane which only serves for right turning purpose. I didn't realize my mistake as I thought we could either go straight or turn right in the right lane.
The correct lane usage
That misjudgement had led me to bang into a Mercedes Benz E-class. The luxury car was at my left hand side and the driver, who's a Malay uncle wanted to turn right after the traffic lights, without noticing a clumsy baby driver was trying to violate the rules and go straight ahead. Eventually, my tiny Axia's left front bumper "kissed" the Mercedes' driver side door.
Red arrow - me (Axia);
Blue arrow - uncle (Mercedes).
"I'm going to be disowned by my parents," that was my instant reaction after I heard a bang (Signs of growing up with Asian Chinese parents). Fortunately, that was not a loud bang. I quickly got down from my car to check the condition of the Mercedes. Deep down inside, I was praying that the driver would neither yell nor blackmail me. The uncle was so frustrated, but his anger was slowly suppressed after me apologizing non-stop and promised that I would be liable for the damages. I bet he saw my P plate too. Upon checking, we noticed that his right front door's car painting had peeled off. I was relieved that there wasn't any serious damages caused to his car. A poor fresh graduate like me couldn't afford to pay the astronomical repair fees of a Mercedes.
Mercedes
However, my heart sank after examining my car's condition. The injuries were worse than expected. My one-month old car's front bumper was damaged and my left front door was dented. But still, luckily my car's headlight was not busted and its ability to operate was not impeded.
Axia
I called my dad and he asked me to report to police instead of private settlement. (Let's not talk about his long angry speech.) Again, I would say I was very fortunate because the police station was just few minutes driving distance away. And also, my boyfriend happened to be driving behind my car when the accident happened. Having him by my side calmed me down as I heard of multiple road bully cases happened to female drivers.
Besides, I was extremely grateful to receive timely assistance from my car sales agent to contact Perodua repair center and provide guidance. The car foreman reached out to me and sent his staff to drive my car to the repair centre. That was the best arrangement as I wasn't in a good condition to drive. I removed all my belongings from the car and passed my car keys to the foreman. They even helped me to settle my car insurance claims without me undergoing the troublesome procedures.
Filing a police report wasn't difficult as I had experience in assisting my mum to file police report when she had a car accident last year. However, I made a mistake in misspelling my car plate number. As the details in the police report are crucial to claim car insurance, I had to travel to the police station in the subsequent week to file another police report to amend the mistakes.
Apart from my mistake, I didn't encounter any issue in the police reporting procedures. The police sergeant who dealt with my case was polite and handled my case efficiently. He even educated me on tips to drive properly and assured me that my parents will still love me even I hit a car. The Mercedes driver was kind too. He didn't scold me for my mistakes in hitting his beloved car which was just newly painted.
As the car accident was my fault, I received my first ever saman trafik (Not a proud achievement) which caused me RM300. Then, I was fortunate enough to have my boyfriend sending me home after the exhausting incident.
It took me approximately 3 weeks to get my car back. I couldn't tell how much I miss my car after sending it to repair. I did concern about me traumatized after the traffic accident, but my urge to learn driving and be an independent adult had conquered my fear. I became more cautious in driving and spent more time practicing driving. There's neither shortcut nor theory to become a good driver. Learning to drive demand a lot of practice before reaching expert level.
Keep calm and drive safely
