If there’s one thing we’ve learnt during the whole GizMod Rukus project, it’s that cars are a lot smarter these days than they used to be. Unfortunately, that can also mean there are new and exciting ways to write off your car, as Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce discovered when he drowned his taxpayer-funded Toyota Land Cruiser.
Just before Christmas, the Senator was driving his car through a swollen Burren Creek in Northern NSW, and while the road was not closed and a road sign indicated to “Drive slowly”, Joyce almost made it through before the car died. After being towed out by a local farmer, the car wouldn’t start again, as the car’s electronic components had been flooded through. So much so that the insurance company thought it better to write off the vehicle rather than fix it.
An $80,000 car brought to its knees by drowning. Ouch.
[via SMH]
Note – the pic above isn’t Barnaby Joyce’s car (in case you were wondering…)