Van damaged car, chances of a claim?

Van damaged car, chances of a claim?

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CaptainMorgan

Original Poster:

1,454 posts

158 months

Friday 6th November 2020
quotequote all
I'll try not to waffle too much but here we go...

Thursday afternoon I walk the dog and spot some damage to my car. Spent a while going through the camera at the front of the house and eventually find the incident, it happened a couple of evenings before. Plain white van, leaves no note, no nothing. Footage isn't good enough for a reg so I knocked on some doors, found the house the parcel was delivered to, they confirmed the time etc which all matches up with when the incident happened. Another person came out shortly after they heard the noise but only saw the guy/van driving away at speed.

I've contacted the company (online seller named after large rainforest), I had assumed they were all sub contracted and ran their own insurance but perhaps not as they've put me onto their claims company. What do we reckon my chances are of a (relatively) hassle free claim? It's quite clear that the van that caused the damage was the van that delivered the parcel but do we think they will try and argue the toss?

Massively fked off, second non fault accident I'll have to declare now on all the policies and my nice shiny car is no longer the right shape. frown

Davie_GLA

6,521 posts

198 months

Friday 6th November 2020
quotequote all
Without evidence of driver or car I'd say you're unlikely to be successful. Any local cameras that might have picked it up? Either council run or private CCTV?.

How much damage to your car? As crap as it sounds the cost of repairing it independently Vs the increase in your claims and general grief. Assume as it wasn't immediately noticed over the last couple of days that the damage isn't massive but I guess crappy light, weather and grime might have made it less obvious.

CaptainMorgan

Original Poster:

1,454 posts

158 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
Walked up the road yesterday, found one other CCTV but it’s just a blur of the van going past unfortunately.

Fair bit of damage, best guess is around £3000 at the moment, assuming nothings too bent underneath but I’m waiting for the bodyshop to get back to me.

I was thinking the same regarding declaring a claim too but it’s a decent chunk of cash, if it were a scuff then I’d not even consider chasing for it.

The Rotrex Kid

30,192 posts

159 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
I’d hope your chances are good. Video evidence of the accident, proof that the delivery guy was in the area at the time, they’ll know who it was and which van without you needing a registration number. Fingers crossed!

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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I think you’ll be fine - they’ll be able to use tracking info to find a specific van and driver, and you, thankfully, have CCTV of the incident.

syl

693 posts

74 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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“Employers are vicariously liable, under the respondeat superior doctrine, for negligent acts or omissions by their employees in the course of employment (sometimes referred to as 'scope and course of employment').” (Wikipedia)

If it was an Amazon courier, you can take action against Amazon. If they subcontracted to another company, you can take action against them.

gazza285

9,780 posts

207 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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Order something from Amazon...

TheDrownedApe

1,016 posts

55 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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I think amazon recently franchised their delivery service. Let's hope your area is still amazon and not some 3rd party company that will fight tooth and nail

Ussrcossack

517 posts

41 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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They have a responsibility.

And a reputation too, some may dispute this.

I had a truck take my mirror off recently.

Rang company, no or get a quote and well reimburse.
Sorted with days and this wasn't a multi national just a localish company

Nickyboy

6,700 posts

233 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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gazza285 said:
Order something from Amazon...
Have you ever had the same driver deliver? I certainly haven't

loskie

5,144 posts

119 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
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have you reported to the Police? Although they may not be interested it may add some impetus to your claim. It's sickening things like this and criminal.

gazza285

9,780 posts

207 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
Nickyboy said:
gazza285 said:
Order something from Amazon...
Have you ever had the same driver deliver? I certainly haven't
I had hoped the ellipsis would convey my frivolous attempt at humour. Never mind.

Davie_GLA

6,521 posts

198 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
gazza285 said:
I had hoped the ellipsis would convey my frivolous attempt at humour. Never mind.
I almost always get the same driver. Private car so obviously one of the independents drivers but always is the same car and person. Blue xtrail stuffed full of packages.

liquidfox

91 posts

135 months

Saturday 7th November 2020
quotequote all
Amazon uses self-employed delivery drivers, but due to the nature of their deliveries, they'll easily be able to trace which driver was in your street at the time. A lot of drivers use hired vans from Amazon, the others are generally insured by Amazon, so you shouldn't have any issues. Your neighbour's Amazon delivery tracking will help you.

Edited by liquidfox on Saturday 7th November 23:00

CaptainMorgan

Original Poster:

1,454 posts

158 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
Cheers for the replies, put my mind at ease a bit.

I ordered something from there and waited with my brother but it wasn't the same driver unfortunately. The neighbour has had numerous deliveries since but no luck there either.

I'll update how it goes, I'm hoping the body shop get back to me tomorrow so I can get it booked in ASAP. It's making me sad seeing it bent up.

ResQ1

96 posts

47 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
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Unfortunately, there's very little chance of a successful claim unless you have evidence specifically proving which vehicle hit yours, i.e showing or stating the registration or fleet identification number of the vehicle. Without that, its going to be one persons word against another which "white van" hit yours.

As the law stands, its up to the person making the claim (you) to prove their your loss, i.e that the other person was the one involved in the accident, that they caused all the damage being claimed for and that they are liable for your loss. The other person
doesn't have to prove it wasn't them... the burden of proof rests with the claimant.

Without this the claim is pretty much bound to fail, sorry.

Corvid-2020

1,994 posts

78 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
You have a very good chance I'd say. Had exactly the same, except it wasn't my car, it was my wall that was damaged by a van doing a 3PT. Only found it a couple of days later as I was working away at the time.

As you, my CCTV picked up the van, but not the reg (as it was reversing into my wall my wall obscured the reg). The driver (person) though was in good view and I recognised him as being someone that worked at YOur DELiveries.

Rang them up (after a number of hold for many minutes, was about to give up), told them, they said they wondered where the damage to the van had come from and sorted everything, hassle free.



But Tesco, when their van driver knocked over a street lamp parking on the pavement, I rang them to check that their driver was "OK" (he smelt drunk when dropping off my shopping) were a right PITA and denied anything happening so corporate machine does indeed try and hide.

So I sent the CCTV to my local council and uploaded via Fix My Street.

Tesco at some point a few weeks later sent me 10,000 Clubcard points as a thankyou for "bringing the issue to their attention" and some private contractor fixed the wobbly street lamp.




CaptainMorgan

Original Poster:

1,454 posts

158 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
ResQ1 said:
Unfortunately, there's very little chance of a successful claim unless you have evidence specifically proving which vehicle hit yours, i.e showing or stating the registration or fleet identification number of the vehicle. Without that, its going to be one persons word against another which "white van" hit yours.

As the law stands, its up to the person making the claim (you) to prove their your loss, i.e that the other person was the one involved in the accident, that they caused all the damage being claimed for and that they are liable for your loss. The other person
doesn't have to prove it wasn't them... the burden of proof rests with the claimant.

Without this the claim is pretty much bound to fail, sorry.
I thought that, but then I've got the van on camera, GPS tracking is pretty accurate on their app, plus he delivers the exact moment he goes out of shot. We'll see, I'll keep you all updated. It's lose lose anyway, even if they payout then I'll get shafted declaring the accident for the next 5 years. frown

loskie

5,144 posts

119 months

Sunday 8th November 2020
quotequote all
you shouldn't do if it's not fault and you claim off the 3rd party insurer only notifying yours. I had a car written off, claimed off the other guy's insurance, had no affect on mine

CaptainMorgan

Original Poster:

1,454 posts

158 months

Monday 9th November 2020
quotequote all
I've fired the evidence off along with the claim form and an estimate, hopefully they don't mess me about.

loskie said:
you shouldn't do if it's not fault and you claim off the 3rd party insurer only notifying yours. I had a car written off, claimed off the other guy's insurance, had no affect on mine
I've got a accident already from a neighbour reversing into it, I figured a second would make matters worse come renewal.