Are you prepared for car accidents?

On 1st day of Chinese New Year (26th January 2009), I became part of Ops Sikap 19 statistics. Just briefly on what happened and the lessons learnt from the accident.

Me, my wife, my brother, my mom and my dad were on our way from Ipoh to Pendang, Kedah that morning. We were heading to my sister's in law's house to attend a thanksgiving ceremony of her new born baby. We left at around 10a.m. I was the driver. After exiting PLUS highway at Pendang toll, I took the state road from Pendang to Sungai Tiang. That place is about 20km from Pendang. Just about 3km before reaching the destiny, cars in front of me made emergency brake. I realized it quite late and also applied my brakes. I didn't manage to stop on time but I did manage to pull over to the left side of the road avoiding the car in front. But unfortunately, a Kancil from behind rammed into our car from behind and the car fell into the road side drain. The car was badly damaged at it's rear. Everyone in the car was safe. Only my mom and wife had minor injuries. Alhamdulillah.

Condition of the car

From the accident scene, the car was towed to Pendang police station. That's about 20km away. That night, I arranged the car to be towed from Pendang to Toyota service centre in Ipoh. Towing from accident scene to police station costs RM250. But my sister's father-in-law settled it since he's a police officer at that station. Lucky me! According to one of the tow truck guy, to tow the car from Pendang to Ipoh will cost me RM1300. Are you willing to pay that much? Or will you leave the car in Pendang to be repaired there while you won't be around to monitor the progress since it's not your home town? I think most of us would not want to leave your own car at a place that you are not familiar with. So what are the options? Of course tow it back to your own place. But how much will it cost you? I think everybody is aware that towing charges are very expensive especially in accident cases. These fellows will dig deep into your pocket when you are in need.

No body wants to be involved in an accident. Asked whoever, even a drunken driver. I bet nobody want it to happen. It causes a lot of miseries in your daily life. But of course we can't avoid it when it's stated that it will happen to us. What can we do is prepare for it. So are we prepared? How can we prepare for it?

From my real life experience, I only paid RM50 (for the tow truck toll charges) to tow the car back to Ipoh. This is because earlier, I had taken an insurance policy named Road Warrior by Allianz for towing service. That service covers round trip towing of 450km for free. If it's more than 450km, additional charges of RM1.50 per km will be imposed. Furthermore, it also has Personal Accident coverage of RM10,000 per passenger. This service can be used for 3 separate cases per year. I only paid RM70 per year for this service and it's really worth it! Luckily I choose to pay RM70 per year rather than RM1300 per towing.
The most important lesson that I learnt from this accident is to be prepared for one. Don't ever think that you will never be involved in an accident. Only minimal charges are imposed for these kind of services. Here's list down a few of such services that are available in Malaysia for your further info.

1. Road Warrior
2. AAM

Don't trust the free towing services that come along with your auto insurance. The services are very limited and when you really need it, they will come up with all sorts of reasons not to help. Prepare for the worst. Pay minimum and sign up today for a better night sleep.