Jiajia and I were in a minor car collision yesterday. I was driving slowly down the road, past parked cars, when one of them decided to pull out without warning and thump into our passenger door. Luckily Jiajia was travelling with me and JD wasn't. It was the start of a 4-hour experience which highlighted the best and the worst of life in China...
Everyone remained very calm and civil (you seldom get road rage amongst the Chinese - China 1 West 0) despite the fact that the other driver had the cheek to blame us (China 1 West 1). We had to leave our cars there in the middle of the road "for the police to see" which caused chaos amongst the traffic behind (score one for being able to move your cars out of the way in the West - China 1 v West 2). One phonecall however, and within ten minutes a traffic cop arrived on foot. (China 2 v West 2). However, when she saw both cars were functional she simply told us to take photos with our phones and drive ourselves to the "Assessment Centre" (China 2 v West 3).
The Centre was teeming with people (China 2 v West 4). There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of car crashes in Kunming daily - driving skills here are appalling (China 2 v West 5). But, rather sensibly, the Centre included administration, police and insurance companies all together (China 3 v West 5). The forms to be completed are manifold and complex however (China 3 v West 6) - thank goodness Jiajia was there! Once the forms were done, we were taken to see a policeman (China 4 v West 6). He took one look at the photos and told the other driver he was 100% at fault (of course he was - idiot driver!). The other driver was made to sign a "confession" and we were quickly shown to the insurance company desk (China 5 v West 6). They sent someone to look at the damage to the cars and report back. Meanwhile, Jiajia rang her garage, described the damage to our car and got a quote over the phone - just £100 (China 6 v West 6)! The insurance representative agreed it was a reasonable quote and handed over the full amount in cash there and then (China 7 v West 6). Further receipt forms (China 7 v West 7), a belated apology from the other driver, and we were on our way to the garage. The garage took our car (to be fixed in just 2-3 days - China 8 v West 7) and gave us a free ride home (China 9 v West 7). So everything was done same day (China 10 v West 7), though it took us a stressful 4 hours from crash to home (China 10 v West 8). Overall, a very annoying afternoon But, boy, it could have been so much worse in so many ways!
The Centre was teeming with people (China 2 v West 4). There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of car crashes in Kunming daily - driving skills here are appalling (China 2 v West 5). But, rather sensibly, the Centre included administration, police and insurance companies all together (China 3 v West 5). The forms to be completed are manifold and complex however (China 3 v West 6) - thank goodness Jiajia was there! Once the forms were done, we were taken to see a policeman (China 4 v West 6). He took one look at the photos and told the other driver he was 100% at fault (of course he was - idiot driver!). The other driver was made to sign a "confession" and we were quickly shown to the insurance company desk (China 5 v West 6). They sent someone to look at the damage to the cars and report back. Meanwhile, Jiajia rang her garage, described the damage to our car and got a quote over the phone - just £100 (China 6 v West 6)! The insurance representative agreed it was a reasonable quote and handed over the full amount in cash there and then (China 7 v West 6). Further receipt forms (China 7 v West 7), a belated apology from the other driver, and we were on our way to the garage. The garage took our car (to be fixed in just 2-3 days - China 8 v West 7) and gave us a free ride home (China 9 v West 7). So everything was done same day (China 10 v West 7), though it took us a stressful 4 hours from crash to home (China 10 v West 8). Overall, a very annoying afternoon But, boy, it could have been so much worse in so many ways!
