Car Bumped - Insurance

[Redline88]

Hi there,

Earlier today I had an incident when stopped on the road due to a stationary traffic somebody went into the back on my car. At first glance it looks like it has escaped damage however I know that there can sometimes be damage behind the scenes.

The two Eastern European men were refusing to give any details and were getting very threatening when pushed. As such, I reported it to the police in the hope that somebody nearby might have been able to pass by and get them to provide details - they took details but didn’t attend.

My question is, will this now be recorded on the Motor Insurance Database. If I get somebody to check the damage and there isn’t any then will I have to inform my insurance carrier?

Thanks

[LosingGrip]

You’ll need to inform your insurance company if you make a claim or not.

Better now than down the line if they decide to be dicks and make a false injury claim.

[Pica-Pica]

Always keep a gap ahead, brake lights showing with car still rolling until you can see the car behind slowing enough.

[Mr Dripping]

Did you get the reg number of the vehicle which hit you, or any photos of it/the occupants?

This should be a clear cut case of them at fault, you not at fault.

[Redline88]

I didn’t hit the car in front, only I was hit from behind. Got the reg and several pictures however the occupants were very defensive about a picture which had them in it and insisted that it was deleted. Therefore I’ve only got pictures of the cars (theirs and mine). Nobody else stopped so no witnesses.

[Mr Dripping]

Get in touch with your insurers ASAP, provide them with the photographic evidence, explain that the occupants were being threatening and made you delete some of the evidence, and give as full a description as you can of all of them.

They are at fault. You are not.

[Mr Dripping]

OP do you have an iPhone or Android? If an iPhone, your phone should automatically have saved the deleted photo in a 'recently deleted' folder, so you can recover it.

[Redline88]

Yea an iPhone - they insisted on me deleting it from deleted items. Under other circumstances I would have stood my ground but it seemed like deleting it was the best way to defuse the situation.

[Mr Dripping]

What a shower of sts.

Seriously. They violate you then bully you into deleting the evidence. Is that PCoJ?

Ensure your insurers throw the book at them.

[NMNeil]

The photos are still there, but you need something like Disk Drill to recover them.
https://www.disk-drill.com/

[Durzel]

Redline88 said:

Yea an iPhone - they insisted on me deleting it from deleted items. Under other circumstances I would have stood my ground but it seemed like deleting it was the best way to defuse the situation.

Wow. Something tells me that this insurance claim is not going to be smooth sailing for you.

https://www.easeus.com/mobile-tool/free-iphone-dat... might work. I’ve not used it before myself, just found it on Google.

[Redline88]

Thanks all. I will notify the insurers today. It looks like the car has escaped with no damage so hopefully no claim but I know that sometimes the bumpers can flex a bit and have damage underneath so worth notifying them I guess.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

[PorkInsider]

Redline88 said:

I didn’t hit the car in front, only I was hit from behind. Got the reg and several pictures however the occupants were very defensive about a picture which had them in it and insisted that it was deleted. Therefore I’ve only got pictures of the cars (theirs and mine). Nobody else stopped so no witnesses.

If you were being threatened by these halfwits you should have called 999.

[Redline88]

Which is exactly what I did do

[PorkInsider]

Redline88 said:

Which is exactly what I did do

You called and said you were being physically threatened by 2 people and they just took details but didn't attend?

[Mr Dripping]

If, after driving into the back of your stationary vehicle, these people were more concerned about your taking a photo of them rather than their vehicle, this suggests they had something to hide. Either the driver was uninsured (even though the vehicle itself may have been insured on the MID), or the driver was otherwise in accordance with a licence.

Use one of the tools above to try to recover the image of the occupants and provide this to your insurers/the police.

Did the occupants give you their details, as they would legally have been obliged to do?

[CoolHands]

So you’re going to inform your own insurers just to make sure you get doubly fked over?

[Redline88]

Mr Dripping said:

If, after driving into the back of your stationary vehicle, these people were more concerned about your taking a photo of them rather than their vehicle, this suggests they had something to hide. Either the driver was uninsured (even though the vehicle itself may have been insured on the MID), or the driver was otherwise in accordance with a licence.

Use one of the tools above to try to recover the image of the occupants and provide this to your insurers/the police.

Did the occupants give you their details, as they would legally have been obliged to do?

Completely agree with this. I’ve passed the details to my insurer, they’ve reported that the other vehicle is also insured by them. Whether the driver was or not I guess is for them to look into.

Thanks for the above posts on the data recovery programmes. Unfortunately I don’t have a PC or laptop that I can download programmes to (only a work device) so I can’t get them to work without that.

That all said, it’s been reported to the police and the insurers, it doesn’t look like there’s any significant damage and so hopefully they will record this and the other party will get a rightful bump in premium come renewal time. No doubt I will now as well which is frustrating.

Thanks again to all for help and comments.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Redline88 said:

My question is, will this now be recorded on the Motor Insurance Database.

Accidents aren't recorded on the MID, but on the CUE, a different database. And no, a report to the police will not go on the CUE, only a report to insurers will trigger that.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Mr Dripping said:

Ensure your insurers throw the book at them.

Not sure what you mean by this. Authorities can throw the book, not insurers.