flip x overturn x ?

[jctgf]

hi,

i have been hearing a lot of different verbs that express the idea of a car, in an accident, spinning around its horizontal axis (or axle?) ...

i think the Americans say "flip" and the British say "overturn"...

what is the best verb to express that idea?

thanks a lot.

[Hi_there_Carl]

You may hear any of the following terms to describe this situation as follows:

The car flipped over.
The car overturned.
The car rolled over.

All of these mean the same thing.

[David L.]

Around the horizontal axis:
The car flipped and landed on its side = self-explanatory
The car overturned = the car landed on its roof
The car rolled over = On its own, this would suggest it landed on its roof. Usually it would be qualified by the speaker eg
The car rolled over on its side/on its roof/rolled over several times and ended up on its roof.
The car flipped over=landed on its roof. With qualification: The car flipped over a couple of times and landed back on its wheels/ended up on its side etc.
Around the vertical axis:
The car spun (a)round = the car stayed on its wheels, but turned around anything from 180 to 360 degrees. If more than once, the speaker would have to specify =the car spun (a)round a few times.