Front of the car ruined by ambulance

M94 · 30-10-2016 09:35PM #1

Was driving on the road and an ambulance passed by with the flashing lights and started going on the hard shoulder causing a huge amount of stones to hit the front of my car which basically ruined the front bumper and the hood. What can I do in this situation I know that I have almost 0 chance to get paid unless I will make a claim to my insurance company which will of course increase my premium next year so I will have to pay more than it costs to fix for the premium. If I had a dash cam and followed the ambulance to get it's number would I have be compensated or is it my fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time so now I have to spend €1000 to repaint my hood, bumper and left fender. Also what is the point of insurance if you make a claim and then the premium increases ridiculously next year so you end up paying more than if you would have spent your own money fixing it. I bought the car in immaculate condition so of course it hurts when it gets damaged due to no fault of my own

skibum · 30-10-2016 10:15PM

Was your car damaged by stones thrown up by the ambulance as it passed, or from you driving on the hard shoulder hitting stones that were there?

pablo128 · 30-10-2016 10:19PM

M94 wrote: »

Was driving on the road and an ambulance passed by with the flashing lights and started going on the hard shoulder causing a huge amount of stones to hit the front of my car which basically ruined the front bumper and the hood. What can I do in this situation I know that I have almost 0 chance to get paid unless I will make a claim to my insurance company which will of course increase my premium next year so I will have to pay more than it costs to fix for the premium. If I had a dash cam and followed the ambulance to get it's number would I have be compensated or is it my fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time so now I have to spend €1000 to repaint my hood, bumper and left fender. Also what is the point of insurance if you make a claim and then the premium increases ridiculously next year so you end up paying more than if you would have spent your own money fixing it. I bought the car in immaculate condition so of course it hurts when it gets damaged due to no fault of my own

Did this happen in America?

M94 · 30-10-2016 10:20PM

skibum wrote: »

Was your car damaged by stones thrown up by the ambulance as it passed, or from you driving on the hard shoulder hitting stones that were there?

I was driving on the first lane and the ambulance was moving to the exit on the left I was quite far away from the dirt road but it was enough to cause significant amount of damage since the ambulance was going at a high speed all the stones were thrown up from the shoulder to the first lane

colm_mcm · 30-10-2016 10:24PM

M94 wrote: »

I was driving on the first lane and the ambulance was moving to the exit on the left I was quite far away from the dirt road but it was enough to cause significant amount of damage since the ambulance was going at a high speed all the stones were thrown up from the shoulder to the first lane

Did you get a reg number?

Special Circumstances · 30-10-2016 10:28PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

Did you get a reg number?

555-555

pablo128 wrote: »

Did this happen in America?

M94 · 30-10-2016 10:29PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

Did you get a reg number?

No, would it actually have made any difference unless I had a dash cam?

colm_mcm · 30-10-2016 10:30PM

M94 wrote: »

No, would it actually have made any difference unless I had a dash cam?

Well it'd be very hard to figure out who is responsible unless you had a reg. ambulances are ran by many different organisations.

Jan Laco · 30-10-2016 10:31PM

Is it not the council that's responsible if it's loose chipping/ stone damage?

colm_mcm · 30-10-2016 10:37PM

How would it be the councils problem?

Sam Kade · 30-10-2016 10:40PM

pablo128 wrote: »

Did this happen in America?

The amount of want to be Yankee's on boards annoy me :mad:

colm_mcm · 30-10-2016 10:43PM

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

Jan Laco · 30-10-2016 10:43PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

How would it be the councils problem?

Their responsibility of up keeping the roads, it's loose material on the road that was thrown up and damaged the car. It's more a question that statement.
Or maybe it's just during road works.

Sam Kade · 30-10-2016 10:46PM

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.

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

Edups · 30-10-2016 10:46PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

How would it be the councils problem?

How is the ambulances? Should they have let the paitent they were going to pick up/in the back, perhaps suffer in pain or trauma or even die just to save a few stones on the road be left untouched? An ambulances last thought it Joe soaps car it's getting the patient to hospital.

Sam Kade · 30-10-2016 10:49PM

Unless the road was recently tarred I can't see how an N road would have loose chips.

colm_mcm · 30-10-2016 10:49PM

They still need to follow the rules of the road. You could apply your logic to ramming cars out of the way.

Go for gold · 30-10-2016 11:46PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

They still need to follow the rules of the road. You could apply your logic to ramming cars out of the way.

What rules of of the road did'nt ambulance follow

shietpilot · 30-10-2016 11:47PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Unless the road was recently tarred I can't see how an N road would have loose chips.

It would because as you drive along in the driving lanes all the dirt and rocks get thrown onto the hard shoulder! All those little stones are killers for paintwork.

Sam Kade · 30-10-2016 11:52PM

colm_mcm wrote: »

They still need to follow the rules of the road. You could apply your logic to ramming cars out of the way.

Ranmming cars out of the way? There are 3 vehicles to get out the way of if they have sirens on, ambulance, gardaí and fire brigade.

grogi · 30-10-2016 11:58PM

Edups wrote: »

How is the ambulances? Should they have let the paitent they were going to pick up/in the back, perhaps suffer in pain or trauma or even die just to save a few stones on the road be left untouched? An ambulances last thought it Joe soaps car it's getting the patient to hospital.

Of course it is ambulance operator concern. The same as when a K9 unit damages your cream alcantara seats while looking for drug dealer. Or Police damaging doors during raid only to find innocent inside...
They all should reimburse damages caused during rightful actions.

colm_mcm · 30-10-2016 11:58PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Ranmming cars out of the way? There are 3 vehicles to get out the way of if they have sirens on, ambulance, gardaí and fire brigade.

My comment was in reply to a comment (#15) that suggested the ambulance isn't responsible for anything once there's someone in the back dying. I took that to mean it's just tough luck if an ambulance damages your car.

Edups · 31-10-2016 12:00AM

colm_mcm wrote: »

My comment was in reply to a comment that suggested the ambulance isn't responsible for anything once there's someone in the back dying. I took that to mean it's just tough luck if an ambulance damages your car.

No if the ambulance is speeding to hospital and happens upon loose chippings it's just unfortunate.

colm_mcm · 31-10-2016 12:14AM

Obviously we're not talking about the UK, but I would assume the same guidelines as the NHS use are trained here in Ireland too.

Use of Hard Shoulders
11.14.1 In order to reach an incident through congested traffic, it may be necessary to drive along the ‘hard shoulder’. This should be performed very slowly and with great care, using audible and visual warnings. Staff must remain mindful that other drivers may have left their vehicles and could be crossing the ‘hard shoulder’ to reach the grass verge or in hearing you approach move onto the hard shoulder thereby obstruct your lane.

Ambulances still need to drive responsibly. Hooning up the hard shoulder is not responsible driving. It's very risky. If the ambulance caused as much damage as is suggested in the OP, they were driving too fast for the conditions.

pablo128 · 31-10-2016 12:15AM

Any chance of a photo of the damage?

Go for gold · 31-10-2016 12:28AM

colm_mcm wrote: »

Obviously we're not talking about the UK, but I would assume the same guidelines as the NHS use are trained here in Ireland too.

Ambulances still need to drive responsibly. Hooning up the hard shoulder is not responsible driving. It's very risky. If the ambulance caused as much damage as is suggested in the OP, they were driving too fast for the conditions.

I take it you would be type of person who would'nt drive through red light if ambulance was trying to get through "rules of road"

CiniO · 31-10-2016 12:29AM

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.

Never heard those words in my life

Same as I never heard of windshields, blinker or tires, station wagon, etc...

colm_mcm · 31-10-2016 12:37AM

Go for gold wrote: »

I take it you would be type of person who would'nt drive through red light if ambulance was trying to get through "rules of road"

How did you make that connection?

TheRiverman · 31-10-2016 12:39AM

So what exactly is the from of the car?

Go for gold · 31-10-2016 12:56AM

colm_mcm wrote: »

How did you make that connection?

The way you are posting "hooning up the hard shoulder" there not out for a joy ride just in case you did'nt know

colm_mcm · 31-10-2016 01:01AM

Right. I had no idea they weren't joyriders. You learn something new everyday, sometimes from the most unlikely sources.

Front of the car ruined by ambulance

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