Hit & run on my car- what to do?
Discussion
Hopefully someone on here has an idea that I haven't thought of.
On Saturday, I was in a shop whilst somebody proceeded to reverse into my car and drive off leaving no details. Damage was fairly bad and had to ask a mate to pick up crowbars to pry the arch of the rear wheel before I could drive it.
The shop has CCTV but could not get the number plate due to the angle. I do know it's a gold Ford Ranger. No nearby places have CCTV that could help. I've tried Ford Ranger fb groups and various other local fb groups in the hope that someone knows the driver.
I'm estimating the repair to cost at least £300 and my insurance excess is £250 so may as well fork the money out myself.
If I file a police report, will the insurance company be able to access that? I'd rather not lose my no claims.
It's not a huge amount to repair it, the main annoyance this is this f***er will probably get away with it. Any ideas on how to nail them??
On Saturday, I was in a shop whilst somebody proceeded to reverse into my car and drive off leaving no details. Damage was fairly bad and had to ask a mate to pick up crowbars to pry the arch of the rear wheel before I could drive it.
The shop has CCTV but could not get the number plate due to the angle. I do know it's a gold Ford Ranger. No nearby places have CCTV that could help. I've tried Ford Ranger fb groups and various other local fb groups in the hope that someone knows the driver.
I'm estimating the repair to cost at least £300 and my insurance excess is £250 so may as well fork the money out myself.
If I file a police report, will the insurance company be able to access that? I'd rather not lose my no claims.
It's not a huge amount to repair it, the main annoyance this is this f***er will probably get away with it. Any ideas on how to nail them??
Sorry to hear about this, drivers like that should be 
I am not sure why you think a police report would result in a loss of no claims.
If you claim from your insurance then that will count as a claim, if you don’t claim from insurance then it isn’t a claim.
Whether or not you tell the police, it may still affect your premium at renewal time if they ask you about previous accidents. Assuming you tell the truth then they will factor this in to the price, but it shouldn’t affect your no claims as you won’t have made a claim.
I am not sure why you think a police report would result in a loss of no claims.
If you claim from your insurance then that will count as a claim, if you don’t claim from insurance then it isn’t a claim.
Whether or not you tell the police, it may still affect your premium at renewal time if they ask you about previous accidents. Assuming you tell the truth then they will factor this in to the price, but it shouldn’t affect your no claims as you won’t have made a claim.
Scrump said:
Sorry to hear about this, drivers like that should be
I am not sure why you think a police report would result in a loss of no claims.
If you claim from your insurance then that will count as a claim, if you don’t claim from insurance then it isn’t a claim.
Whether or not you tell the police, it may still affect your premium at renewal time if they ask you about previous accidents. Assuming you tell the truth then they will factor this in to the price, but it shouldn’t affect your no claims as you won’t have made a claim.
I'm not sure if there's some kind of incident database that insurers have access to is all. I know that if the insurers are made aware of an incident my renewal will go up. It's all risk based and if you've had an incident, you're more likely to have another resulting in the renewal going up. I am not sure why you think a police report would result in a loss of no claims.
If you claim from your insurance then that will count as a claim, if you don’t claim from insurance then it isn’t a claim.
Whether or not you tell the police, it may still affect your premium at renewal time if they ask you about previous accidents. Assuming you tell the truth then they will factor this in to the price, but it shouldn’t affect your no claims as you won’t have made a claim.
If I haven't recorded the incident anywhere, then the insurer won't have any way of knowing if I've had an incident or not - is what I'm thinking.
If you don't claim, you won't loose your no claims, it's as simply as that BUT your premium MAY go up at renewal. They will ask about any incidents that you have been involved in that they don't already know about. Probably best to not try to hide the truth at this point!!
You also need to tell your insurance company to save your own arse. How do you know the other driver hasn't already contacted his insurance co and told them you backed into him - get in there first!
As annoying as it is, unfortunately it is just another expense in the running of a car. I fully understand your wish to shaft the hit and run driver but you will probably only be giving yourself an awful lot of hassle to not achieve very much - except increased stress!.
Pay out the £300 to get it repaired and move on, even if only to protect your mental sanity.
You also need to tell your insurance company to save your own arse. How do you know the other driver hasn't already contacted his insurance co and told them you backed into him - get in there first!
As annoying as it is, unfortunately it is just another expense in the running of a car. I fully understand your wish to shaft the hit and run driver but you will probably only be giving yourself an awful lot of hassle to not achieve very much - except increased stress!.
Pay out the £300 to get it repaired and move on, even if only to protect your mental sanity.
Why would you consider even mentioning it to your insurance company? Would you tell your insurance if you backed into a wall and subsequently had it repaired?
Get it repaired and forget about it. The Police won't be bothered. If another driver backed into you and then tried to subsequently claim off you they wouldn't have driven off in the first place.
Get it repaired and forget about it. The Police won't be bothered. If another driver backed into you and then tried to subsequently claim off you they wouldn't have driven off in the first place.
chopper602 said:
Why would you consider even mentioning it to your insurance company? Would you tell your insurance if you backed into a wall and subsequently had it repaired?
Get it repaired and forget about it. The Police won't be bothered. If another driver backed into you and then tried to subsequently claim off you they wouldn't have driven off in the first place.
This was my first thought to be honest. I guess the reason is if (and it's a big if) the driver was in a rush or something and decided rather than leaving a note, they'd tell their insurers later so they can liaise with my insurers.Get it repaired and forget about it. The Police won't be bothered. If another driver backed into you and then tried to subsequently claim off you they wouldn't have driven off in the first place.
Having said that, the CCTV that there is clearly shows them backing into me and driving off without noting my reg or anything.
Hope you are right, but if it has crimpled a rear arch that needed crowbars to make it driveable, i think £300 sounds a bit cheap! There's a lot of strength in a rear arch.
Annoying.
If you can work out what bit of his pick up hit your car, maybe try local bodyshops to see if a gold pick up comes in. He wont want to have that damage on show if he is local and you may see him again.
Annoying.
If you can work out what bit of his pick up hit your car, maybe try local bodyshops to see if a gold pick up comes in. He wont want to have that damage on show if he is local and you may see him again.
poo at Paul's said:
Hope you are right, but if it has crimpled a rear arch that needed crowbars to make it driveable, i think £300 sounds a bit cheap! There's a lot of strength in a rear arch.
Annoying.
If you can work out what bit of his pick up hit your car, maybe try local bodyshops to see if a gold pick up comes in. He wont want to have that damage on show if he is local and you may see him again.
It's not as bad as it was. We managed to pop the worst of it out and I was parked up a hill so it was pressing against the wheel more than it would have been on the flat. Still, £300 might be optimistic!Annoying.
If you can work out what bit of his pick up hit your car, maybe try local bodyshops to see if a gold pick up comes in. He wont want to have that damage on show if he is local and you may see him again.
I'm not local to the area unfortunately by about 140 miles! Makes this even more of a hassle.
As a few have said, probably worth just getting it repaired and moving on.
I went through this recently. A bus hit the car causing about £13,000 worth of damage - rear wing, wheel, brake, drive shaft, fuel delivery, differential, boot lid, rear lights, rear bumper, battery…. No, it wasn’t drivable afterwards. My neighbour was a passenger on the bus. The drover declined to stop saying it was “normal and only a bump”. She did not get the registration, but I had the route and the time. The police were absolutely not interested in prosecuting the easily identifiable driver. They took 5 weeks (!!) negotiating with the bus company which eventually resulted in the driver signing an accident declaration. This happened on 21 April and the insurance is now talking of writing off the car.
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