Person hit mum's car then denied all knowledge of it

pinkteapot

Just a rant really.

My mum popped to a garage yesterday where she'd had work done at the weekend (tyres changed and she had to go back because the tracking was off). Forecourt full so she street-parked on the opposite side of the road while she went in.

Garage person came out to look at the car and said "well no wonder your tracking's off, you've had an accident".

She hadn't. The front corner of the car had been hit in the ten mins she was inside the garage.

There's a tyre shop next to the garage and some of the workers were outside but hadn't seen it happen. The owner of the tyre place then said "come and having a look at this". There was an old, enormous Merc in the tyre place. It had just arrived and they'd asked him to move to let someone out. He had reversed straight back into the road, then come onto the tyre place forecourt again. The back corner of his car was dented and had bright lime green paint on it. Mum's car is that bright green Mazda2 on all the ads a couple of years ago.

Merc owner comes over. Tyre shop guy says "You've just hit that car". The owner said the damage to his car was old. The tyre person wiped the dent with his finger and the green paint came off on his finger (powdery). He told the driver that it was obviously new or it would have blown off his car by now. Merc driver said it wasn't him, got in his car, and drove off!

The police station is nearby so mum went down and gave them the guy's number plate. They said they'd speak to him.

Not expecting anything to come of that. There were no witnesses and no CCTV covering the street. I just find it hard to believe the cheek of some people - standing there and brazenly denying it.

So now mum will have to pay for the repairs herself or claim on her insurance (fully comp but prob not worth putting her premiums up over).

If I hit someone's car I wouldn't dream of just leaving without a note or speaking to them. What's wrong with people? :mad:

Strider590

Photo's would have been more than enough for the insurance company to make a decision.

Sgt_Pepper_2

Maybe hes got no docs.

pinkteapot

I was naughty and looked it up on Askmid - he's insured.

Mum was kicking herself afterwards for not taking a photo of the damage to his car. She was shaken up at the time and didn't think of it but that was the first thing she said later on.

andygb

pinkteapot wrote: »

I was naughty and looked it up on Askmid - he's insured.

Mum was kicking herself afterwards for not taking a photo of the damage to his car. She was shaken up at the time and didn't think of it but that was the first thing she said later on.

I think that you have to insist on this straight away, because it sounds as though you have witnesses, and the driver of the Merc has committed an offence - failure to report an accident.

thenudeone

Pay the few pounds on askmid to get the other car's insurance details.

Ring them directly and ask to put through to the third party claims team, and take it from there.

In the meantime go back to the area and ask around for any witnesses, and get their names and addresses. If you have motor legal cover, get them involved (even if you don't want to make a claim because, for example, it's under your policy excess.

Joe_Horner

Yep, always have a camera to hand - that was always good advice but now that digital cameras are so cheap (assuming you don't have a phone one) throwing a 20 quid one in your glovebox is a no-brainer.

Of course, you then have to remember it's there when you're stressed out and slightly shocked at the side of the road

pinkteapot

Thanks all - I'll pass this on. She's worked in insurance for 30 years so I'm sure she knows the above already; suspect she doesn't want the hassle of getting involved with someone who's obviously a bit of an a$re.

I haven't seen mum's car so I don't know how bad the damage is. She said it was just panel damage (bumper and possibly wing). The car that hit hers can't have been going fast.

Still, I know that panel repairs aren't cheap on modern cars since they crumple so easily. And knowing mum she'll want the Mazda main dealer to do it so that the colour match is exact. She always says she can spot replacement panels on cars.

s_b

pinkteapot wrote: »

Thanks all - I'll pass this on. She's worked in insurance for 30 years so I'm sure she knows the above already; suspect she doesn't want the hassle of getting involved with someone who's obviously a bit of an a$re.

.

im sorry but i dont want to read this because it basically says the insurance industry sucks and your mother is going to let this guy get away scott free to come and possibly hit my car next
its an offence not to report this accident so do it for him and make him pay from his pocket

theres too much namby pamby in this country

were british fight for your right for justice

pinkteapot

It's not about the insurance industry or hassle of claiming, and of course we don't want him getting away with it. But she lives alone and does she really want someone who is not a very nice person knowing her address, for the sake of a relatively small claim?

I've told her about the fact she can get his insurance details from AskMID so it's up to her if she wants to do it.

Just out of curiosity, is it an offence for him not to have reported it? I thought that was only the case when there were injuries?

scotsbob

First things first. You need to establish if there are any witnesses and if so what exactly did they see.

If no one witnessed another car hit your mum's then how can you prove there was a collision? If you can't prove a collision then the driver of the Mercedes doesn't have to report anything if he is denying it.