Moron driver hit my parked car & drove away!

SevenOfNine

Update.............

After a flurry of Police & Insurer's paperwork the Police have spoken to the driver who is "remorseful" - I don't doubt it, sorry because we had a witness who got her reg number and she's been caught.

I'd have to say, the Police have kept us informed of progress by 'phone & have made sure we haven't felt insignificant in the grand scheme of 'crime'.

She claims a 'moment of madness' made her just drive off, though I have pointed out that she's had many opportunities to correct this by contacting the playcentre and leaving her details. But no, she chose to sit back and hope she'd get away with it.

Apparently she offered to pay for the damage but I've told the Police that the insurance company will deal with it and the solicitor will recover our uninsured losses. Might ask for a copy of the Police report so she can pay the £80 for that as well.

A 'result' for us would be that she must (as we now must) declare this whenever she renews her insurance for the next few years (inconvenient), hopefully she will lose her no claims bonus (ours is protected), and her premiums will rise (as ours might too).

Do I sound as if I want my pound of flesh, because I absolutely do! I'm heartily sick of people like her, this country is on overload with people who don't feel they have to take responsibility for their actions.

Crabman

SevenOfNine wrote: »

Do I sound as if I want my pound of flesh, because I absolutely do! I'm heartily sick of people like her, this country is on overload with people who don't feel they have to take responsibility for their actions.

Good on you. They're only sorry they got caught. Our local newspaper covers these sorts of stories when they go to magistrates court for a 'failing to stop' charge so it may be worth considering tipping off your local paper - it may deter others from doing the same.

Wish someone had been around when the crabmobile got hit in a car park last year, I had to sort that myself though learnt a bit about repairing bodywork in the process.

You'll of course have to declare it to your insurers too, but you might be able to get a payment from the other side's insurer to cover your consequential rise in future years' premiums as a result of this non-fault incident.

Keep us updated

fivetide

Glad it is getting sorted OP.

Regarding cars nudges in 'private' car parks, when it happened to me the Police were quick to say RTA applied as it was open to the public.

They even went round to see the chap and came to my house to let me know how it had gone.

Couldn't fault them.

Unsurprisingly he coughed up.

5t.

colino

First of all, these mega playcentres now trounce supermarkets as the place NOT to park your nice car. But what are your local police on?
Driving off after an accident is frequently done by uninsured drivers and/or serial offenders and with the gift of a witness, they chose to pen an ode to the "remorseful" tit?
Then they suggest this lawbreaker can save everyone a bit of hassle by getting under the radar and paying direct. Is the investigating officer related?

pinkteapot

Congrats on your result OP. My mum had a similar incident earlier this year that I posted about:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3885629

Her car has been fixed and her insurer is trying to recover the costs from the other side. The police side of it is ongoing as the car's owner claimed that he wasn't driving - a friend visiting from overseas had borrowed it that day. Riiiiiight. Must find out if mum's heard any more actually.

Sgt_Pepper_2

colino wrote: »

First of all, these mega playcentres now trounce supermarkets as the place NOT to park your nice car. But what are your local police on?
Driving off after an accident is frequently done by uninsured drivers and/or serial offenders and with the gift of a witness, they chose to pen an ode to the "remorseful" tit?
Then they suggest this lawbreaker can save everyone a bit of hassle by getting under the radar and paying direct. Is the investigating officer related?

The op said the other driver offered to pay. Not the fact the police suggested they did.

[Deleted User]

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

knock for knock i wounder what people think on times i surely do.

if you car was parked, you not init would you accept 50/50 blame.

car park is open to the public, the law and legalities are the same as being on a public road.

go back to the scene, have a look on the buildings for CCTV camera's pointing toward the area, and ask them can you view the footage if caught on cam ask for copy!

Good luck with gettng the CCTV footage.

I made a 50p dent in someones door reversing out of space in tesco express. She was sitting in the car. I got out had a discussion, then weeks later found out she was claiming £5000 for whiplash (car was moving at 1mph).

Asked tesco for CCTV footage - not interested in helping at all.

Sgt_Pepper_2

[quote=[Deleted User];55632931]Good luck with gettng the CCTV footage.

I made a 50p dent in someones door reversing out of space in tesco express. She was sitting in the car. I got out had a discussion, then weeks later found out she was claiming £5000 for whiplash (car was moving at 1mph).

Asked tesco for CCTV footage - not interested in helping at all.[/QUOTE]

50p sized dent or in value?

If you can get dents repaired for 50p please post up details.

lovinituk

Our car was damaged in an airport car park a few years ago when the driver in the space opposite didn't set their handbrake and it rolled into ours. The car park warden found it and left a note on our car with all the details of the other car (which was gone by the time we returned to our car). It didn't even cross my mind about contacting the police. Handed all the info over the insurance company and we had the money (damages and excess) paid to us a few months later.

Strider590

I hope you suggested she learn to reverse park......
These scrapes are very common when people reverse out of parking spaces.