Car hit in carpark, car drove off...police?
Discussion
Girlfriends just got back from working at the pub, where a landrover with a towbar has reversed into her car (a 2006 VW Beetle) and smashed the reverse light plus cracked/deformed an area of the bumper together with paint damage on it etc. It'll need either a new bumper or atleast extensive reworking with associated paint, from having a 30 second look I'd say £2-300 minimum. The other car drove off but there were about 10 witnesses in the pub car park, so we've got the cars info and reg plate - apprently he stopped for a few seconds after he hit it and then drove off. Obviously I'm keen to ring the police who can track him down and get his details etc, but if we were to do that and then go through his insurance, will my girlfriends insurance go up as she'd have a non-fault claim on her record? If that were going to be the case we'd probably be best sucking it up and sorting it out ourselves (or should I say myself!)?
Cheers,
Dom
Cheers,
Dom
From what i've heard, yes your girlfriend's insurance may go up as a result of a non-fault claim. At least Watchdog seem to think so anyway...
I'd say your best plan of attack is to get the police involved as soon as possible. Once you've got the guy tracked down, and if you can try to be amicable with him once you've tracked him down; then you could get him to pay for the damage outside of insurance.
I'd say your best plan of attack is to get the police involved as soon as possible. Once you've got the guy tracked down, and if you can try to be amicable with him once you've tracked him down; then you could get him to pay for the damage outside of insurance.
Hmm...having typed the registration into a car checker it's coming up at a Rover 400 rather than the witnesses Range Rover, so either they've got the registration wrong (though there were lots of people who saw it) or something dodgy's going on with the car. Guess we'll have no choice but to pay for it out of our own pockets - lovely!
Dom
Dom
I witnessed the owner of another car prising her car's driver's door off my car's passenger door (leaving a dent and traces of paint) - then said woman got in the car and drove off.
A greater manchester police* officer gave a raft of excuses as to why this wouldn't be pursued (including the cost of forensics - the cost of getting a sample of my paint from her car would be prohibitive as her car had so many samples of other cars' paint [but my car was otherwise clean with a clear sample of her car's paint on one door which could have been taken
], but I was offered the other driver's insurance details - so that's OK then).
FFS!
So I must announce myself as another dissatisfied punter of gmp* - and they wonder why no-one has any confidence in them :rolleyes; ...
Anyway, don't expect any satisfactory resolution to your conundrum
.
*gmp/greater manchester police - lower case intentional. Utter shower
.
A greater manchester police* officer gave a raft of excuses as to why this wouldn't be pursued (including the cost of forensics - the cost of getting a sample of my paint from her car would be prohibitive as her car had so many samples of other cars' paint [but my car was otherwise clean with a clear sample of her car's paint on one door which could have been taken
], but I was offered the other driver's insurance details - so that's OK then). FFS!
So I must announce myself as another dissatisfied punter of gmp* - and they wonder why no-one has any confidence in them :rolleyes; ...
Anyway, don't expect any satisfactory resolution to your conundrum
.*gmp/greater manchester police - lower case intentional. Utter shower
.Will probably give the local station a ring this morning, it winds me up to know they just drove off knowing they could have caused a significant amount of damage! The only thing I'm worried about is that I don't want to end up having increased premiums, so wouldn't want the police to track the guy down and then force it through the insurance - is this possible? I.e. if we go the official route would it end up going through the insurance company if the guy didn't want to pay himself, or would that be down to us? Even £100 would help, as I could probably buy a second hand bumper and spray/fit it myself!
Cheers,
Dom
Cheers,
Dom
They were probably pissed. Should have rung there and then. Report it at the station but you'll need your documents.
With regards fail to stop not being investigated. If the person is insured etc then it will normally be left as the punishment for fts is so minimal. It does come down to cost. Finite resources. They won't spend 500 on getting forensic paint matches etc and investigative resources when there are no other aggravating factors. It's not right. It's not fair but things cost money and the budget is shrinking 20%.
With regards fail to stop not being investigated. If the person is insured etc then it will normally be left as the punishment for fts is so minimal. It does come down to cost. Finite resources. They won't spend 500 on getting forensic paint matches etc and investigative resources when there are no other aggravating factors. It's not right. It's not fair but things cost money and the budget is shrinking 20%.
Sorry to hear about the damage.
It's sad but we basically live in a world that is not policed for the majority of crimes against people, but is policed for a number of easy to detect 'technical infringements' like speeding.
As for the driver at fault - he'll probably drink-drive again, just keep your eyes open and shop him the next time he's leaving the pub to drive home. And in the meantime demand payment of course if you do find him.
It's sad but we basically live in a world that is not policed for the majority of crimes against people, but is policed for a number of easy to detect 'technical infringements' like speeding.
As for the driver at fault - he'll probably drink-drive again, just keep your eyes open and shop him the next time he's leaving the pub to drive home. And in the meantime demand payment of course if you do find him.
Nobody was injured; the OP has witness statements and the details of the "other" vehicle, which IMHO make it an insurance or Accident management co. job, best to leave the police to more important things . . . . . like harassing motorists, demonstrating a huge lack of common sense, ignoring actual crime over something that will allow them to score points, bleating about budget cuts that should simply mean a return to community policing and a move away from the current ill-informed Gestapo like policy’s
Zeemax_Mini said:
Hmm...having typed the registration into a car checker it's coming up at a Rover 400 rather than the witnesses Range Rover, so either they've got the registration wrong (though there were lots of people who saw it) or something dodgy's going on with the car. Guess we'll have no choice but to pay for it out of our own pockets - lovely!
Dom
My Ex had her wing mirror smashed by a RR, both her & her passenger got the VRN & I insisted she reported it as the RR didn't stop. The VRN came back as not recognised so either they both got it wrong or the VRN was false. Either way, muggins here ended up paying the (thankfully small) repair bill.Dom
If you do report it just make sure your paperwork is all up to date as you will have to produce your documents.
AndrewW-G said:
Nobody was injured; the OP has witness statements and the details of the "other" vehicle, which IMHO make it an insurance or Accident management co. job, best to leave the police to more important things . . . . . like harassing motorists, demonstrating a huge lack of common sense, ignoring actual crime over something that will allow them to score points, bleating about budget cuts that should simply mean a return to community policing and a move away from the current ill-informed Gestapo like policy’s
Says the Daily Mail in another finely balanced and factually based article. Yes let's return to the crime levels of 20 years ago. Double for what it's worth.
Mr_annie_vxr said:
Yes let's return to the crime levels of 20 years ago. Double for what it's worth.
Yes crime has gone down over the past 20 years . . . . .or people have just got to the point, where they know that reporting something isn’t worth the trouble unless a crime number is required.ETA, a good example of the above, is the theft of a large stone plaque from the gate posts at the bottom of my drive, I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the local police force, who in past encounters have proven to be neither use nor ornament. Financially there was no point claiming on my insurance, so a crime number wasn’t needed . . . . Therefore this theft went unrecorded and your crime figures unsullied with another additional statistic.
Edited by AndrewW-G on Sunday 12th June 11:51
Getting off topic here folks! If it was me I think I'd just suck it up and fix it myself but the missus is quite adament that it's not fair etc, so think we'll be reporting it and seeing what happens though given the fact I can't find a RR matching the reg even with all possible variations of it I'm not holding my breath!
Cheers,
Dom
Cheers,
Dom
AndrewW-G said:
Yes crime has gone down over the past 20 years . . . . .or people have just got to the point, where they know that reporting something isn’t worth the trouble unless a crime number is required.
ETA, a good example of the above, is the theft of a large stone plaque from the gate posts at the bottom of my drive, I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the local police force, who in past encounters have proven to be neither use nor ornament. Financially there was no point claiming on my insurance, so a crime number wasn’t needed . . . . Therefore this theft went unrecorded and your crime figures unsullied with another additional statistic.
Which is why it's important that you do report the petty crimes - without the statistics there to show they're doing fETA, a good example of the above, is the theft of a large stone plaque from the gate posts at the bottom of my drive, I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the local police force, who in past encounters have proven to be neither use nor ornament. Financially there was no point claiming on my insurance, so a crime number wasn’t needed . . . . Therefore this theft went unrecorded and your crime figures unsullied with another additional statistic.
k all about petty crime, no pressure will be applied to do so. If everyone repored the petty stuff, there would be action on it...AndrewW-G said:
Yes crime has gone down over the past 20 years . . . . .or people have just got to the point, where they know that reporting something isn’t worth the trouble unless a crime number is required.
ETA, a good example of the above, is the theft of a large stone plaque from the gate posts at the bottom of my drive, I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the local police force, who in past encounters have proven to be neither use nor ornament. Financially there was no point claiming on my insurance, so a crime number wasn’t needed . . . . Therefore this theft went unrecorded and your crime figures unsullied with another additional statistic.
Of course, 20 years ago every man and his dog didn't have a mobile phone, every man and his dog wasn't on Facebook being 'harrased' and people didn't expect the Police to sort their lives out for thsm in ten minutes.ETA, a good example of the above, is the theft of a large stone plaque from the gate posts at the bottom of my drive, I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the local police force, who in past encounters have proven to be neither use nor ornament. Financially there was no point claiming on my insurance, so a crime number wasn’t needed . . . . Therefore this theft went unrecorded and your crime figures unsullied with another additional statistic.
Edited by AndrewW-G on Sunday 12th June 11:51
So the rise of technology means far more (nonsense) crimes get reported than ever before. But why let facts get in the way of a good rant. Always makes you feel better on a sunday morning!
As for teh OP. You don't lose anything by reporting it. Who knows, some Forces are better than others. My Force will investigate all RTCs where the driver failed to stop. Metropolitan Forces like The Met and GMP are less inclined to do so.
Zeemax_Mini said:
Getting off topic here folks! If it was me I think I'd just suck it up and fix it myself but the missus is quite adament that it's not fair etc, so think we'll be reporting it and seeing what happens though given the fact I can't find a RR matching the reg even with all possible variations of it I'm not holding my breath!
Cheers,
Dom
If it was me I would report it to the police and do nothing for a week or so (unless the car needs urgent repairs). If no joy from the police then suck it up and pay for the repairs if they're only a few hundred quid. Whatever you do though DO NOT ring the ins co even if you don't claim you will have to disclose the incident come renewal time.Cheers,
Dom
Yes, it's piss boiling and unfair but that's life. Oh and to put my views into perspective I'm about to fork out over £500 of my own money to repair the audi which has been damaged (twice) in this way and we never found out who did it. A sad fact of the f
kwit society we live in today I'm afraid.
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