Hit and run - claim or not?
Hit and run - claim or not?
Author
Discussion

caseys

Original Poster:

334 posts

184 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Evening all,

I’ve got an insurance / accident question and apologies if I’ve posted in the wrong place.

The other day I was visiting the mother-in-law and someone reversed into my parked car (a cul-de-sac) and took part of the offside rear bumper down to the plastic. Then they drive off. Lovely.

Car caught this on camera. Other car comes into the cul-de-sac and turns the other way. Then reverses the length of the place, starts to brake then nerfs my car. Then slowly drives off out of the place. Doesn’t get out to look at anything or try and find me to own up.

Car has caught this in broad daylight from two angles. Clearly showing reg of the car and the entire time they enter and exit the place. 45 seconds in total. By the time I come out the relative’s house to see why the alarm was going off there was no sight of them. Not a car owned by someone in the place as I checked the next couple of days.

Filed a police report. As I’m a generally by the rules person I notified my insurer. Gave them some pics, the video and the crime ref number. Seems police feel as no-one was injured that they won’t follow up

Checked and the other car is insured. Unless I’m extra unlucky and it’s a cloned reg it matched the malke, model and colour of the car.

It’s £300 to have a very reputable paint shop owned by a friend of a friend to sort it out if I don’t go via insurance. Less than half my total excess.

As my policy is roughly £800 a year, with 8+ NCB and no claims or accidents in that time I’m concerned as to what a no-fault claim may have as an impact on my insurance. Obviously the insurers have a reasonable quantity of evidence to pursue the 3rd party with. If they recoup all costs does it still count as a no-fault claim on me?

The other part of me very much wants the other party to have a good moral lesson and persuade them to think twice before driving off.

What would you do? Is my insurance going to rise anyway after notifying them that my legally parked unattended car had been bumped into?

davek_964

10,245 posts

191 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
I'd claim with the evidence and let the insurers chase them.

99% of posters will now tell you that your insurance WILL go up for the next several years and it will do so even if you don't claim because you've notified them of an accident.

It might, it might not - regardless of whether it's fault or non fault. I had a fault claim, mine didn't go up.

OutInTheShed

11,600 posts

42 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
If it's less than the excess to get a repair you're (relatively) happy with, I would just get it repaired.

I might also see about pursuing the other driver.

119

12,510 posts

52 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
That ^

TheDrownedApe

1,443 posts

72 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
You notified your insurer of what?

The damage?
The accident?
The 3rd party?

Seems to me that you've already spilled the beans and whether your policy increases or not; you may as well make the claim

caseys

Original Poster:

334 posts

184 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
TheDrownedApe said:
You notified your insurer of what?

The damage?
The accident?
The 3rd party?

Seems to me that you've already spilled the beans and whether your policy increases or not; you may as well make the claim
All three. The third I guess by proxy with the video footage. I don’t know who the other party is or any of their details, just what I can derive from the footage.

All I’ve done is notify my insurer and the police that this has happened. That I’m not sure yet if I’ll file a claim but that I felt I should notify.

mikebradford

2,927 posts

161 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Get a claim in
Ultimately it's why your insured.
If the evidence is clear it's highly likely the other parties insurance will Ultimately be paying out.

GolfDragon

237 posts

83 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
You’ve got video footage and registration plate. Your vehicle is parked.

It’s an open and shut case. Give all details and footage to insurer and will be sorted quickly if the third party is insured.

Actual

1,311 posts

122 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
If you go through insurance and your insurer does not recover costs from the 3rd party then it will be a fault claim on you which you will have to declare on every motor insurance application for 5 years and even if it doesn't affect your premiums it is very annoying.

Another ball ache might be that if you have 2 fault claims then Ford Hire will not supply you a courtesy car because they will not insure you so this means that if you purchase a new Ford car and it stops working after just 2 days and 135 miles then Ford UK will not be able to provide a courtesy car while you wait 4 weeks for Ford UK to buy back your broken car and supply a new car to the identical specification and when the new car breaks down the whole saga repeats itself. I realise that this scenario may not apply to everyone.

If you don't go though your insurer then on the basis that insurers require you to declare all incidents then all the above probably still applies.

Saleen836

11,940 posts

225 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Actual said:
If you go through insurance and your insurer does not recover costs from the 3rd party then it will be a fault claim on you which you will have to declare on every motor insurance application for 5 years and even if it doesn't affect your premiums it is very annoying.

Another ball ache might be that if you have 2 fault claims then Ford Hire will not supply you a courtesy car because they will not insure you so this means that if you purchase a new Ford car and it stops working after just 2 days and 135 miles then Ford UK will not be able to provide a courtesy car while you wait 4 weeks for Ford UK to buy back your broken car and supply a new car to the identical specification and when the new car breaks down the whole saga repeats itself. I realise that this scenario may not apply to everyone.

If you don't go though your insurer then on the basis that insurers require you to declare all incidents then all the above probably still applies.
I guess this is different for each insurer, I was involved in a hit and run which luckily was all caught on camera, initially the 3rd party just didn't bother to respond so my insurer said due to the evidence they will list it as a 'non fault' claim but my excess wasn't covered so I was out £300, eventually the 3rd party settled in full (after 8 months) and I received a nice surprise of a cheque in the post to cover my excess smile

KungFuPanda

4,523 posts

186 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
Don’t go through you insurer. Approach the third party insurer direct with the evidence and request that they effect the repair as their policyholder was liable.

davek_964

10,245 posts

191 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
KungFuPanda said:
Don t go through you insurer. Approach the third party insurer direct with the evidence and request that they effect the repair as their policyholder was liable.
Why?

The OP has already notified their insurer - why now do their job for them?

MustangGT

13,310 posts

296 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
OutInTheShed said:
If it's less than the excess to get a repair you're (relatively) happy with, I would just get it repaired.

I might also see about pursuing the other driver.
Why? The third party should be paying the whole claim with zero cost to the OP.

KungFuPanda

4,523 posts

186 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
davek_964 said:
Why?

The OP has already notified their insurer - why now do their job for them?
If the OP’s insurer repair his car and are unsuccessful in recovering their outlay, it’ll go down as an at fault claim and the OP will have lost his excess.

If he approaches the TP insurer direct, he can make a judgment call as to whether to pursue the matter further or go through his own insurer depending on what their response is.

Torquey

1,931 posts

244 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
I'd take the chance on claiming off the little sh*t to be honest.
If the camera footage is clear enough and you want it painted either way, then go ahead and claim through your insurance co.

The other insurance company will cover the work, courtesy car and the excess. You won't pay anything if they admit responsibility.

You'll have to declare a non fault accident for the next 5 years but in my case it made no difference and my policy was still 10% cheaper than the previous year.

OutInTheShed

11,600 posts

42 months

Tuesday
quotequote all
The OP's insurer isn't paying anything.
The repair bill is less than the excess.

If I was in the OP's position, I'd consider a) trying to get the other driver prosecuted, b) trying to recover the cost from them and c) trying to make their next insurance quote painful. d) bearing a long term grudge which could get out of hand....
I have plenty of time for this, but I'd want my car repaired to my satisfaction by someone I trusted, and within reason I'd rather pay directly and get it done soonest with least hassle.

I'm assuming the OP has a shinier car than mine, I'd probably just not bother getting mine fixed if it was still roadworthy.
In the past, this kind of thing has tipped me over the edge into thinking 'I never liked that car anyway, let's go shopping for something with a bigger engine!'

On the other hand, if you get it fixed, then you have a well defined bill that the other driver might just pay if you can contact him.
People panic, faced with open-ended grief. When you've calmed down, if someone says £400 and that's the end of it, you might be relieved to pay up and put it behind you.


GasEngineer

1,491 posts

78 months

Yesterday (07:07)
quotequote all
caseys said:
Other car comes into the cul-de-sac and turns the other way. Then reverses the length of the place, starts to brake then nerfs my car. Then slowly drives off out of the place. Doesn t get out to look at anything or try and find me to own up.
From the way you described what happened OP- could it be that the driver was not aware that they had clipped your car?

oyster

13,177 posts

264 months

Yesterday (07:16)
quotequote all
OP, was there a noticeable ‘bump’ from the other car on the camera footage?

Wonderful how you can prove the damage was caused by that vehicle and wasn’t pre-existing?

GasEngineer

1,491 posts

78 months

Yesterday (08:28)
quotequote all
OutInTheShed said:
The OP's insurer isn't paying anything.
The repair bill is less than the excess.
Doesn't the OP's insurer recover the cost from the TPs insurer - hence no excess payable/deducted?


OutInTheShed

11,600 posts

42 months

Yesterday (08:39)
quotequote all
GasEngineer said:
OutInTheShed said:
The OP's insurer isn't paying anything.
The repair bill is less than the excess.
Doesn't the OP's insurer recover the cost from the TPs insurer - hence no excess payable/deducted?
Only if they can be arsed to pursue the other party for such a small amount, for no gain to the insurer. And if the other party admits 'guilt'.
It's going to be some hours of work for the insurer.
For under £500, they won't bother.
Even if the insurer was paying out a few hundred, they will often just pay and not do many hours of paperwork and chasing to potentially recover what they consider trivial sums.