A guy drove up in our driveway to turn his truck around.
He said that his foot slipped off the clutch and that he will contact his insurance to pay for a new gate. But that was just the beginning of pain for me.
For 2 weeks afterwards, I had to lift the gate off the bottom rail to push it open manually, and then push it closed to lift the wheels back onto the rail. Not a very pleasant job, as at the second day, my bad left knee and my back started to pain. By day four the pain in bed at night cost me many hours of lost sleep. At day fourteen, I had enough, and we contacted a contractor to come and try to straighten the gate. He also couldn't get the gate a hundred percent straight, but at least he fixed it enough to run wobbly on the gate motor.
Then another shock came our way. The guy's insurance contacted us to ask for some identification documents and an affidavit of our ownership to prove that we were the genuine owners. So, we had to go to the Cop Shop (Police station) to get the documents signed and to get an accident case number. I asked the lady from the insurance company how long it would take to pay out for a new gate, and I had to sit down in shock, as she said 3 to 6 months. What could we do about it except to wait, and in the meantime the skew gate's teeth on the bottom of the gear rack started breaking off, as the gate was not running straight.
We were requested to send 3 new gate quotations to the insurance company and then a bright idea struck me. I phoned a guy at a steel repair company, and he suggested that we only needed a new frame for the gate. The insurance company was happy. as his quotation was the cheapest of the 3 that we sent. So, they accepted his quotation and a week later they paid out the full amount.
So, the steel guy and his crew arrived, and they took the broken gate off.
The new frame arrived, and we were in business.
Look at that! The new frame that was galvanized to prevent rust was offloaded.
Then the one guy started stripping the old gate of its internal parts.
And here, they fitted the internal parts of the old gate to the new frame.
Voila! Look at that shiny new gate, and it was a job well done as the gate is now running straight on the electric motor and we can open and close it with our remote.
Such is life, isn't it? We had to pay the first guy that tried to straighten the gate and the insurance company refused to cover the amount, as they said it was not a part of the 3 quotations. In the meantime, we had to run around getting the documents and the quotations for free. But it all was worth it in the end, as now I don't have to worry about the gate anymore. Just the way things are here.
What was the lesson learned? Don't let anyone drive up your driveway and bang into your gate :))
Hope that you enjoyed the gate story.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
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Incident of this nature, being a vehicle no matter where take down all the driver information, vehicle disk information and insurance, report to the police for a case number. Then submit your claim to his insurance with three quotes attached copy your insurance into the matter. Have learned in business here one has to do the slog to get paid quicker. Same as every other thing in South Africa with Insurance in any form.
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Oh yes, that's exactly what we did, and as the gate was running skew on the track, the motor gear started snapping the gate's gear track's teeth off. So, I took photos of the track's missing teeth, and I sent it to the person at the insurance, requesting a speedy payment. I told them that if the gate's motor packed up, they would have to replace the motor as well. The accident was in February, and they paid out in two and a half months. Of course, selecting to pay the cheapest quote.
Such is life!
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All insurance houses are a scam, sadly we have to have them for when things do go wrong which happens all to often in this country.
Oh yeah, we have insurance on the house and the car, as it is an absolute necessity, but we don't have insurance on the external stuff like the gate and the fences. Only glad that the guy that bumped the gate had insurance. !LOLZ
Wish this country introduced compulsory vehicle insurance too many accidents with many not insured at all.
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I agree that insurance for all vehicles should be compulsory, as this will also result on less cars on the roads.
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Settled and sorted now you are able to get in/out without any problems, we do rely on these gates !LOLZ
That's hassle you really don't need. Insurance companies can be a pain. Good to see it's fixed now anyway.
These things happen to all of us at some time or another my friend. One just has to remain calm and find the best solution. We are also happy that it all turned out well after all.
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BEER.What a nightmare, but at least the darn thing is working again. It's truly amazing what it takes to get an insurance company to do what you pay them for.
Yep, a nightmare indeed. We don't have insurance, as too expensive, and the guy that caused the accident fortunately had insurance. It was an accident, and we didn't blame him, so we are just glad that his insurance paid the contractor that repaired the gate. Correction, the insurance sent the payment to Marian, and she sent the full amount to the contractor.
Years ago, I would have done the gate by myself, but with some damaged lower back vertebrae, I cannot bend so well anymore.
Btw. Glad to see you again, and I will sort your and Lady Robin's post in the morning !LOLZ
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At least it all worked out in the end. I'm finding that every year it seems that I can do a little less than the year before. I guess this is where the line from Desiderata comes in, GRACEFULLY SURRENDER THE THINGS OF YOUTH.
Yep, we prayed for a successful outcome. Nature teaches me the lessons of ageing, and all that one has to do is to compare an old oak tree slowly deteriorating, compared to a young one, full of energy. Thank you for the wakeup call, as I must really start to read the Desiderata again. We groan during ageing, but the Lord's grace is enough for us, and that is a real blessing.
Greetings and blessings to you guys.
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I'm glad it's finally fixed, now you can get back to normal 🙌 Hopefully your new gate is stronger...
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Thank you, and yes, the gate is now working fine. It has a few thinner sections, but that's good for the gate motor, as it's less weight to operate 😊
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