After a long time living here, I have never had any experiences of the negative nature, including car accidents. However, I can now bring you my first hand experience of a car accident in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Several nights ago, I was in the passenger seat of my own car (somebody else was driving). Here, there are many "redondel" which are essentially circles, you drive in a circle and exit to the connecting streets. They have two lanes and people in the inside lane often attempt to exit to the outer roads, passing the outer lane. This is obviously dangerous and I have seen many others get in accidents doing such. Of course, that is exactly what happened.
After being hit on the side door, the other person took the liberty of speeding off without as much as a glance. The cops who were in seeing distance did not do anything, in-fact, it was as if nothing had happened. Other cars angrily honked, expecting us to move along ASAP. We did exactly that. No hit and run, no issue. The most common thing is when you get hit, drive away. Everyone does it, therefore if someone hits you, don't expect much.
Cars are generally not insured here, and mind wasn't. Body work is very cheap here. Paint and dents on 2 doors and several broken fender pieces (side fender).
A reputable body shop repaired and matched the paint on both doors for US $70. It is almost hard to believe something could be so cheap, especially car related. Said body shop is in Santa Tecla.
The plastic peices cost me $10-15 each at the "huesera" which is a bone-yard, you just tell them what you need and they pull it off a "dead" vehicle there. Prices are great and you can find almost anything. There are several, including 2 in Santa Tecla.
Japanese and Chinese cars are easiest to find pieces for. I happened to be in a Ford Escape which is more difficult, yet it was still an easy process.
All in All, remember not to get too upset. In El Salvador accidents are incredibly common and not a big deal generally. It's relatively cheap to get it fixed. Most people have several accidents a year. Driving standards here are very bad.
Several of my family in law, including several long-time motorists have been in 2-3 accidents yearly. It doesn't have to be your fault, other people will hit you, randomly. It's driving in the city in El Salvador.
I have been lucky, but I avoid the busy hours. Driving from 6-8PM is very hazardous. Mid-day is also a little rough in the city. If you are new or learning, Sundays in mid-day or around 2PM is best, the road is very empty and it is not nearly as dangerous.
I also decided to look into insurance. The best company for cars I am told is "Suiza". The cost for full coverage (COVERING EVERYTHING, period) for my 2001 Ford Escape is at $26 a month. Newer cars run up to $45-50 a month.
Insurance rates do not hike when you get in an accident, unlike in other countries. It is a hard decision, with repair costs so low, some may find insurance to be costly, yet with the high probability of accidents, it is worth the cost.
I welcome any thoughts regarding this subject via comments! :-)
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11 comments:
Hmm, well if you got into 2 accidents a year that cost $70, that's $140, 3 accidents $210. Cost of insurance per year $312. Doing the math that way, it's not worth the money, but if the accidents cost more, maybe. Considering this is your first accident so far...that's a tough call. I will be interested to see if it's worth the money for you in the end. Let us know how it works for you!
Traffic circles are such a magnet for accidents; most people can't or don't use them correctly and very few use the directional lights of their cars so most of the time you can only guess what the cars near you want to do.
Insudrance can be a blessing sometimes. A friend of mine crashed with a black cow that someone had let walk in the middle of the Panamericana at night. The repair was 5K, fortunately she had insurance. Of course, the owner of the cows was nowhere to be seen. I was told that just after the accident a group of nearby residents started cutting the cow into pieces and soon it became someones hamburger.
Good input R.
I have to agree, I once saw a drunk man take a bite out of a dead cow, raw. It was HORRIBLE. So... a cow that got hit, would quickly become a hamburger here. People don't play when it comes to food.
On the accident topic, it only cost me 70 bucks for a bad side-swipe but I was lucky.
Hitting a cow probably meant some SERIES damage. I am surprised the car was even able to be repaired.
Insurance COULD be a blessing here. Depends where you live.
I am highly considering my vehicle now, simply because of the fact that people can "purchase" licenses here = they are legally allowed to drive without knowing how to drive.
Traffic circles or redondels are SUPER COMMON in San Salvador. It's quite simple, an inside lane and an outside lane. To the exit the circle to one of the connecting streets, you belong on the OUTSIDE LANE.
But no, most people PILE INTO THE INSIDE LANE, do 80KM/H and then bust out of the inside lane crossing 1-2 lanes of outer traffic to connect to a street.
These = disaster. Naturally once an accident happens they run, and especially in a traffic circle, if you sit still, you get hit 20x more.
Yesterday, about 2KM from my house, there is an area in the highway where you can make a uturn, just a break in the barrier. Someone coming on, used bad judgement and sped in front of a car. That car hit the other car, and they both got REAL messed up. So.... instead of moving (the cars were still operational), they took a minute to react in the middle of the road. 3 MORE cars hit them at high-speed, destroyed 2 of them and 2 people died.
Pure stupidity and quite upsetting.
On a different note: My sister lives in Virgina (USA) and got in a collision with a cow at night. Totaled her car. I don't know if it ever became a hamburger afterwards.
Live Simply Love Strongly that is the exact math I did also.
I am skeptical to get it, most people never have a major accident here, speed is VERY Low most of the time in the city due to traffic so repairs are cheap.
if you hit a cow though, you better have insurance LoL
I may get it just in-case because we drive out to La Paz (Zacate) every month or twice a month and those country roads are rough and filled with animals, cows, horses, goats, etc. That could = damage.
Don't forget about the local industry of stealing emblems from cars and reselling them in a specific area of San Salvador. If your hubcabs and/or emblems are missing, simply go the that area and buy them back. It's a form of redistribution of wealth?
Very good point George. I totally forgot to mention this.
If you ever park your car on any side street, even just to run and get pupusa's, you very well may find your ford, chevy, dodge, honda, etc embled missing. Those little letters on the car too that say "Accord" or "Escape". They "Vanish".
They can be found in the central market at (un-named) location. They are resold for a few bucks. I find it stupid, for 2 bucks they rob emblems, but I guess they ... are sticking it to the man? And making 2 bucks?
If they do get robbed, you can buy them back in the central market or visit "Casa de las herramientas" in most malls, its a hardware store, they sell car emblems for 2-6 dollars.
You can also goto a huesera (scrap-yard), I got replacement "escape" letters for 10 bucks. You can glue them on or pay a mechanic 6 bucks to do it. They will probably get stolen again. To avoid this, only park car in safe areas such as major shopping center parking garages - its safer. (But not 100%)
I was in Miramonte parked in front of a friend's house on a main road and someone stole my side panel turn signal lights. A few months later, my mechanic was in my car at a nearby intersection and some kid ran up to him and said he had lights to fit my car - they were the ones he stole! I ended up paying him $15 instead of the $20 he wanted and everyone was happy - the thief/seller more than me. My mechanic has now epoxied them in and all my insignia are well riveted.
Regarding insurance, I HIGHLY recommend that as a foreigner, you get them. If you are involved in a bad accident where someone is injured and it is suspected or alleged that it is your fault, you can easily end up in jail until you can come to an agreement with the injured party for compensation. It has happened that if you are a foreigner, you will be asked for a large sum of money (e.g. $5K or $10K) and if you don't pay, you could be stuck in jail for days if not weeks. The large request will probably never be ratified by a court (who will lower it to more of a local level - say $1K or $2K) but who wants to spend time in jail.
If you have insurance, the insurance company will take care of the negotiation and payment and you won't have to go to jail (unless you are criminally negligent). It is cheap and the price goes down every year as your car depreciates.
My insurance broker is named Edgardo and he speaks English and can be reached at ecordova@tecniseguros.com Tel. +503 2250-7400. I have car and health insurance with him.
I appreciate this post. We had an experience like R's friend, 3 weeks after I moved here we crashed into a horse on a dark country road that came out of nowwhere after a road bend in the road. No insurance, our brother-in-law did the body work, but still cost 1800 bucks. In the U.S. it would have been a total loss or several thousand to repair. 26 bucks a month, yeah, that's a nice alternative. We were grateful to be alive more than anything - the horse rolled over the roof of the car (later died), made a huge dent in the passenger side windshield and roof and we both walked away without a scratch.
Moral of the story: be careful driving at night here and watch out for large animals on the loose.
Shared giggles on the car emblems - had our toyota's stolen, and mechanic secure screwed the replacements. too funny
been in jail 3 days for hitting someone on my motorcycle, not my fault, hospital 24 hrs under guard[$2.00 bill] 2 days in pain, gangs fed me, cost me about 4K colones, not my fault, all saw said run, I went to see how the girl was, and I dispute what you said, you do not see or get as many accidents as you think, all look, hand signals, etc, been living there 15 years, driven all over mex, lots at night since 1976, and even as far as panama and to CR 3 times, used to take cares down to sell after surf trips
whatever
tropicooltours.com since 1995, I also live in Guatemala
all is way better than south than f***** amerika
they steal yes, but not any where in the world as bad as Costa Rica
also thieves, get their asses kicked, or hands cut off, depends who you know, I do not have a problem, but maybe many do
the vigilantes are the worse, they are in cahoots, from biggest to the neighbourhood vigilantes
I lived Playa san Diego 1994-1999,
only gringo and person with money
never had a problem
but then I made an example long ago
just me,
got ;lots of hommies and I put people to work
'el gringo loco'
Senor Pescado
Hey thanks for the comment ^^
I think it all depends on luck. I also think things have changed a lot here in the past 4 years specifically. I see them change daily.
I can tell you, accidents are not that common here considering............. I am on the road about 6 hours a day, every day and I see very few,
I also just happened to HIT a police car three days ago (not my fault, idiot was parked illegally but of course by the law here the police are always right).... TOTAL COST: 15 dollars and some small talk.
In El Salvador it is all about how you handle things. I have learned to become an expert negotiator and use "Salvadoreno" spanish fluently.
Hitting a police car could of meant 2 nights in Jail, it sure did for my brother in law who is an idiot.
Like I said, it just depends on how you handle stuff.
GOOD INSIGHT on hitting smeone, that I did not know. I know an immigrant from SPAIN just killed a cop accidently in a car accident on AUTOPISTA COMALAPA last week, they went pretty rough on him but he was drunk........
Times have leaned in favor of gringos here, we get off easy in these days ... most people respect us. I have gotten out of a speeding ticket three times now, it's like once they realize I'm an extranjero I get off.
But now that I am a resident almost citizen here that has gone out the window, I get treated just like everyone else with a feakinin' DUI (Mandatory identity document in this country now).
Anyway...........
Good luck on your journies, thanks for reading the blog & keep it loco :-)
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