Advice re "bumpers at dawn" incident please....
Discussion
Friend of mine got to his car this morning to find a nice scrape down the bumper where the car parked behind has pulled out and clipped him. Nobody has owned up, but he knows who was parked behind him, and an inspection of her car revealed a scuff mark complete with embedded flakes of his paint. His corresponding gouge has flakes of her paint embedded, so it's blatantly obvious what has happened. This person hasn't owned up, so my mate wants to go and "have a word". Trouble is, he's been fuming over it all morning and I'm worried he may get a little "heated".
Where does he stand on this? Is it worth getting the police involved, even though he didn't report it this morning? Does this constitute leaving the scene of an accident, even though it's just a minor bumper scrape?
He's more annoyed that they didn't own up than anything else, but it's still going to cost a bit to have fixed, and obviously he wants the other driver to foot the bill. I've told him to take photos of everything, but don't know quite what his next move should be? Get the police involved? Politely ask the other driver to pay for the damage?
Suggestions please!
I know it's a stereotype, but the other car is a Micra.....
Where does he stand on this? Is it worth getting the police involved, even though he didn't report it this morning? Does this constitute leaving the scene of an accident, even though it's just a minor bumper scrape?
He's more annoyed that they didn't own up than anything else, but it's still going to cost a bit to have fixed, and obviously he wants the other driver to foot the bill. I've told him to take photos of everything, but don't know quite what his next move should be? Get the police involved? Politely ask the other driver to pay for the damage?
Suggestions please!
I know it's a stereotype, but the other car is a Micra.....
I'd get photos of both cars immediately and call the cops. Let them ask the other driver the necessary questions. If that fails and you have an abundance of evidence that the other driver was guilty, get your solicitor to knock up a letter to being legal proceedings. Should put this shits up them and make them pay up pronto.
I'd say make sure that he doesn't clean off the paint flakes from his bumper either. Just in case the insurance company want to play silly buggers and claim it could have been any similarly coloured car. With the actual paint flakes there'd be more of a case given they could forensically check if need be (I doubt they would, but offering them the opp might help).
Definitely agree with the photographs. A mate of mine just had a Czech wagon drive over the front end of his Civic Type-R whilst it was stationary. He sent photos to the insurance co. within hours of the incident and they have said that getting a picture of the car has helped them in choosing their course of action.
Definitely agree with the photographs. A mate of mine just had a Czech wagon drive over the front end of his Civic Type-R whilst it was stationary. He sent photos to the insurance co. within hours of the incident and they have said that getting a picture of the car has helped them in choosing their course of action.
Jeez, talking about jumping the gun! Why not just aproach the driver of the other car and explain the situation? If they refuse to cooperate, then it's time to call in the big guns, not before. After all, I can entirely belive that she^H^H^H the other driver dosen't even know it happened 
Id be inclined to go and have a quiet, polite word. Id also say that they were seen, either by you or someone else. Id say something along the lines of "Hi, this morning as you were leaving your parking space, you managed to clip my car - obviously i understand that accidents happen, but id just like you to foot the bill"
Also defo takes photos.
Also defo takes photos.
Mr2Mike said:
Jeez, talking about jumping the gun! Why not just aproach the driver of the other car and explain the situation? If they refuse to cooperate, then it's time to call in the big guns, not before. After all, I can entirely belive that she^H^H^H the other driver dosen't even know it happened
I fail to see how you can scrape another car enough to leave a gouge with paint flakes embedded in it and not notice.
Anyway, the polite approach is being pursued, I was just seeing what official channels were available should it prove fruitless. Plus, you know what it's like - if it does go to insurance, they'll want to know why the claim wasn't made straight away, why it wasn't reported to the police and everything, so he's just covering all bases. Like I said, the guy is more annoyed that she didn't own up than anything else - he's had more than his fair share of non fault motoring problems lately (hit and run by uninsured driver being the most recent), so he's a bit p1ssed off!
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