Now, driving in KL is not exactly a pleasant experience, and definitely one needs to be very careful at all times when the wheels hit the road. You can be very careful yourself, but if someone decides to talk on the phone while driving or is having a real good time karaoke-ing to the radio hits, you might be in some unwanted road disasters.

For me, a knock/bang/scratch/smash/ is like an semi-annual event, which made me pretty familiar with the reporting procedures of such an accident. I am pretty sure if you are driving in big cities with 1950′s road designs, you’ve got your own battle-scars and war stories to share.

Well, since most of my accidents begins with me being the victim, I shall start off with the scenario where you are knocked by the other party. Provided here are some tips on how to get things done quick by getting your car fixed in the workshop and avoid being grounded for too long.

1) On the day of impact, quickly ensure that you have a clear view of the other party’s vehicle number plate. If you ever let him run out on you, you are in deep shit. Basically, make sure you remain calm and jot down the number, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT x 3!

I have had the luxury of being hit by an Indian Taxi driver- HB 6415. Now, I have nothing against taxi drivers, except for the way they treat the road like “Jalan Bapak Dia“. He gave me a really good smash on the driver-side, from the back of the car all the way to the front. And the best part is, he did not stop after hitting my car, instead he sped off. Thank goodness I got his number, if not, you will have to claim the repair on your own expenses.

2) Once you have his number, try to arrange to go to the nearest Police Station where the accident took place. This will speed things up alot.

3) Do everything the police instructs you when you are making the report. A bad time to have an accident is during lunch time, as most of the officers will be off and you will be stranded there for the entire lunch break.

4) After making all the reports, you will be given your Police Report first. This report will consists of everything you said, basically, it’s your statement of the accident.

5) Now, with this report, it’s enough for you to send your car to the workshop, either you drive it there (if it’s still drivable) or your workshop will tow your car to the workshop. WARNING: Do not engage the “touts” that hang around the police station where they pass you their name cards. You will be sorry to deal with them.

6) Once you are in the workshop, you will need to submit the following document:
i) Police Report- Original

ii) Vehicle’s Registration Card- Copy

iii) Insured’s Identity Card- Copy (this one might not be you. If you dad own’s the car, call him up now and fax his NRIC over to the workshop asap) TIPS: If you are like me (accident-prone), you will be wise to actually keep all these documents copied and keep them in a single folder, so you don’t have to go through the drill the next time, trust me, THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME!)

iv) Driver’s Identity Card- Copy

v) Driver’s Driving License- Copy

vi) Policy Schedule/Covernote- Copy

Again, in order to prevent any delays, you must have these documents nearby you, and not somewhere faraway, such as your hometown.

Also ensure you get your car fixed at a panel workshop, and not just any other workshop, as most of these panel workshops already has a very established system to deal with the insurers/adjusters and most importantly, they save you alot of time since they’ve got their own runners doing all the documentations and logistics for you.

However, some issues with these bigger panel workshops are the time it takes to fix your car. Most of the time, they’ve got so many cars to fix (thanks to the excellent driving schools and superb road sign designs), it will take some time before your car will be in the repair bay. So, sometimes, to really minimize delay, you might need to resort to non-panel workshop, which I don’t recommend unless you know these repairmen personally. And most of these smaller non-panel workshops might need you to do a bit of running, where you might need to collect the following documents from the police station (7 days after the accident):

1) Police Report (this time, it’s the other party’s side of the statement)
2) Case Result (Keputusan Kes)
3) Rough Diagram (Rajah Kasar)
4) Photographs

Call up before you go, my experience tells me that there’s a very high chance the police’s computer system is down. Also keep note of the police office hours, or you will be in for a nasty surprise. For documents collection, always collect in the morning, they usually close the counters by 3 pm.

Well, that’s all for 3rd party claim. There might be some steps that I missed out, but basically, these are the paperwork you need to have in hand at all times to handle such emergencies.

Okie, good luck!

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