Car hit by DHL lorry whilst parked

DanRyan

Hi,

I parked my car (on a side road) for work and when I returned later that evening the front of my car was badly damaged.

Luckily a very nice gentleman saw the DHL lorry that hit it and managed to get the Reg number. I suspect it is a foreign lorry as the reg number begins OKL 15927.
I have informed police as driver left no details and obviously insurance company. I'm just concerned that if they cannot trace this lorry I am liable for the excess on my insurance and also lose my no-claims bonus through no fault of my own.

Anyone got any experience in this kind of thing or know what OKL would represent on a registration plate (not 100% its foreign - just presuming).
Surely the police/insurer can trace the lorry through DHL to see what lorry was making deliveries in that area at that time?

Thanks

Dan

InsideInsurance

It begins or is that the whole plate?

Ultimately your insurers will contact the MIB who will try and identify the country of origin and then assuming it is an EU country then pass the details on to their equiv number in that country etc

By the end of it the MIB comes back to your insurers with a UK based company that represents the foreign insurer, a reference number and your insurers deal with them. Depending on the level of delegation then they may simply deal with it or may be little more than message passers

The other route will be your insurers approaching DHL in the UK and hoping they can trace these things internally.

It will take time but if it is EU and thats the full plate it SHOULD be possible to trace. Then it just comes down to if they admit hitting it or claim they were somewhere else at the time.

DanRyan

Thanks for that.

Yes- thats the full number plate.Done a bit of detective skills. It seems OKL is a district in Poland so looks like it's a Polish truck.


OKL - Kluczbork

If I have an independant witness that can verify it did do the damage and the exact time I can't see how they can deny doing it?

thenudeone

You don't have to claim from your own insurers.

Do this instead
http://www.mib.org.uk/Submit+a+Claim/en/Default.htm
but it might take a lot longer.

Make sure you have the police reference number to prove you reported the accident.

InsideInsurance

That doesnt mean they wont try, unfortunately. Hopefully it will just mean a slight delay but it all turning out ok in the end

rs65

Do DHL actually bring foreign trucks into the UK? I wonder if that is a trailer number.

Regardless though, if he is sure it was DHL I would just go after them directly.

DanRyan

There was a trailer as well which the witness also got the number of (star) so the Police and Insurers have that as well.

rs65

I would go for DHL then - shouldn't be too difficult for them to know where a particular vehicle was and accept it was in the location.

BertTheRaccoon

DHL are quite a pro-active company when it comes to dealing with third party claims.

It is maybe worth a call to DHL in the UK and speak with them in the first instance. I know for a fact that all DHL drivers carry cards they have to pass on to third parties when they have a smack, the card contents tell the other driver to call DHL to see about repairs and hire etc.

The odds are, the HGV driver doesn't even know he has damaged your vehicle, so it may take a bit of detective work for them to track down the relevant driver and confirm the vehicle was in the area at the relevant time.

DanRyan

Yeah, I have spoken to a women in the complaints team at DHL UK and given her the reg number to see if she can trace it too.
Like you say, surely they will be able to see what lorries were in the area at that time and marry it up? Fingers crossed anyway.

partner

My car had the same problem thus year with a local builders lorry. Lucky for me I saw it happen and when I rang them their lorries all have trackers fitted so they immediately knew he came down my road athe time I said and they admitted lability and paid out. Bu tI was without my car o three weeks whilst I was repaired.. Good luck.