What police can tell you - hit and run.
What police can tell you - hit and run.
Author
Discussion

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (18:11)
quotequote all

A van hit my car and drove off, I have dash cam footage. I reported it to plod.

An officer has just called. I asked them if they can ID the driver. They said "we can only give you what they should have given you by the roadside" so I said, "great, name and address is fine".

"Ah yes but it's different" she backtracked "because it isn't by the side of the road. We cannot tell you anything. You'll have to claim on your insurance".

Does anyone know what they actually can and cannot provide?




Bigends

6,020 posts

151 months

Yesterday (18:24)
quotequote all
Insurance company can apply to Police for details of the other driver.

LosingGrip

8,640 posts

182 months

Yesterday (19:14)
quotequote all
Its annoying but we can only give VRM. Rest is classed as personal data which we cant provide.

I assume you have the VRM? If so pass that to your insurance company. They'll have access to MID to show who they are insured with and they can sort it out.

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (19:20)
quotequote all
LosingGrip said:
Its annoying but we can only give VRM. Rest is classed as personal data which we cant provide.

I assume you have the VRM? If so pass that to your insurance company. They'll have access to MID to show who they are insured with and they can sort it out.
Yes I gave the VRM to the police.

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (19:59)
quotequote all

I've reported it to my insurer for information only.

They know who the insurer is but cannot tell me.

My excess will be greater than the cost of repair and I don't want to risk losing NCB whilst this is being sorted out.

I THINK I can use a V888 to get keeper details from DVLA. I could then make a claim against the driver myself. Anyone know of any reason why not?

KungFuPanda

4,583 posts

193 months

Yesterday (20:10)
quotequote all
You can lay a tenner on the askmid website and it’ll provide you with the third party insurers details.

Deviation

163 posts

27 months

Yesterday (20:12)
quotequote all
I was involved in a hit and run. The driver initially stopped but when asked for details, got in the car and drove off.


Called the police, and it went nowhere. They did absolutely nada unfortunately.


Told me they had the details of the driver but wouldn’t give me anything. Couldn’t tell me if they’d admitted liability or anything, so didn’t pursue through insurance.
Yesterday (20:15)
quotequote all
Furbo said:
I've reported it to my insurer for information only.

They know who the insurer is but cannot tell me.

My excess will be greater than the cost of repair and I don't want to risk losing NCB whilst this is being sorted out.

I THINK I can use a V888 to get keeper details from DVLA. I could then make a claim against the driver myself. Anyone know of any reason why not?
I'm still waiting for a response to a V888 request which was received by the DVLA nearly three weeks ago for similar circumstances.

If you want to get their insurers details, as above pay £10 to askMID, phone the insurer and claim directly. It'll be quicker!

BertBert

20,891 posts

234 months

Yesterday (20:15)
quotequote all
KungFuPanda said:
You can lay a tenner on the askmid website and it ll provide you with the third party insurers details.
This

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (20:24)
quotequote all
Powerfully Built Company Directors Secretary said:
Furbo said:
I've reported it to my insurer for information only.

They know who the insurer is but cannot tell me.

My excess will be greater than the cost of repair and I don't want to risk losing NCB whilst this is being sorted out.

I THINK I can use a V888 to get keeper details from DVLA. I could then make a claim against the driver myself. Anyone know of any reason why not?
I'm still waiting for a response to a V888 request which was received by the DVLA nearly three weeks ago for similar circumstances.

If you want to get their insurers details, as above pay £10 to askMID, phone the insurer and claim directly. It'll be quicker!
It used to be the case that if a driver had not reported it to their insurer there was nothing the insurer could do. Has that changed?

Opapayer

1,163 posts

8 months

Yesterday (20:29)
quotequote all
Furbo said:
It used to be the case that if a driver had not reported it to their insurer there was nothing the insurer could do. Has that changed?
That’s never been the case. Your insurers just issue proceedings against the other driver (which will in practice be on his insurance company). At that point most drivers who are adamant they weren’t involved fess up and admit fault, or if they’re silent, remain silent and their insurance company settle with yours. No point defending a claim when you don’t have a defendant.

Unless your damage is minor I’d be claiming via your insurance as they know what they’re doing and you don’t really seem to. If it’s minor damage, then I’d just suck it up through gritted teeth.

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (20:43)
quotequote all
Opapayer said:
Furbo said:
It used to be the case that if a driver had not reported it to their insurer there was nothing the insurer could do. Has that changed?
That s never been the case. Your insurers just issue proceedings against the other driver (which will in practice be on his insurance company). At that point most drivers who are adamant they weren t involved fess up and admit fault, or if they re silent, remain silent and their insurance company settle with yours. No point defending a claim when you don t have a defendant.

Unless your damage is minor I d be claiming via your insurance as they know what they re doing and you don t really seem to. If it s minor damage, then I d just suck it up through gritted teeth.
Why would you suck it up? If you are correct and the insurer can be approached directly, why would I not do that for the sake of the MID £10 fee, which I can probably recover?


Opapayer

1,163 posts

8 months

Yesterday (20:50)
quotequote all
Furbo said:
Opapayer said:
Furbo said:
It used to be the case that if a driver had not reported it to their insurer there was nothing the insurer could do. Has that changed?
That s never been the case. Your insurers just issue proceedings against the other driver (which will in practice be on his insurance company). At that point most drivers who are adamant they weren t involved fess up and admit fault, or if they re silent, remain silent and their insurance company settle with yours. No point defending a claim when you don t have a defendant.

Unless your damage is minor I d be claiming via your insurance as they know what they re doing and you don t really seem to. If it s minor damage, then I d just suck it up through gritted teeth.
Why would you suck it up? If you are correct and the insurer can be approached directly, why would I not do that for the sake of the MID £10 fee, which I can probably recover?
I’d suck it up if it’s minor damage, because it might not be worth my time to do all the legwork that you’re about to do. However, if it’s more serious then I’d give it to my insurance company to deal with. If you fancy going through what is effectively a lengthy legal process that you don’t seem to have much experience of against a well versed company, then good for you. I wouldn’t fancy my chances, it you may have more success. Not sure how you’re going to contact the third party insurers and get them to take any notice of you though.

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (21:08)
quotequote all
Opapayer said:
Furbo said:
Opapayer said:
Furbo said:
It used to be the case that if a driver had not reported it to their insurer there was nothing the insurer could do. Has that changed?
That s never been the case. Your insurers just issue proceedings against the other driver (which will in practice be on his insurance company). At that point most drivers who are adamant they weren t involved fess up and admit fault, or if they re silent, remain silent and their insurance company settle with yours. No point defending a claim when you don t have a defendant.

Unless your damage is minor I d be claiming via your insurance as they know what they re doing and you don t really seem to. If it s minor damage, then I d just suck it up through gritted teeth.
Why would you suck it up? If you are correct and the insurer can be approached directly, why would I not do that for the sake of the MID £10 fee, which I can probably recover?
I d suck it up if it s minor damage, because it might not be worth my time to do all the legwork that you re about to do. However, if it s more serious then I d give it to my insurance company to deal with. If you fancy going through what is effectively a lengthy legal process that you don t seem to have much experience of against a well versed company, then good for you. I wouldn t fancy my chances, it you may have more success. Not sure how you re going to contact the third party insurers and get them to take any notice of you though.
If you are correct and the insurer is liable even if the insured hasn't reported I am not sure why you think it would be a lengthy legal process. Their insured is on camera crashing into my car. A quote from Land Rover for repair will be provided. If they don't pay, small claim. What do you think their defence would be?

My excess is £2k. Call me petty, but if I am going to be out of pocket for a four-figure sum I will put in some effort.

carlove

7,878 posts

190 months

Yesterday (21:15)
quotequote all
I don't know if it's of any help at all, but I have a bit of personal experience but don't know the definite answer. I was involved in a hit and run in 2023, driver rear ended me and just drove off, witnessed by a plain clothed detective who happened to be walking past, he called it in, driver was stopped and arrested 10 minutes later for drink driving, I think I was pretty lucky as I think I'd have been stuffed if not witnessed by the police.

An officer called me back that evening and gave me the driver's name, address, car details, and insurance company as well as a crime reference number. The officer in my case may have been in the wrong providing such info, but also the criminal scum, had been arrested and charged at that point, if that changes things.


Edited by carlove on Monday 16th March 21:18

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (21:20)
quotequote all
carlove said:
I don't know if it's of any help at all, but I have a bit of personal experience but don't know the definite answer. I was involved in a hit and run in 2023, driver rear ended me and just drove off, witnessed by a plain clothed detective who happened to be walking past, he called it in, driver was stopped and arrested 10 minutes later for drink driving, I think I was pretty lucky as I think I'd have been stuffed if not witnessed by the police.

An officer called me back that evening and gave me the driver's name, address, car details, and insurance company as well as a crime reference number. The officer in my case may have been in the wrong providing such info, but also the criminal scum, had been arrested and charged at that point, if that changes things.


Edited by carlove on Monday 16th March 21:18
I was hit by a bus last year, and the driver didn't stop. Plod gave me full details.

Opapayer

1,163 posts

8 months

Yesterday (21:25)
quotequote all
Furbo said:
If you are correct and the insurer is liable even if the insured hasn't reported I am not sure why you think it would be a lengthy legal process. Their insured is on camera crashing into my car. A quote from Land Rover for repair will be provided. If they don't pay, small claim. What do you think their defence would be?

My excess is £2k. Call me petty, but if I am going to be out of pocket for a four-figure sum I will put in some effort.
A £2k excess is nuts, most people I know have excesses sub £500, mine is £200. That’s the amount that I’m prepared to lose if I do something stupid. The impact on my premium from loss of NCD was negligible when I had to make a fault claim for the full value of my car a decade or so back. That’s one of the joys of getting old, NCD doesn’t really matter as much as you’d think.

You may think it’s simple. The other insurer won’t. They won’t pay out because of a video. They probably won’t even talk to you, or acknowledge your claim. They will want to speak to their driver. If he doesn’t play ball, then they’ll just wait for you to issue proceedings. When you do, they’ll then either defend it (unlikely without a defendant driver), or play the long game with you, or if their driver does want to fight it then they’ll defend it. Of course the driver will fail to turn up when it gets to court, but that’s a good couple of years away. A court will probably reject any claim you make inside 12 months as premature.

Fatboy

8,255 posts

295 months

Yesterday (21:42)
quotequote all
Opapayer said:
Furbo said:
If you are correct and the insurer is liable even if the insured hasn't reported I am not sure why you think it would be a lengthy legal process. Their insured is on camera crashing into my car. A quote from Land Rover for repair will be provided. If they don't pay, small claim. What do you think their defence would be?

My excess is £2k. Call me petty, but if I am going to be out of pocket for a four-figure sum I will put in some effort.
A £2k excess is nuts, most people I know have excesses sub £500, mine is £200. That s the amount that I m prepared to lose if I do something stupid. The impact on my premium from loss of NCD was negligible when I had to make a fault claim for the full value of my car a decade or so back. That s one of the joys of getting old, NCD doesn t really matter as much as you d think.

You may think it s simple. The other insurer won t. They won t pay out because of a video. They probably won t even talk to you, or acknowledge your claim. They will want to speak to their driver. If he doesn t play ball, then they ll just wait for you to issue proceedings. When you do, they ll then either defend it (unlikely without a defendant driver), or play the long game with you, or if their driver does want to fight it then they ll defend it. Of course the driver will fail to turn up when it gets to court, but that s a good couple of years away. A court will probably reject any claim you make inside 12 months as premature.
Or, as happened to me when I called the TP's insurance in a similar situation, they contact the TP, and then sort it out with me directly quickly and with no fuss (TP insurers was admiral)...

Furbo

Original Poster:

3,397 posts

55 months

Yesterday (21:44)
quotequote all
Opapayer said:
Furbo said:
If you are correct and the insurer is liable even if the insured hasn't reported I am not sure why you think it would be a lengthy legal process. Their insured is on camera crashing into my car. A quote from Land Rover for repair will be provided. If they don't pay, small claim. What do you think their defence would be?

My excess is £2k. Call me petty, but if I am going to be out of pocket for a four-figure sum I will put in some effort.
A £2k excess is nuts, most people I know have excesses sub £500, mine is £200. That s the amount that I m prepared to lose if I do something stupid. The impact on my premium from loss of NCD was negligible when I had to make a fault claim for the full value of my car a decade or so back. That s one of the joys of getting old, NCD doesn t really matter as much as you d think.
It's a legacy from when I had quite a lot of expensive cars on a multi-car policy.

Opapayer said:
may think it s simple. The other insurer won t. They won t pay out because of a video. They probably won t even talk to you, or acknowledge your claim. They will want to speak to their driver. If he doesn t play ball, then they ll just wait for you to issue proceedings. When you do, they ll then either defend it (unlikely without a defendant driver), or play the long game with you, or if their driver does want to fight it then they ll defend it. Of course the driver will fail to turn up when it gets to court, but that s a good couple of years away. A court will probably reject any claim you make inside 12 months as premature.
And that is mostly incorrect.

LosingGrip

8,640 posts

182 months

Yesterday (22:18)
quotequote all
Furbo said:
If you are correct and the insurer is liable even if the insured hasn't reported I am not sure why you think it would be a lengthy legal process. Their insured is on camera crashing into my car. A quote from Land Rover for repair will be provided. If they don't pay, small claim. What do you think their defence would be?

My excess is £2k. Call me petty, but if I am going to be out of pocket for a four-figure sum I will put in some effort.
You wont be out of pocket. If its as clear cut as you say (you are parked etc) then its likely your insurance company will not bother with the excess as they know they'll get it back.