Parked Car 3 Vehicle Shunt

buttercups99

Hi

I recently returned to my parked van to find the car parked behind me had been hit from behind, pushing it into the back of my van. My van had been shunted forward, but thankfully was inches away from the car in front.

I could not get my van out so I called the Police and they sent two community officers. The cars either side of me were not local so they could not contact the owners. In their opinion it was a hit and run and we could find no witnesses. They could not help and I would need to call my insurance company or breakdown insurance to get my car out - great!

Well I waited around for a few hours and thankfully the driver of the car in front returned to his vehicle so I could then get mine out.

As yet, the car parked behind me has not reported the accident and I am still waiting to hear from my insurance company on the way forward.

The tailgate of my van has creased and now does not lock and will need replacing. So my question is, can I claim from the car behind me as it was this car which caused the damage to my van or will I have to claim on my insurance, as ultimately the car behind me was hit by a hit and run driver?

Sorry for the long-winded post, just wanted to get all the facts in. Any advice on how to proceed with this would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

withabix

The owner of the car which directly hit you is liable.

HOWEVER:

May be difficult to prove though, unless there were witnesses or CCTV. They could say that you reversed into them etc.

You will probably end up losing out (50/50 and pay excess etc)

neilmcl

Did you get any sort of crime/incident number from the police that attended?

jb66

how can a parked car be liable?

buttercups99

Thanks for your very quick advice.

Hopefully I can prove I did'nt reverse into the car behind me, as I had a car one inch in front of me which the Police saw. Therefore I would not have had the room to reverse into the car behind and inflict the kind of damage done to my van - if that makes sense!

Looks like it could be challenging though - thanks again

buttercups99

neilmcl wrote: »

Did you get any sort of crime/incident number from the police that attended?

Yes Neil, I do have the crime number and photo's of the scene.

rs65

withabix wrote: »

The owner of the car which directly hit you is liable.

Eh? What did they do wrong?

buttercups99

Possibly - but given how embedded the car was in my van and the damage to it, there was a fair bit of impact.

I suspect it would go 50/50 anyway as there's too many if's and maybe's. Ah well, I didn't like by NCB anyway :mad:

Thanks for all your comments.

buttercups99

Yes I do have the photo's for the damage to the rear of the car behind mine. It was because of that damage the Police concluded a hit and run vehicle must have been involved.

I'm just filling in the claims form, so all I can do is include all the info and photo's and see what they say.

buttercups99

I might be being a bit thick here, but I don't know!!! Never been through this before - thankfully.

I've outlined what happened to the insurance company on the telephone and they have sent me a claims form. The damage is too expensive for me to pay, so I'm assuming I'm claiming off my own insurance and if my insurance company feel there is a claim on the other vehicle they will pursue it.

I originally thought I'd be claiming on my insurance, it was only when speaking to someone else they mentioned my insurance company might try to claim from the other vehicle, hence why I asked the question.

withabix

rs65 wrote: »

Eh? What did they do wrong?

Nothing (probably*), but it is dealt with in the same way as any multi-vehicle shunt, from experience of a similar accident claim.


*Depends if their handbrake was correctly applied and operating properly.