Oh man, What did I do ............

Today was special day with all possible wonderful events.
Never did I think that I'll be visting places which i have never visited in my life.

The day started normally, everything was fine except that I was bit late to leave for office. Almost everyday while going and coming from office to home I would speak on my mobile phone. For some reason I was not doing that today.

While I was overtaking another vehicle (a big and expensive one), I looked into the rear view mirror and realized that something is not correct. The other driver was changing the lane before my vehicle cleared the space for him. And thud …. was the sound. Fine I said.. I will be cool and not get into argument.
Finally I got down to inspect the damages, and same did the other driver (lets call him Mr. Tom for simplicity).

His car was damaged more than mine, we exchanged contact numbers and names and continued with our ride. So do you think it is over …………

The real fun starts now. After an hour I get a call from police station that I have hit someone and I need to be available in police station. Ok cant help but I was frustrated.
So I asked Avinash who works in finance deptt and is a localite to accompany me to police station as it would help in dealing. So this time Mr Tom told me that he would take the claim from insurance company but the balance amount needs to be borne by you. In India the insurance company depreciates the fittings/assets/cost of car based on its market value. Hence the insurer has to shell out money from his pocket every time he claims insurance cover. Police incharge also suggested that you settle it amicably and don’t get into all the lengthy process.

Giving money even though I was not at fault was something that I would have never agreed, but looking at the damages I convinced myself that I would pay say 2K to help him.
So do you think it got over here .............Nah

It turned out that Mr Tom was hell bent on extracting atleast 50% of cost of damages and was willing to lodge a formal complaint with police. Avinash suggested me to accompany him to workshop and first get an estimate for repairs and then negotiate. I agreed.
Now the next meeting with Mr Tom was in a workshop. I choose the best people for negotiation and tactics for this part. Sandeep and Vikram (a localite) were with me this time with all the adrenaline required to fight this case.

After the assessment it turned out that the insurance company would not pay for 8K of damages to few parts and the insurer has to bear this. At that point Vikram revealed told them that “boss we are going to pay you 2K only and that to just to oblige because the damage to your car is more”. It seems Mr Tom’s team had different plans; they still wanted half of that amount as compensation.
Sandeep pushed us out of negotiation and told them to meet in police station or do whatever you want. So the next meeting place was police station.

By this time we were hungry and halted at office to have lunch and do some pending work. Coming weekend was a long weekend and everyone had lot of work to be completed.
Sandeep suggested that we need not go to police station also. But I insisted that we shall go and finish it off, however all unanimously agreed that now we will not pay them a single penny, whatever happens.
So after half an hour I got a call from police station again. I told him that I am stuck in traffic and will be late. So after an hour we reached police station, by that time Mr tom and his team has left.
We told the incharge that we offered them money and they did not like the idea. He told us that he’ll convince Mr Tom to accept the money and settle it ……..”you can give money to me” ……………..interesting we all thought.
Vikram told him that we have 1K at present and someone will come and drop rest of the money. Incharge was fine with that J, we were also fine with 1K.
So do you think its over. Atleast we think so …………..

The stories in olden books were true I think. I remember the story of one monkey who negotiated for two cats who were quarrelling for a piece of Bread. In the end monkey was winner. Probably in this case too, you can make out who gained maximum and who lost with nothing in his hand.

Interesting incidents are waiting to happen ……….. watch out.

Disclaimer : Some incidents may not be based on facts.