B*stard van drivers

[AndyMac]

Came home late Friday night to find a note on my wifes A3TS saying "Do Not Drive".
A kind neighbour had heard a van/truck hack down our road and smash into our A3, then drive off before they had time to rush out the front and get a reg no.
The really wierd thing is that, despite hitting the car so hard it pushed it 4 feet backwards and up onto next doors tow bar, as well as slamming it against the kerb, there is no bodywork damage apart from a very light scrape on the bumper.

However, if you look at the wheels below, one is on full lock while the other is practically straight. Now we assumed the car had been left on full lock and the van had caught the wheel sticking out, but when they came today to pick the car up it became apparent that the wheels had been straight and it was the force of the collision that had forced the wheel into full lock by bending the steering arm into practically a right angle.
So my question is this, how the hell could a van hit the front wheel/tyre that hard without touching the bodywork, when the wheels were practically straight?
I'm sure the insurance company are gonna think we've made it up.

 

[RAPS3]

Andy, It may have been one of those window fitters vans - with one of those glass racks on the side. They stick out a good 8-10 inches on the side of the van at low level.
Just a thought.

 

[jojo]

This reminds me of an accident that happened outside my shop not too long ago. Young chap was bombing it down the road in his Renault Clio (he was using his mobile phone apparently), when his front left wheel hit a pot hole, which caused the car to swerve to the left into a parked up Vauxhall Vectra. The Clio's front left wheel was obviously sticking out and caught the rear wheel of the Vectra. What followed was a huge bang and me witnessing this Clio flying through the air and landing on its roof, sliding for 20ft and not hiting a another car in the process. The driver managed to crawl out the car with only a scratch on his head, he was a lucky chap indeed. Anyways, the damage to the Vectra was the rear wheel being pushed 1ft forward into the bodywork and no scratches on the actual body of the car itself, most bizaar.

 

[Mike.M]

Feel for you Andy,

Looks like the tyre could have got hooked by those stepper parts of the truck to get into the cabin and dragged it...........I really do not know how else it is possible without major damage to the bodywork to make a car move 4 foot or so back and then onto a tow hook............WEIRD!!!

 

[Gambba]

That's one hell of a fecker, and can't beleive people just drive off from these things /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burningmad.gif

Just to add to everyone else guesses.... Iveco van with the sticky out wheel hubs or it hit the wheel with the corner of the front or rear bumper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Ess_Three]

Sorry to hear that Andy...

And I have absolutely no idea how damage like that could happen without showing more externally...which is why I trust you'll be getting the car fully checked over?
These plastic bumpers hide a multitude of sins...it is entirely possible tha that in the recent warm weather, the bumper has been compressed until it hits the re-enforcememt, and that in turn knocked back causing unsees chassis damage, before the bumper returned to it's natural state hardly showing and signs.

I know this happened to an Ibiza I was driving...rear panel knocked in, hatch not lined up properly, rear bumper re-enforcememt completely flattened, yet had it not been for the glass of the car that hit me breaking, and cutting the paint, I would never have been able to see it without specifically going looking for damage.

I'm sure all will be proven to be safe before your wife returns it to use...but as always, it's best to be safe not sorry.
I hope it all works out OK and the damage is mysteriously very little.

 

[wigginer]

[ QUOTE ]
r88per said:
Andy, It may have been one of those window fitters vans - with one of those glass racks on the side. They stick out a good 8-10 inches on the side of the van at low level.
Just a thought.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought that. But they are normally mid-door to wing-mirror height. I had a wing-mirror whipped off by one in a previous life ...

 

[benk]

I'd go with something like the wheels were out (full lock): van hit passenger side tyre, pushing car back, and when the driver side wheel got rammed against the kerb, it got forced straight, possibly causing steering wheel to go back to straight as well... and while this happened, steering arm gets knackered.
If that's what happened, I'd expect to find a decent scrape, or at least what looks like "fresher" rubber on the passenger tyre where all the pressure from the van was applied.
Also, I'd expect a decent amount of grazing on the sidewall of the driver side tyre, and possibly traces of rubber along the kerb in front of the driver side tyre.
I don't see how it could have happened unless the wheels were out.

 

[wigginer]

[ QUOTE ]
that wigginer said:
[I thought that. But they are normally mid-door to wing-mirror height. I had a wing-mirror whipped off by one in a previous life ...

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm definitely wrong on this one !!!

I checked out a couple of local vans rigged to carry glass. Both ones I saw had glass carriages that went well below centre wheel line ...