The USS Quad Damage

I know I said I wouldnt put any "inane" things on here, but I thought I would share this story cos it seems to have come straight from an AAMI ad. You don't have to read it if you don't want to.

Yesterday, my dad went down to Woolies to get some vegetables for tea where he thought he might as well make a trip 'round to his work to collect some pallets (sp?) for firewood. Oh, btw, he has an old camry like your red one, Foobear. While in the car park, he was reversing to turn around when the glare of the sun reflected from his sideview mirror causing him not to be able to see properly. Consequently, although trying to look from all angles, he backed into a big dumpster bin unfortunately hitting the end with the moveable wheels.

The dumpster of course caused considerable damage to the rear and side of the car (he hit it pretty hard), but what happened next was worse. The dumpster then rolled around and hit the corner of a very large shelving stack which was full of pallets. The dumpster hit one of the four legs, and it collapsed, sending all the pallets down on top of his car. Unfortunately, of course, Dad was in the car at the time where he felt the full brunt of 2 ton of pallets dropping on his car. Two panels, I counted them, two panels on the car were left undamaged. Somewhat shaken up, he went inside his work to phone the insurance company, where he was asked if he needed a tow or not - and he said no. After he had calmed down a bit he drove home, except half way home the car started making "funny noises". He lost all gears bar 1st gear and even then it wasnt much of a gear. He was practically red-lining it and only going about 2 or 3 kmph.

Finally, in the middle of the road it just gave up. He called me to come pick him up, so I did, and we went to buy some transmission fluid to top it up and see if we could just get it home. After we got back to the car and put the trans fluid it, it could move at abt 1 kmph practically redlining it in first gear. I was following in my car doing the same speed, except every time we reached a SLIGHT inclination I had to get out and push the car to the top of the hill and run back and get my car. We moved it about 4 kms in total and damn I was buggered. There was a final hill where I could push it and leave him to go around the corner to his driveway. I gave one final push and went back and got my car. When I finally got back to his place (for anyone that's been to my Dad's house you might remember our driveway is quite steep to begin with and flattens out) I saw that he had made it all the way to the back. He said he was redlining it all the way up the steep part, but then all of a sudden the gear click in and he took off and almost ran into the garage. Then the car haemorrhaged (sp?) and oil went everywhere.

After this he went to go in the back door (which is a glass sliding door) and he accidently walked straight into it. He's also now got a sore/stiff neck from the angle his head was at when he hit the dumpster. Needless to say, he didnt have a good day yesterday - and the insurance wont cover the transmission. He doesnt have much money at the moment because of recent non-related events, and now he doesnt have a car that works and will owe money to fix the things he broke at work. A trip to get some vegies turned into a complete disaster!

Oh, and he didnt end up getting any firewood.