Someone smashed into car and drive off while it was parked

Lady_K

Daughter parked her car somewhere and when she went to it someone had crashed into it and drove of, she doesnt know who did it and no one saw anything.

Shes fully comp but she doesnt know how this will effect her. Shes a student nurse and the worst time it could have happened. Shes 22 and has quite high insurance already because of an accident a couple of years ago.

She says she can drive it but all the sides been smashed in and the doors gone too. Its her mot on friday its due really on 26th May what should she do about that?

Shes not informed the insurance company yet but shes just gone to the police, shes with churchill any ideas what to do?

airforce_beret

no CCTV in the area??? bit of a long shot but may be worth it

skylight

She is going to be deemed "at fault" becuase there is no one else to claim off.

She will lose some years of NCB, how many will depend on her policy wording. Is there any chance of CCTV footage anywhere perhaps??


Some dirtbag did this to me just before Christmas 2005 and its not fair, but this is one of the reasons we have insurance I guess. AND someone tried to nick it off our drive. Doesn't help its a high group people carrier either, but 2 problems, not my fault but its my problem as my insurance paid out.

There are some horrible sods out there.

anewman

If she claims on insurance it will increase premiums and claims will be minus any excess. Whether a claim is made will depend on the cost of the damage and the value of the car. It may be better to drive around with a dented door and damaged bumper (assuming it's still road legal) than go to the expense of claiming.

Lady_K

Oh dear,

The passenger side is dented all along the side, its drivable but the door cant be opened she darent open it anyway in case she cant close it again. Its worse than I thought it would be its proper dented and will need a new door plus the back bit where a door would have been if she had 4 doors

She starts another nursing placement anytime now which she will need her car for as its going to involve a lot of travelling everyday, she is going to be in a big mess, she was worried about even having time to get to the mot even without this as shes so busy with uni work and now theres going to be more to sort out

Shes 22 so her excess will be high aswell she was going to see if she can find out how much it will cost but it doesnt look that cheap to me to put right

We are ringing churchill tomorrow, she is covered for a curtesy car but I think thats only if its not drivable would that cover her for time in for repairs?

By the looks of it her insurance its £250 excess for young driver + £175 on top if I'm reading it right oh this is a dissaster

There was no cctv the police said theres nothing she can do unless someone saw it and took the reg number

What would happen if she couldnt get it fixed before the mot runs out on 26th may?

Does anyone have any idea how long fixing this kind of thing would take?

Its a citroen Saxo mischief and I think it cost her about either £1400 or £1600, 1997

The side strip line thing that goes down the sides of the car has come off too in parts and one bit is sticking out about 2 feet but cant come off that will have to be taped down

anewman

Lady_K wrote: »

The passenger side is dented all along the side, its drivable but the door cant be opened she darent open it anyway in case she cant close it again.

Sorry to say that problem will fail the MOT if it is a front door. If that particular problem, and any others that arise, cannot be repaired then an MOT cetificate cannot be issued.

Lady_K wrote: »

Does anyone have any idea how long fixing this kind of thing would take?

If it's just a door replacement not too long I would guess. However, of course the car frame itself could be damaged or warped depending on how hard it was hit. This would make it costly to repair. An expert would be able to advise on this.

Lady_K wrote: »

The side strip line thing that goes down the sides of the car has come off too in parts and one bit is sticking out about 2 feet but cant come off that will have to be taped down

On some cars those are simply stuck on with adhesive. All you have to do is carefullt heat the adhesive with a heat gun to remove the rubbing strips (assuming they are fitted with adhesive).

Quinny_2

My guess is that a Saxo of that age,may well be written off by the insurance company,because the cost of repairs could be as much as what it is worth.

If I remember correctly,if the repairs to a car,are equivalent to 60% of the value of it,then they usually write it off.

Sorry to be the bearer of possible bad news.

Ken.

Lady_K

We rang round a few places yesterday and found one within walking distance of our house plus a friend knew the owner a little and her brother had used them before. She offered to go with my daughter as my daughter doesnt know what to expect or look for with this kind of thing.

Anyway the door does open and close and it locks too, she hadnt tried it herself in case it didnt close again. The man said it would'nt pass an MOT though for I'm not sure what reasons I'll check with her.

She has to have a new door and the panel behind where a door would have been if she had 4 doors has to be repaired, its quite badly dented not just a dent but like a dent with loads of other dents in the dent if you know what I mean and the dent is right close to the door opening. He said he will be able to mend so you cannot tell but if he had to take that bit out and replace it with new it would have had a join and it would have stood out that the car had been damaged previously plus it would have cost another £300.

The door doesnt look as bad as the back bit but the window wont open because of the dents I suppose. The front seatbelt is locked which he said happens a lot with things like this. The door has what he called a jagged edge and he said if it had been hit any lower to hit the bar along the bottom of the door it would have been a right off. He said he will sort the lock out on the door, do you think that meas he will take the old lock off and put it in the new door? as I said to my daughter does that mean youl have 1 door needing a diffferent key.

I think it might be a good idea to ask my friend if she might go with her to pick it up once its finished too I'd feel better about that. I'm still worried about it though

The cost he said will be £400 maybe a bit less, he will see when he does it but he said he could do her MOT at the same time if she wanted to save her having to go to the other place, so the mot cost would go on top of the £400. She usually uses the council MOT but in her situation now it will save her some time having to go there by having them done at the same time. Oh I really hope that theres nothing else wrong do you think we should ask him to do the MOT first just in case theres anything that makes the whole thing not worth it? The car seems ok although I know you can't really tell for sure, it passed last years MOT fine and since then shes had 4 new wheels, its actually been a good car. The only thing shes ever had to have is new battery about 18 months ago and there are no weird sounds.

She is not claiming on her insurance and in fact has not even told them. Even though she got a crime number from the police station she didn't go back with the documents seeing as she isnt claiming we thought it wasnt worth it. The garage man told us even though shes not been in an accident herself its still classed as a collision and will be noted by the insurers that its a car thats been in an accident even if she doesnt claim.

It's very upsetting having to pay for something that shes not done herself though. The person driving the other car was definitely speeding the garage man said, I'm just glad my daughter wasn't in the car or standing by it at the time.

After all this it's making me wonder if its actually worth having fully comprehensive for her seeing as the excess works out at £425 because shes under 25 when it comes to her insurance renewal in sept she will have to reconsider this.

beautifulgorgeous_2

If she has fully comp then she will build up her no claims bonus for when she gets a more expensive car and the insurance is even higher. A lot of the cost of insurance is to cover the damage that you can do to others.

Lady_K

Thanx but I thought thats what 3rd part fire and theft does even if an accident is your fault?

Does that mean if you have 3rd party fire and theft that you dont build a no claims bonus up if you have no claims? I am sure that might be wrong, if you have no claims you have no claims surely

what-a-save

Originally Posted by Lady_K
" Even though she got a crime number from the police station she didn't go back with the documents seeing as she isnt claiming we thought it wasnt worth it"

Lady K,
If i understand what you are saying, your daughter has reported a 'Non-Stop' Road traffic collision. She will have been given an accident report number not a crime number. And she may have recieved a HORT1 to produce her documents if she did not have them with her when she reported the matter(mot-insurance and d/lic) It is a legal requirement to produce the documents within 7 days (even though your daughter is not at fault !)
If i have mis understood i do apologise, just dont want to see a fellow saver fall foul of the law.

And good luck with getting the car fixed.