car park prang...trouble getting details

[tuneltek]

Hi... last Friday I was parked in a discount store car park . stationary with the engine off. A
woman reversed maybe 15metres straight back and hit the rear quarter of my car .Small paint chip
and the bumper has damage..moved out of alignment.
As I was pushed for time I let the woman write her details on a notepad and had to rush off to a meeting. After the meeting I went to 3 different bodyshops to get quotes and check out the premises/staff etc to see where I was happy for my car to be repaired. At one of the bodyshops I was informed that I can get a hire car of the same type/equivalent to mine ,,,BMW M3

My problem is that the woman did not write down her reg number and now will not provide it and her insurance company will not give it to me as its in breach of the Data protection act...is this normal?Without the reg number I cannot book a hire car
Its a company that only insures women...so I guess they get a lot of these claims!
I have the womans name and address, email and phone number ...her response is that the insurance company is dealing with the claim...speak with them.
How can I get the reg number given either to me or the bodyshop so I can book my car in and organise a suitable hire car

any advice much appreciated

Aaron

[motco]

tuneltek said:

Hi... last Friday I was parked in a discount store car park . stationary with the engine off. A
woman reversed maybe 15metres straight back and hit the rear quarter of my car .Small paint chip
and the bumper has damage..moved out of alignment.
As I was pushed for time I let the woman write her details on a notepad and had to rush off to a meeting. After the meeting I went to 3 different bodyshops to get quotes and check out the premises/staff etc to see where I was happy for my car to be repaired. At one of the bodyshops I was informed that I can get a hire car of the same type/equivalent to mine ,,,BMW M3

My problem is that the woman did not write down her reg number and now will not provide it and her insurance company will not give it to me as its in breach of the Data protection act...is this normal?Without the reg number I cannot book a hire car
Its a company that only insures women...so I guess they get a lot of these claims!
I have the womans name and address, email and phone number ...her response is that the insurance company is dealing with the claim...speak with them.
How can I get the reg number given either to me or the bodyshop so I can book my car in and organise a suitable hire car

any advice much appreciated

Aaron

Can't you go round to her place and look at her car?

[JQ]

You are aware that essentially you will be hiring an M3 and the bodyshop will kindly try to recover the cost from the 3rd party insurer on your behalf, however if they can't, you will have signed an agreement that you'll meet the costs - a credit hire agreement.

Why aren't the 3rd party insurer booking your car in for the repair? When this has happened to me in the past (twice), I've just booked it through them and had a hire car dropped off in a matter hours.

[tuneltek]

I think I will go to her address and get the reg number...just not really into stalking!!

[castroses]

tuneltek said:

Hi... last Friday I was parked in a discount store car park . stationary with the engine off. A
woman reversed maybe 15metres straight back and hit the rear quarter of my car .Small paint chip
and the bumper has damage..moved out of alignment.
As I was pushed for time I let the woman write her details on a notepad and had to rush off to a meeting. After the meeting I went to 3 different bodyshops to get quotes and check out the premises/staff etc to see where I was happy for my car to be repaired. At one of the bodyshops I was informed that I can get a hire car of the same type/equivalent to mine ,,,BMW M3

My problem is that the woman did not write down her reg number and now will not provide it and her insurance company will not give it to me as its in breach of the Data protection act...is this normal?Without the reg number I cannot book a hire car
Its a company that only insures women...so I guess they get a lot of these claims!
I have the womans name and address, email and phone number ...her response is that the insurance company is dealing with the claim...speak with them.
How can I get the reg number given either to me or the bodyshop so I can book my car in and organise a suitable hire car

any advice much appreciated

Aaron

Is this for real?

You know her address but can't figure out for yourself how to get her car reg?
Seriously?? You have to come in an Internet forum for the answer to this?
Words fking fail me!!

Drive past her fking house and use your mark 1 eyeballs. Write it down if early onset dementia is setting in and you won't be able to remember it till you get home.

Jesus Christ!

[castroses]

tuneltek said:

Hi... last Friday I was parked in a discount store car park . stationary with the engine off. A
woman reversed maybe 15metres straight back and hit the rear quarter of my car .Small paint chip
and the bumper has damage..moved out of alignment.
As I was pushed for time I let the woman write her details on a notepad and had to rush off to a meeting. After the meeting I went to 3 different bodyshops to get quotes and check out the premises/staff etc to see where I was happy for my car to be repaired. At one of the bodyshops I was informed that I can get a hire car of the same type/equivalent to mine ,,,BMW M3

My problem is that the woman did not write down her reg number and now will not provide it and her insurance company will not give it to me as its in breach of the Data protection act...is this normal?Without the reg number I cannot book a hire car
Its a company that only insures women...so I guess they get a lot of these claims!
I have the womans name and address, email and phone number ...her response is that the insurance company is dealing with the claim...speak with them.
How can I get the reg number given either to me or the bodyshop so I can book my car in and organise a suitable hire car

any advice much appreciated

Aaron

Is this for real?

You know her address but can't figure out for yourself how to get her car reg?
Seriously?? You have to come in an Internet forum for the answer to this?
Words fking fail me!!

Drive past her fking house and use your mark 1 eyeballs. Write it down if early onset dementia is setting in and you won't be able to remember it till you get home.

Jesus Christ!

[tuneltek]

is there really any need for the attitude....it was a simple question....the woman lives 2 hours drive from me so a few lines on an internet forum asking for advice seems ok to me .

[Sheepshanks]

tuneltek said:

At one of the bodyshops I was informed that I can get a hire car of the same type/equivalent to mine ,,,BMW M3

Do you really need an M3 courtesy car?

It'll turn a minor claim into a major one, and there's a chance the woman's insurer may refuse to cover the no doubt insane cost.

[imdeman87]

tuneltek said:

is there really any need for the attitude....it was a simple question....the woman lives 2 hours drive from me so a few lines on an internet forum asking for advice seems ok to me .

Maybe a fellow PHer could drive-by if you give us the first half of the postcode? And then you can deal via pm. Would save you 4 hours and a lot in fuel costs.

Edited by imdeman87 on Tuesday 15th November 18:19

[DaveH23]

You pay for insurance for exactly this reason.
Pass the details on to your insurer who will do all the donkey work and save you a load of stress.

This is the exact reason you pay for it.

[andy118run]

Worth checking google street view first, just in case there's a recent image with the car parked outside.
Though do they often blur out number plates now? Maybe not such a good idea, but worth a try.

[catfood12]

There's a need for domination in this thread.

[anonymous-user]

Someone's going to have to talk to her insurers sooner or later, either you or the bodyshop. She's quite within her rights to refer you to her insurers, that's what they're there for.

Much better to talk to them first and get their agreement to your plans before booking it in as then you know you won't have any hassle with them paying the bill.

You'll probably find they'll be very accommodating because it keeps their costs down if you don't involve an accident management company or similar shysters who get you into a like-for-like massively overpriced courtesy car on some sort of hideous credit hire deal. Although it does sound like one of your body shops is kinds heading that way......

[Jujuuk68]

1. Frankly if you were chasing me, desperate to get my details to "hire" a M3,(ie you think it's worth over £600 a day to hire and can't make do with something less jazzy for a couple of days)I'd tell you to do one too.

I suspect you're just the sort of low level vulture that bumps up all our premiums. That M3's going to cost tens of thousands to hire, by the time it gets booked in on a thursday, inspected on a monday, and repairs dragged out for a few days as the garage directed you to an AMC.

[WillG]

If it matters that much you could call her and suggest your insurers need her reg, and if she won't provide you will have to report her to the police for failing to exchange details? This may encourage her to provide her reg.

The credit hire company you want to use to get a hire car from don't really need her reg, they are just being lazy, they could just ring her insurers.

Or as someone said just tell her insurers where you wish to have the car repaired, and ask them to arrange a hire car for you to coincide with your booking, problem solved no reg needed.

Oh there are no insurers that just insure women, cause that's illegal!

[PorkInsider]

DaveH23 said:

You pay for insurance for exactly this reason.
Pass the details on to your insurer who will do all the donkey work and save you a load of stress.

This is the exact reason you pay for it.

I see this often on PH.

There are several reasons why I pay for insurance, none of which are related to someone else doing donkey work or to save stress. I can't be the only one.

[pork911]

OP typically credit hire is predicated on a fraud, don't involve yourself in it.

[Red Devil]

tuneltek said:

My problem is that the woman did not write down her reg number and now will not provide it

Remind her she is in breach of RTA1988 Section 170(2) - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/sectio...

tuneltek said:

and her insurance company will not give it to me as its in breach of the Data protection act...is this normal?

Many organisations trot this out as if by rote. The DPA 1988 is all about safeguarding personal data.
Ask them how they think you could identify an individual from a VRM which relates to an object.
Even if they imagine it does come within the scope of the Act it would be exempt under Section 35(1).

tuneltek said:

Without the reg number I cannot book a hire car

Why on earth not?

If that were true somebody who does not own a vehicle of their own could never hire one.
All you need is a valid full driving licence.

Edited by Red Devil on Wednesday 16th November 10:16

[KevinCamaroSS]

Another obvious question to the OP:

Why did you not write down her registration at the time?

[TroubledSoul]

Playing Devil's Advocate here, why shouldn't the OP have an equivalent hire car when it wasn't his fault?