to claim or not to claim

nickiach1

I was driving down a steep hill - van a way in front of me approaching a junction. He stopped then went over the junction. By this time I was just before the junction & was stationary. I assume he wanted to turn right, but the road was closed. He the just put the van in reverse and assume that he didn't look. I put my hand on the horn, but he went into me anyway. He then just drove off!!!! I chased him for a while, but lost him due to volume of traffic. When I got home, there is a small dent/scrape on the wing, and the wheel cover is cracked. I do have his numberplate, am really angry that he did this and don't think he should get away with it, but don't want to shoot myself in the foot if this is going to affect my no claims, and would I need to pay the excess as it wasn't my fault!

There were no witnesses apart from my mum who was in the car with me! Any comment will gratefully received.

DirectDebacle

nickiach1 wrote: »

I was driving down a steep hill - van a way in front of me approaching a junction. He stopped then went over the junction. By this time I was just before the junction & was stationary. I assume he wanted to turn right, but the road was closed. He the just put the van in reverse and assume that he didn't look. I put my hand on the horn, but he went into me anyway. He then just drove off!!!! I chased him for a while, but lost him due to volume of traffic. When I got home, there is a small dent/scrape on the wing, and the wheel cover is cracked. I do have his numberplate, am really angry that he did this and don't think he should get away with it, but don't want to shoot myself in the foot if this is going to affect my no claims, and would I need to pay the excess as it wasn't my fault!

There were no witnesses apart from my mum who was in the car with me! Any comment will gratefully received.

You have been involved in a fail to stop accident and should report it to the police. The van may be stolen, on false plates or any manner of things. If it is just a simple case of the van driver not stopping then the fault will be with them and you should not pay excess or lose NCD.

KeithP

Write all the facts down now... before you forget them.

Go to the police station and report the incident. It is important to do this because he may well report that someone ran into the back of his vehicle and drove off. As well as being a legal necessity.

Btw... when writing down the details, try to avoid the word 'assume'.
For example, instead of writing I assume he wanted to turn right... it is imho better to write Clearly he wanted to turn right...