Yesterday my wife was greeted with a scrape down the side of her car and a note on the windscreen, but not from the person who did it - from a witness who saw what happened. So we have a registration number and a witness - what can we do about it? After a bit of skim-reading online for a general idea it appears that the insurance pays out and bills the insurer of the tw@t who did it which is great, but the police will do nothing and as we all know - her insurance will be effected in future regardless.
Has anybody had this? how did it go for you?
My wife had something similar, but in her case she also had CCTV of the incident as it was at her place of work. The police weren’t the slightest bit interested, and while our insurers dealt with the other party my wife’s insurance still went up the following year (under the pretence of her being a greater risk) but obviously her no claims wasn’t affected. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much you can do but take it on the chin.
If there is no CCTV and the alleged culprit denies involvement, their insurance won’t help you.
It’ll be a no fault / unknown driver claim on your insurance.
It is a very expensive repair? Petal's car has dints all over it so we might not even notice if it got a new one and when mine got swiped in a car park I footed it myself.
Leave it, pay it yourself or make a claim. It's bloody annoying but something you have to move on from. It's only a car.
Agreed I'm afraid.... damn annoying I know but life's too short.Originally Posted by catch21
I've had two such incidents over the years where my car was bashed by someone in a public car park and a witness left a note...in both cases I got the police involved and they were very good, tracking the individuals down. Both folk came up with the "oh, I didn't realise I'd hit anything " sob story but I'm not sure if it was the presence of the police or whatever admitted to doing it rather than the it wasn't me line...in both cases I was able to claim against their insurance but the insurance companies in both cases saw pound signs and hiked up my premium come renewal time...as I was seen as an increased risk ! (for actually using / parking the car ..ridiculous)...needless to say a bit of shopping about was needed afterwards and some insurers don't actually mind if you've had no fault claims but you will have to declare the bump...best of luck...I actually had another bump a couple of months ago where a 90 year old chap knocked my bumper and drove off (and I got a witness..but they didn't see it was an OAP driving)....police again tracked him down !...I let it go because life is too short and fixed myself for the cost of a can of respray...old guy had no idea he'd hit anything
You can write to DVLA and request the drivers details with good reason. I would try this and then if you get the address send them a letter along with the estimate. Small claims is a possibility but of course would depend upon how helpful your witness is but If DVLA Give you the keeper’s details then a letter would probably spook them into paying/providing insurance details.
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If the cost of the repair is small, then just get it fixed and don't even ask the insurance co for advice, yet alone claim. Your premiums will go up as has been said above.
I had the same, except the other driver didn't leave a note. My dashcam gave me their reg number and DVLA provided their home address. They made contact as soon as my letter arrived and their insurance paid out.
I would estimate the repair bill to be quite high as its crumpled the rear wing, door, bumper and scraped the wheel £1,000+ easily, so I will be going after this person Liam Neeson style. Im a but shocked at the attitude of some, to just let it go and move on? Its that attitude thats led to people thinking its ok to drive off.
I know the wife’s insurance is going to be affected now even though she did absolutely nothing, so anything we can do to affect this other person through their insurance, with witness’s description and statement, and carpark cctv we will. I just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience and how best to go about it..
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Actual experience of DVLA and contacting the person, this is great to hear thank you.
As others have suggested, you can get their info from the DVLA then write to them to say they damaged your car, you have a witness and they have x days to make fully good otherwise you will pass the matter to the police. It is a legal requirement to at least leave your details so they are bound to trot out the lame protestation they didn't know but ultimately the presence of a third party witness should be enough for the police to follow up. Alternatively save some time and just go to the police first, frankly that's what I'd do.
Do not just swallow the issue, it is unlikely that the perpetrator genuinely does not know what they did and these type of individuals need a clear message that it is unacceptable behaviour. Doing nothing simply encourages them to do the same again if the situation occurs.
Without CCTV there is no proof the alleged culprit did this, even with a ‘witness’. If there is CCTV I’d pursue, but if not then let it go. Based on my own experience.
Why would an unrelated person claim to have seen an incident? Also if you go down the police route, they should also check the car that was claimed to have caused the damage for evidence. If you write to them then it's possible the first thing they will do is fix any damage to their own car to cover tracks.
You obviously allude to having a negative experience but I simply don't see why CCTV is a determining factor??
The witness I think is your saviour. Get the police involved as isn’t it an offence to leave the scene of an accident? Once you get them involved then pass all of the details to the insurance company.
Have to agree the current mentality of not owning up and it wasn’t me does pee me off. My wife works in a school and if she ever uses the school car park her car will pick up anew scrape/ding weekly. Just this week a van driver scraped the corner of her front bumper but checking the cctv it didn’t really capture it so nothing we can do.
Surely the other car will bear signs of contact too?
I agree with thegreatdogwood above - in the best course of action.
The only trouble with insurance claims is...
Even if its not your fault,
Even if, they find out who damaged your car,
When it comes to insurance renewal time, your own insurance will be usually higher, as you have to declare any claim for a good few years.
Depending on the costs of repair....its sometimes better paying for it your self, without claiming from the insurance companies.
Of course, this "isnt right"!....sadly though its sometimes the best way out of it.
This, get the address from the DVLA and drive round to the property, find the car, take photos of the damage on their vehicle, I’d imagine it will be quite severe as it crumpled your boot floor etc..
Also practice the Liam neeson quote
Someone bumped my car (a minor dent). I had details of the other vehicle, including photographic proof vehicle was there, but no CCTV. Other party denied bump. My insurer refused to do anything without CCTV. CCTV (or lack of) was the determining factor. No mystery. The insurer wouldn’t do anything without CCTV.
Did you have a third party witness statement to say it was definitely the other vehicle?
If so I'm struggling to see how the insurer would have refused to follow up given CCTV is the exception for evidence not the rule.
In the OP’s case if the alleged culprit denies involvement, and there is no evidence of contact on the vehicle, a third party witness statement unlikely by itself to be sufficient.
My missus came back to a similar thing after leaving her car for 10 minutes in the local car park.
No note and no witnesses, the police contacted Waitrose supermarket who had CCTV cameras but the area she was parked in wasn't covered. We just had to suck it up, very annoying as the car was less than a week old.
Use your legal Expenses policy, if you have one.
Indeed it is a very serious offence - although not sure how being on private property changes that. The witness is vital but I suspect a letter will immediately mean they either pay up or provide their insurance details. There is no reason for the OP to involve their insurance they can deal directly with the other driver's insurance company which I think means no claim recorded.
Surely insurers will share details and anyway OP is obliged to inform of any accidents.
Surely you insurer would be very keen to get the person who hit your wife's car to pay up via their insurance. I think the witness will be very handy in that case.
In contrast to what many have said on here, report the incident to your insurers and give them all the details you have of the offenders car. They will pursue the offenders insurance company. Even if the offender denies the incident, his/her insurance company will probably pay your insurance company. The insurance company have internal agreements and it happens all the time. Its a long story, but I was falling victim to a bogus claim about 10 years ago. I didnt actually stand to lose out financially as it was a company vehicle and policy but, out of principle (and wanting to keep a blemish-free record), I asked my employers insurance company not to pay the claimant. They were going to settle behind my back. In the end, I had to go to court and fight my corner that I hadnt been involved, and won (at considerable cost to the claimants insurers). Very satisfying conclusion.
I watched a bloke reverse right into (and carry on down) the side of another car in a car park last year, he got out and had a look then proceeded to get back in and make off. I went over and stopped him and asked if he was going to leave a note otherwise I would, he told me he was just going to pull over further down and write one (hmm, why leave the parking space next to it then) he did leave a note (and I went back and checked after he’d gone off that he’d left the right numberplate). Guess he could have gone back and taken it off but hopefully he did the right thing. The fact he didn’t park there makes me think he probably went back and removed it though.
I had the same happen, but the other car left their details with a witness (trolley boy). Was even with the same insurance company as me. And when the other person didn’t respond to the insurance company contact they still wanted to charge it all to me and then try and sort it out with the other party after, if they ever made contact..... So I started hassling the other party till they made contact.
Treat insurance companies as the laziest bastards in the world unless the issue is theirs to deal with, and they might make some money out of it, in which case they are rampant thoughtless pricks with a god complex!
Sorry, that particular trait is reserved for Solicitors...
My wife had a woman bump into her, and admit liability (leaving a false phone number). The car was insured. My wife reported it. The woman denied being in a bump at all. Six months later, still nothing - aside from a "notification" on the wife's insurance, and a bigger premium being required for renewal due in a week or so. I suspect some insurers are better than others...
Lesson to learn is to always take a photo of the other car especially any areas of damage. Makes it more difficult for them to lie after the facts.
Some people are just pond life that can't take responsibility for their own actions....
I had a situation about 6 years ago when I parked my car on a Pay-And-Display car park in Skipton, North Yorkshire, and when I returned there was a note on the windscreen from a witness who had seen a motorhome reverse into my car. I phoned his number and he came back to the car park and gave me the details.
I went to the Police and reported it - getting the all-important incident number, and the Police subsequently tracked down the owner of the motorhome, getting the same "I hadn't realised I had hit anything (driver) - I saw some damage but I was sure it was already like that and it looked like it would polish out (driver's wife who was helping him to reverse)". A rear wing, bumper and respray cost about £750 which was fully paid after a 5 month wait by their insurers (NFU).
Police interviewed the driver who evidently was fined for "Failure to report", even though it was on a car park rather than the road and there were no injuries.
A few months later on renewal, my insurance premium was about to double! I changed insurance company immediately - they will always try to claw back their costs even when you are not the guilty party.
It's actually quite difficult these days telling if an insurer is trying to put the premium up because of what might even be a no fault claim, or simply because they would have done anyway!
It seems like any and every time I have an insurance, utility or other service renewal the price goes up and if you phone them armed with much better quote from another reputable supplier then a magical discount becomes available that generally beats the other price.
I had a really unlucky year in having two replacement windscreens on my car. First was a stone kicked up on the M25 and the second was a twat lorry driver overtaking another on a dual carriageway and driving through all the debris near the central reservation. Kicked up a large piece of old tyre which flew through the air and fortunately took out the windscreen rather than hitting the bonnet which would have been even worse!
Anyhow after negotiation on renewal my premium actually went down which I was somewhat chuffed with. It dispelled the myth that they get you one way or another, bottom line is if your claims record looks OK then the odd non-fault claim shouldn't be fatal BUT you have to be prepared to explore other providers then haggle. That's sage advice regardless.
You’ve been left the registration number of the offending vehicle and details of an independent witness.
Follow this link which will provide you with details of the insurers of the at fault party:
http://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx
Once you get the details of the insurer, I recommend calling them and advising them of what has happened plus the fact that you have independent witness who will place their insured vehicle at the scene of the accident. Pressure them into agreeing to fix your car.
This happened to me and the insurer folded after a week or so of me nagging them. I didn’t even have details of a witness, just some kind soul who left me details of the car that hit me but not their own details.
Alternatively for an easy life, let your own insurer fix it, pay your excess and hope that they make a full recovery from the third party.
This is what we have done, first called the wife’s insurance who said ‘we wont do anything without the name and address of the offender’ so we used the same website you mentioned for £4 which gave us the offenders insurer and policy number, a quick call to them got the ball rolling and due to having a witness they have already now taken responsibilty etc, another call to our insurer to keep them in the loop and it was a different story ‘oh dont let the other insurer try to take over and deal with it, tell us your case number with them and we will intervene’ - what a shoddy bunch of muppets, now we have done a load of legwork would now like to help, after completely lying about being able to do nothing in the first place.
At least things are in motion now and the absolute shit who thought it was ok to do this is going to get stung, I really wish I could push this further and get them a criminal record, or add to it!
Last edited by trainspanner; 29th November 2018 at 23:28.
Good result!
”just take it on the chin................ “.
Typical insurer, only willing to get involved when you’ve secured the admission of liability. They would have merely passed you onto their claims management company who would have given the insurer a kick and put you into a hire car at an exhorbitant hire rate.
Job will done OP!
If you have their name and address I would quickly go around and take pictures of their car, it is more than likely also damaged so prove it was them. They could repair the damage for cash and then claim it was not them and the witness was wrong. Call the police and report them for leaving the accident without reporting it.
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