Another PLANNED car accident at Subang Jaya Interchange

KUALA LUMPUR: This is NOT a new ‘game’ being played by tow truck runners or touts in Klang Valley. For the past three decades, we have seen how ‘car accident’ touts wait in their cars with super dark tinted windows parked at strategic locations along the busy federal highway waiting for prey to pounce on.

When it rains, they are quick to get into position and to ‘persuade’ an accident by throwing some oil on the tarmac as you enter the corner and if your tires are worn or if you happen to steer onto the oily patch created by them, your car will skid and hit the guard-rail or concrete barrier which for most of the time creates a bumper to bumper accident which is the touts’ best day to make money or have just that one car for their money-making.

So, why do they do this? Well, the moment the car is damaged, the driver will be disorientated and probably slightly injured and so these touts will be quick to offer advice on how to ‘settle’ your car accident and offer a quick tow to the ‘best’ workshop.

These touts get a hefty commission from the workshops, especially for higher-priced cars that have first-party insurance. The accident damage might be just RM10,000, but the workshops will quickly ‘add’ more damage to the cars to claim a higher amount from the insurance company and part of the amount is given to the touts for their trouble. A commission from RM500 to RM5,000 is possible and it is good income for these ‘criminals’ who create accidents.

For cars with 1st party high insurance value, the insurance company pays the price and this is why we continue to have high insurance premiums and the whole ‘black economy’ in the Malaysian workshop industry.

You can easily spot these ‘touts’ parked on the patch of grass just before the Subang Jaya interchange into the housing area and also at the corner of the ‘Subang Airport’ highway exit to Federal Highway.

With a large number of car workshops in Subang Jaya USJ1 and USJ19, plus the surrounding areas of Kampung Subang and Klang, this is a great business opportunity for them.

Meanwhile, car owners like this Mercedes-Benz W124 driver will have to pay the price of losing their modern classic.

Once an accident-free Mercedes W124 gets into these workshops, their owners are held at ransom with high repair bills that might cost more than the car's used value which leaves the owners thinking twice about repairing his W124. So, this Mercedes-Benz W124 owner might be forced to scrap his car and this is why you always see old ‘treasured’ accident damaged cars rotting away outside workshops or even when they are fixed, the repair is never done properly which leaves the car owner ‘forced’ to sell his car cheap.

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