Car damaged in hospital car park, witness left note with reg
Car damaged in hospital car park, witness left note with reg
Author
Discussion

99t

Original Poster:

1,051 posts

231 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
My car was damaged today whilst parked in a hospital car park. A witness left a note with the reg of the offending vehicle and his own mobile number - I have already thanked him.

Apparently the other vehicle reversed into mine, the driver got out and inspected the damage before making off.

I have completed a police report form online with all available details, but how best to proceed now? V888 to the DVLA or notify my insurance with the 3rd party reg. and let them pursue?

I don't intend to claim on my own insurance for the damage (just paintwork) but ideally would like the other driver to foot the bill without affecting my own renewal premium in a few months time.

Thanks for any suggestions.

SydneyBridge

10,830 posts

180 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
Pay for an Mid check, phone their insurers and report the incident

https://www.askmid.com/

Edited by SydneyBridge on Thursday 18th January 19:59

Evanivitch

25,644 posts

144 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
If you've completed a police report then you've already formally acknowledged you've had an incident that you will need to inform your insurance about when asked at renewal.

I'm not sure you have any avenue to go direct to their insurer.

theoriginalpaul

200 posts

92 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
Even if the other guy’s insurance pays out you’ll still need to declare a ‘no fault’ claim, which might have an adverse effect on your renewal.

BertBert

20,799 posts

233 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
99t said:
I don't intend to claim on my own insurance for the damage (just paintwork) but ideally would like the other driver to foot the bill without affecting my own renewal premium in a few months time.

Thanks for any suggestions.
If you are not claiming on your own insurance then your only choice (other than to forget it) is to claim on the other person direct.

Pica-Pica

15,875 posts

106 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
You will still be obliged to inform your insurer.

99t

Original Poster:

1,051 posts

231 months

Thursday 18th January 2024
quotequote all
Thanks all, I think I'll try DVLA, see if they'll give me the keepers details and go from there.

Noted re insurance, if they can be excluded from the equation at this stage then I'll notify at renewal, not sure what they would make of a private settlement (even assuming one can be reached) but I'll worry about that at the time.

Nibbles_bits

1,942 posts

61 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
This came up on another thread recently.

Read your Ts&Cs.

Your insurance company might not be too impressed if at renewal you suddenly declare a non-fault accident.

Most insurance companies ask that you inform them of any accidents or damage caused, whether at fault or not and regardless of you making a claim or not.

I know some people thought I'd lost the plot, but you should (should being the key word here) inform your insurance company of any damage caused to your vehicle, regardless of how it was caused.
You should inform YOUR insurance company if you are have an accident(a collision, because that needed to be clarified last time) in another vehicle, a company van for example.
This is so that your insurance company can reassess your risk, and in the case of damage, adjust they're valuation appropriately.

helix402

7,913 posts

204 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
Tell your insurance. Let them sort it out. This is what you pay them for.

E-bmw

12,038 posts

174 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
helix402 said:
Tell your insurance. Let them sort it out. This is what you pay them for.
^^^ Wot 'e said.

1. You need to inform your insurance company of any material change to your status at the earliest opportunity.

2. If your other means fail, as they likely will you have lost a lot of time & as above your ins. co. WILL then kick back for the above reason.

3. Whether your ins. co. or theirs comes good it is still a no-fault claim and you have a witness to this effect.

BertBert

20,799 posts

233 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
The other thing you have at stake is your NCD. What happens to that with a claim through your insurer?

I'd try a claim directly if the other person/they insurer if I was you

TwigtheWonderkid

47,739 posts

172 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
BertBert said:
The other thing you have at stake is your NCD. What happens to that with a claim through your insurer?

If they manage to reclaim 100% of their outlay from the guilty party or their insurers, nothing happens to it.

Sebring440

3,033 posts

118 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
99t said:
Thanks all, I think I'll try DVLA, see if they'll give me the keepers details.
Good luck with that.

You could say you're a parking company though.


E-bmw

12,038 posts

174 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
BertBert said:
The other thing you have at stake is your NCD. What happens to that with a claim through your insurer?

If they manage to reclaim 100% of their outlay from the guilty party or their insurers, nothing happens to it.
Correct, although the premium may change as the risk profile will be different.

Some insurers reflect this more than others, so a switch can be extremely helpful to minimise the effects of this.

99t

Original Poster:

1,051 posts

231 months

Friday 19th January 2024
quotequote all
As advised above, I pay the insurance so decided to let them do the graft.

Informed insurer, they are going to pursue 3rd party insurer for repair costs.

I've said I won't authorise a repair unless other insurer accepts liability, which the claims handler seemed fairly certain they would do given the presence of an independent witness.

We'll see...

Edit to add - received an email from Merseyside Police, saying that their policy is not to even file cases of damage only incidents in carparks and similar, so case closed and your form is in the bin, basically.

Edited by 99t on Friday 19th January 13:33

GasEngineer

2,051 posts

84 months

Saturday 20th January 2024
quotequote all
99t said:
Edit to add - received an email from Merseyside Police, saying that their policy is not to even file cases of damage only incidents in carparks and similar, so case closed and your form is in the bin, basically.

Edited by 99t on Friday 19th January 13:33
Shocking.

I can understand police not being interested if details are exchanged, but when somebody has clearly acknowledged the accident and decided to leave the scene of the accident without leaving details the police should surely be pursuing them.

There must be some offence they have committed?

Nibbles_bits

1,942 posts

61 months

Saturday 20th January 2024
quotequote all
Although I understand the frustration with this, just imagine if the police dealt with every hit and run in car parks?

Would they have time to do anything else?
Approximately 8 drivers are prosecuted for failing to stop at the scene of an accident every day.

Don't forget, the requirement is "to stop" and provide your details to someone requiring them.

Leaving a note isn't a legal requirement.

That driver, for whatever reason, could have reported the accident at a police station.......just not a local one.
Providing it's done within 24hrs, no offence has been committed.

Even if the driver were to be prosecuted, the result wouldn't have any impact on you.

E-bmw

12,038 posts

174 months

Saturday 20th January 2024
quotequote all
Doesn't the law see "premises car parks" as private land so not of the plod's concern.

Just asking.

davamer23

1,152 posts

176 months

Saturday 20th January 2024
quotequote all
AskMid: to obtain the offenders insurance company.
Contact their 3rd party claims dept, with photos and state you have details for independent witness (with their permission)
Inform your insurance co that you’re pursuing a third party claim.

I had this a few years back, my vehicle was hit while parked at the local cinema.
The Offending vehicle’s insurer emailed saying they will give their insured party 14 days to respond at which time if they didn’t then they would authorise repairs to my vehicle.
The offending party obviously didn’t respond and my vehicle was repaired and a hire car provided.
I had to declare a non fault accident for 5 years but my premiums didn’t seem to suffer.

Would’ve been interesting to see what the offending driver’s renewal quote looked like if they were inclined to offer cover at all.

Durzel

12,943 posts

190 months

Saturday 20th January 2024
quotequote all
GasEngineer said:
99t said:
Edit to add - received an email from Merseyside Police, saying that their policy is not to even file cases of damage only incidents in carparks and similar, so case closed and your form is in the bin, basically.

Edited by 99t on Friday 19th January 13:33
Shocking.

I can understand police not being interested if details are exchanged, but when somebody has clearly acknowledged the accident and decided to leave the scene of the accident without leaving details the police should surely be pursuing them.

There must be some offence they have committed?
There is, but if there is finite resource (officers & time), and both parties are insured, is it not effective to simply let the insurers deal with it?

It’s not great, I’d want someone who did this sort of thing prosecuted on a point of principle, but I also recognise that there isn’t enough resources to deal with things like this.