Car damaged in car park - advice needed

[gd49]

Someone has scraped the rear of my car whilst parked in a supermarket car park this morning. No note left, of course. Couple of questions:

1. I've contacted the supermarket, they do have CCTV in the car park and there's supposed to be ANPR cameras so I guess there's a chance of tracing the culprit. They say I have to contact my insurance company and only when my insurance company contact the supermarket will they check the CCTV. Is this true?

2. If it's not possible to trace the culprit, I wouldn't want to claim through my own insurance as the damage isn't likely to cost much more than my excess and my NCB isn't protected. Just by notifying my insurance, even if I don't claim, can I lose my NCB? The wording in the policy booklet suggests it can.

Thanks for any advice.

[orangesrule]

Happened to my sister 2 weeks ago, offside door/quarter panel/tyre and alloy damaged.

No cctv. Got a crime number, but didn't bother going through insurance, as the excess's and lose of ncb isn't worth it.


shes now looking at a £250 bodywork bill, around £50 for a new tyre and will just leave the alloy as is.

If you want it fixed and the bill is under £600 i wouldn't even consider going through insurance.

bds.

[EDLT]

Just get it fixed.* It is unlikely the CCTV footage will show your car getting scraped anyway, unless it is pointing right at the part of the car that got damaged and you can prove the scrap wasn't there already - this is assuming the other drive was insured.

Notifying your insurer of an accident could put your premium up next year too.




 *I wouldn't fix the car at all, have you seen how many cars there are with scrapes and dents in them? It is only a matter of time until you get another.

[djglover]

Get it fixed and then start parking at the arse end of the car park near no one else and walking a few hundered yards to the shop. Its worth the investment in time to avoid car park damage to your P&J.

[Jazzerd]

Insurance will ask 'any accidents, claims or convictions', in my experience they will count no cost claims (such as yours) as claims regardless.

Won't the police go and look at the CCTV?

Edited by Jazzerd on Sunday 13th May 12:13

[GreigM]

Jazzerd said:

Won't the police go and look at the CCTV?

that would be my thought - ask the police to look at the CCTV - surely they have a responsibility to investigate criminal damage?

[snuffle]

Probably not what you want to hear but,
Either
claim on your own policy, 1-2 hours of phone calls, maybe get a hire car maybe not, possible xs to pay. suffer increase on policy for next few years.

or

Spend many more hours trying to track down culprit, get annoyed, post rants on PH, get more stressed then claim on your own policy with scenario above following.

or

Go to a bodyshop that someone you know can recomend at a time that suits you.
get estimate 1/2 hour of your time taken.
book car in,leave car, you may need to arrange alterative transport for a few days, pay bill, drive away. and probably wont cost any more in the long run.

[Wacky Racer]

snuffle said:

or

Go to a bodyshop that someone you know can recomend at a time that suits you.
get estimate 1/2 hour of your time taken.
book car in,leave car, you may need to arrange alterative transport for a few days, pay bill, drive away. and probably wont cost any more in the long run.

This.

Put it down to experience and one of the drawbacks of driving/owning a car.

[richcorsavxr]

happened to me early this year, went to the police and got a crime numeber, they checked the cctv which was pretty much pointing directly at the car and told me about insuficent evidence and so on.

so don't get any hopes up.

[gd49]

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm less concerned about the damage, it's only cosmetic and I usually keep my cars for a long time, so resale value is less important to me (and MX-5 values have dropped in the past year anyway!). I'm more determined to catch the pathetic person who drove off, if possible.

Definately won't be contacting my insurance, glad I checked here first before ringing them. Have contacted the police, they're coming to see me on Wednesday and will then check the CCTV, which is better than I expected from them, but from others experience sounds like it's not likely to have a happy outcome.

[Lordglenmorangie]

djglover said:

Get it fixed and then start parking at the arse end of the car park near no one else and walking a few hundered yards to the shop. Its worth the investment in time to avoid car park damage to your P&J.

Tried that, park virtually outside the car park miles from the entrance. Always come back to a st box parked so close I have to get in the passenger side. What is it with 4X4s and people carriers that they have to sit on sports cars.

[KingNothing]

Start parking over two bays, ding free car, and you'll get some free publicity in the bad parking thread

Edited by KingNothing on Sunday 13th May 13:31

[XDA]

djglover said:

Get it fixed and then start parking at the arse end of the car park near no one else and walking a few hundered yards to the shop. Its worth the investment in time to avoid car park damage to your P&J.

Doesn't work!!

I do this in every car park I park in and whenever I return to my car, there will be someone parked right next to me...

[All that jazz]

XDA said:

Doesn't work!!

I do this in every car park I park in and whenever I return to my car, there will be someone parked right next to me...

That happens to me as well. WTF is the reason for this? It seriously fks me off. And it's nearly always some old battered stter like a people carrier or a van.

One of these days I'm going to wait for them to come back and ask them what goes through their mind when they see a ton of empty spaces around and then suddenly decide that parking next to a sole car is a good idea. I just don't get it.

[FRMATT]

XDA said:

Doesn't work!!

I do this in every car park I park in and whenever I return to my car, there will be someone parked right next to me...

I find going after 9pm or later avoids most of "them" and also the shop's a bit quieter so there is less queue at the check out and you can trolley drift unhindered

[mx5tom]

XDA said:

Doesn't work!!

I do this in every car park I park in and whenever I return to my car, there will be someone parked right next to me...

I like to think they park there because they're like minded people who also want to avoid the knobs who can't open a door without swinging it into the next car.... But then why they would park directly next to another car I don't know, but I live in hope.

I always park in the most deserted area of the car park, rain or shine (to the annoyance of my girlfriend) and never had a bump. Literally the one time I gave in to the nagging and parked close to the door, I came back to find more black paint than you'd reasonably expect to find on a bright red car... She doesn't moan at me for parking far away anymore...

[philmots]

Disabled/Parent and child spots are your new friend...

Seriously though, I'm an early bird always at the shops as they open so alwas park fairly far away but always get an end spot. That way I get it right up to the line which generally leaves a foot or so for the fk-wits parking next to me. I'm normally done by 11 so it's rare there's anyone next to me anyway!

[gd49]

Police came today, took details, checked CCTV, incident not captured, as expected! Will be parking a little further away from now on. Car needs sills doing (as all MX-5s do!), so will probably get the damage fixed whenever those get done.

Got cold-called by an accident claims company the day after I reported the incident to the police - I missed the call so didn't find out how they got my details. Coincidence?

[Fatman2]

Jazzerd said:

Insurance will ask 'any accidents, claims or convictions', in my experience they will count no cost claims (such as yours) as claims regardless.

Won't the police go and look at the CCTV?

Edited by Jazzerd on Sunday 13th May 12:13

I'm sure that depends on who you insure with. I'm with the Priviledge and the missus had a rear end crash when she and another woman reversed out from opposing parking spaces.

The other woman started claim proceedings but subsequently dropped it. When I spoke to the advisor he said that after 3 months the claim is quashed if the other party fail to take it any further. Since then my premium hasn't changed one bit.