Auto Assault: Malaysia

The "highlight" of my week is..... i've been involved in the second road accident of my life, and this time it isn't my fault.

I was driving along Jalan Universiti, from SS2 to get home. Then at the junction at
17/21, a Proton came hurtling out of that road, and hit the front left of my car.
My car pulverised what remained of the (thankfully unresurfaced) island seperating the road, and I vaguely remember steering away from the nice, solid tree in front of me before coming to a stop a little further on.

The engine had some rather alarming sounds coming from it, probably the internal fan but I immediately shut it off to be safe and got out of the car after making sure I still retained all of my extremities.

The road had bits of pulverised plastic and shattered glass strewn all over the place.

I ran over to the car that hit me, and I saw it's front was totalled; bumper completely gone and a hissing sound was coming from the engine so I told the driver (a woman who looked more dazed than I felt) to shut it off after inquiring about her health.

She seemed fine, but her passenger seemed to be a little worse but also had no outwardly visible injuries.

So, after making sure they weren't hurt I took pictures of the scene and got the driver's particulars.

Shortly after the impact, a Satria GTI pulled up and two seemingly good samaritans came out acting as if they were really concerned. But shortly after they revealed themselves to be "towing and car repair" lookouts.

They kept trying to persuade the woman and me to engage their services, saying that they can tow the cars to their workshop and fix our cars quickly, blah blah blah.

Even before 10 minutes passed, several other lookouts sped to the scene, all eager to make a buck off our misfortune.

On hindsight, these people regularly stalk accident-prone areas like this, hoping to capitalise on the accident victim's disorientated mental state.

As I had heard of cases like this, where these "helpful" people charge exorbitant fees for towing and repair (and refuse to return your car if you protest their demands), so I firmly told them that I did not need their services.

So, the lesson for the day is: be prepared for something like this.

Sign up with an automotive association like MAA or AAM, who provide towing services for breakdowns or accidents at reasonable rates (breakdown towing is free in the case of AAM,no idea about MAA).

Say you have friends who can fix your car if they insist.