Car park hit and run
Discussion
Wife parked our Superb 280 in M&S car park this afternoon. She came back to it and a lady came up to her to advise someone had hit our car and driven off. They’ve basically taken a load of paint off the rear bumper and smashed the reflector on the lower corner. So it’ll probably need paint and a new reflector light thing. She passed on the reg number and we posted on the local town Facebook group to ask the driver to come forward. And lo and behold, the guilty party has seen the post and has now got in touch. He didn’t leave his details but saw fit to put shards of plastic on our bonnet. Apparently didn’t have a pen and paper to hand and didn’t want to hang about to wait for us. We are waiting for his insurance details as his dad has these and is ‘away’ but will provide them tomorrow, apparently. Once we have the details what is the process - do we contact his insurance company with details of the incident - or do I get in touch with our insurance and provide them with the details? Will his insurance even deal with a third party?
bedonde said:
Is that scenario of contacting my insurer and letting them deal with it likely to impact my premiums?
You won't loose any NCB as long as they can claim against the other driver, but its still recorded against you and 'may' affect your future premiums as insurers do take it into consideration as part of their risk assessment.but it probably wont be much if the claim amount is relatively small and its not a frequent event.
bedonde said:
Is that scenario of contacting my insurer and letting them deal with it likely to impact my premiums?
You have been involved in a bump so the premium impact has already been put in play as insurance policies typically requires you to disclose it (check the policy wording).As to who you claim from well that depends upon whether the other party is likely to admit full responsibility and maintain that position. If they clearly admit responsibility to their insurer then claiming direct seems least hassle but if they deny it well then I would rather deal with my insurer and let them have the bun-fight.
If you have witnesses on your side who will come forward you are in a better position but if it your word against theirs it is likey to end up 50/50.
Overall it is just a PITA.
I presume M&S has CCTV covering the car park. Submit a subject access request for the footage covering the time you were away from the car. They have to process these requests by law. Use the evidence against the other driver, if captured.
In my experience, submitting a claim against the third party won't negatively impact your premium, even though you have to disclose non-fault accidents when applying for new insurance.
In my experience, submitting a claim against the third party won't negatively impact your premium, even though you have to disclose non-fault accidents when applying for new insurance.
Use the time to find out how much a reflector is and get a quote from a body shop for the bumper, present the 3rd party with the option of coughing up the money for the damage and you'll get it sorted privately and if they don't contact your insurance company and let them deal with the rest.
Don't get it done and "then we'll pay" or "I know a bloke" it needs to be a straightforward conversation.
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years, so it's always worth seeing if the other person wants to be sensible because it sounds like £500 worth of damage to me and very much not worth it for them to have the claim against them.
You've got them admitting that they hit your car in writing so this 50/50 stuff is b
ks.
People who advocate telling insurance companies if you've had a bump but not actually made any claims on either side are to be ignored. Weird ASP-y "rules are the rules" nonsense.
Don't get it done and "then we'll pay" or "I know a bloke" it needs to be a straightforward conversation.
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years, so it's always worth seeing if the other person wants to be sensible because it sounds like £500 worth of damage to me and very much not worth it for them to have the claim against them.
You've got them admitting that they hit your car in writing so this 50/50 stuff is b
ks.People who advocate telling insurance companies if you've had a bump but not actually made any claims on either side are to be ignored. Weird ASP-y "rules are the rules" nonsense.
XCP said:
50/50 If your vehicle is parked? Seems harsh.
Agreed it is but the OP has to prove it is definitively the other party is at fault so witnesses or CCTV are critical in this, if it ends up as he said she said argument the insurance companies aren't going to waste their time for a bump in a car park hence 50/50.An old neighbour of mine had just got home from a holiday in his little camper van, was in the middle of a right turn, some looney came really flying up the road and tried to overtake him on the right. The result was the campervan flipped round 180deg and on its side, other car hit the corner of a fence (concrete posts and wire mesh) and went flying into some gardens.
Insurance result was 50/50 because the idiot flying up the road denied it/lied and no one actually saw the actual impact.
bedonde said:
Is that scenario of contacting my insurer and letting them deal with it likely to impact my premiums?
IME it might increase, it might not, it might even go down!However, surely any impact will be small fry compared to the hassle and risk of doing it yourself and either getting shafted by the other side reneging on any deal, or worse you trying to go legal and doing it wrong. In both examples you end up paying for the repair yourself, which is likely to be a lot higher than any potential increase for a none fault claim. Or you end up claiming from your insurance as a fault claim which will most likely have a bigger impact on your premium.
Plus you spend the next five years (at least) kicking yourself for not just handing it off to someone you’ve already paid to deal with this stuff for you.
GeniusOfLove said:
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years,
It's easy to test and see what impact it has using comparison websites. Do one quote without the claim, the other with the claim. See what the difference is. In my experience, even with two non-fault claims in five years, it didn't make any difference.GeniusOfLove said:
Use the time to find out how much a reflector is and get a quote from a body shop for the bumper, present the 3rd party with the option of coughing up the money for the damage and you'll get it sorted privately and if they don't contact your insurance company and let them deal with the rest.
Don't get it done and "then we'll pay" or "I know a bloke" it needs to be a straightforward conversation.
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years, so it's always worth seeing if the other person wants to be sensible because it sounds like £500 worth of damage to me and very much not worth it for them to have the claim against them.
You've got them admitting that they hit your car in writing so this 50/50 stuff is bks.
People who advocate telling insurance companies if you've had a bump but not actually made any claims on either side are to be ignored. Weird ASP-y "rules are the rules" nonsense.
So whenever someone is asked the question: “Have you had any accidents or claims in the last 5 years?”, you advise lying?Don't get it done and "then we'll pay" or "I know a bloke" it needs to be a straightforward conversation.
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years, so it's always worth seeing if the other person wants to be sensible because it sounds like £500 worth of damage to me and very much not worth it for them to have the claim against them.
You've got them admitting that they hit your car in writing so this 50/50 stuff is b
ks.People who advocate telling insurance companies if you've had a bump but not actually made any claims on either side are to be ignored. Weird ASP-y "rules are the rules" nonsense.
And you’re going to provide your personal details to the OP to indemnify them against any reprisals following such a course of action too?
oyster said:
So whenever someone is asked the question: Have you had any accidents or claims in the last 5 years? , you advise lying?
And you re going to provide your personal details to the OP to indemnify them against any reprisals following such a course of action too?
It’s a much discussed topic (particularly on here), but to most people it’s a matter of degree/interpretation rather than a lie, and an ‘accident’ (or ‘incident’ as some insurance companies refer to it) would mean something significant enough to lead to a claim from one or both parties.And you re going to provide your personal details to the OP to indemnify them against any reprisals following such a course of action too?
Clearly there are examples of contact between vehicles that virtually no one would consider worthy of a tick in the box.
Foss62 said:
oyster said:
So whenever someone is asked the question: Have you had any accidents or claims in the last 5 years? , you advise lying?
And you re going to provide your personal details to the OP to indemnify them against any reprisals following such a course of action too?
It s a much discussed topic (particularly on here), but to most people it s a matter of degree/interpretation rather than a lie, and an accident (or incident as some insurance companies refer to it) would mean something significant enough to lead to a claim from one or both parties.And you re going to provide your personal details to the OP to indemnify them against any reprisals following such a course of action too?
Clearly there are examples of contact between vehicles that virtually no one would consider worthy of a tick in the box.
Of course if an insurance company were to refuse or cancel insurance following such an interpretation’, then there’s little can be done.
Either way, I always struggle to understand the underlying anti insurance sentiment on these threads. If you insist on parking in a high risk area then at least accept that those who insure you will look to cover that risk.
oyster said:
GeniusOfLove said:
Use the time to find out how much a reflector is and get a quote from a body shop for the bumper, present the 3rd party with the option of coughing up the money for the damage and you'll get it sorted privately and if they don't contact your insurance company and let them deal with the rest.
Don't get it done and "then we'll pay" or "I know a bloke" it needs to be a straightforward conversation.
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years, so it's always worth seeing if the other person wants to be sensible because it sounds like £500 worth of damage to me and very much not worth it for them to have the claim against them.
You've got them admitting that they hit your car in writing so this 50/50 stuff is bks.
People who advocate telling insurance companies if you've had a bump but not actually made any claims on either side are to be ignored. Weird ASP-y "rules are the rules" nonsense.
So whenever someone is asked the question: Have you had any accidents or claims in the last 5 years? , you advise lying?Don't get it done and "then we'll pay" or "I know a bloke" it needs to be a straightforward conversation.
Once you get your insurance involved it likely will slightly bump future premiums and you'll have the arseache of filling the details of the claim out every time you want to get a quote for the next five years, so it's always worth seeing if the other person wants to be sensible because it sounds like £500 worth of damage to me and very much not worth it for them to have the claim against them.
You've got them admitting that they hit your car in writing so this 50/50 stuff is b
ks.People who advocate telling insurance companies if you've had a bump but not actually made any claims on either side are to be ignored. Weird ASP-y "rules are the rules" nonsense.
And you re going to provide your personal details to the OP to indemnify them against any reprisals following such a course of action too?
a340driver said:
The two times I've been hit by other cars. I've provided huge details including diagrams, photos and google maps screen shots.
They both went in my favour.
They were not my fault either, but I felt the need to go in hard.
Putting a full case forward is not "going in hard" it is just the natural & correct way to argue your case for no-fault.They both went in my favour.
They were not my fault either, but I felt the need to go in hard.
It is exactly what I did & likely everyone else.
Whether at fault or not.
Edited by E-bmw on Tuesday 11th November 07:40
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