Unidentified driver bashed my parked car

pg1981

Drove to the shops yesterday morning, returned home and parked outside my house (residential street). Went out again a few hours later and noticed that someone had left a massive dent in my driver side door (presumably reversed into it whilst parking or trying to do a 3 point turn). I asked neighbours etc but no one saw anything and the culprit / b*****d didn't have the good grace to leave a note

I havent been able to get estimates for repairs yet but I think it will be in the region of £500 - £1k to fix. My excess is £400 and I have maximum protected NCB

A similar thing happened 3 years ago, although this time the culprit was witnessed by my friend who alerted me straight away and I was able to claim a full recovery against his insurance with no excess or impact on NCB. Even so, when I renewed, my premiums were massively increased as I had to declare the incident.

I believe I am required to notify my current insurer even if I dont want to claim. If I do claim, I suppose my renewal will be through the roof because it will go through as a "fault" accident - even though clearly not my fault??

Has this happened to anyone else? Seems I am significantly out of pocket no matter what. Incredibly frustrating.

Quentin

It's what comprehensive cover is for!

("Fault" claims refer to whether or not your insurer has to pay, nothing to do with "blame")

If you decide to get it repaired privately then most would consider it not necessary to report to your insurer and have this on your record to report to all insurers for the next 3/5 years.!

spacey2012

You may be "contractually obliged " to inform your insurer but may on here mistake this for the law.
From a money saving prospective and this is money saving expert.
If you do not intend to claim on your policy, informing your insurance will increase your premiums for the nesxt 6 years.

Insurance companies are behaving like right little greedy pigs towards customers lately.
So the job here IMO is to help people save money, like all money saving, some risk is involved.

forgotmyname

On the other hand...

Is it not moneysaving to help prevent people getting their insurance cancelled for failing to delcare incidents?

Unless the other party reported it to their insurer and gave your reg number because they were in a rush and didnt have a pen to hand to leave a note.

Maybe get some CCTV?

whosgivenachancetoday

I had the same done to me earlier this year but I went to the police to report it.
I don't want to lose my no claims or have my premiums go up because of this ......... . Its up to you but I would try and mend it yourself, look around all the back street car repair garages.

rs65

spacey2012 wrote: »

If you do not intend to claim on your policy, informing your insurance will increase your premiums for the nesxt 6 years.

Where do you get 6 years from?

scheming_gypsy

pg1981 wrote: »

I havent been able to get estimates for repairs yet but I think it will be in the region of £500 - £1k to fix. My excess is £400 and I have maximum protected NCB

.

where are you getting that guess from? Dent removal isn't that expensive, if the bodywork isn't creased but just pushed in (which i'm guessing a door would be as it's only a thin skin) then you can get suction pads to try and pull it out yourself - for about a tenner.
But a quick Google brings up one near me -- http://www.dentgo.co.uk/ with starting prices at £40.

DCFC79

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

where are you getting that guess from? Dent removal isn't that expensive, if the bodywork isn't creased but just pushed in (which i'm guessing a door would be as it's only a thin skin) then you can get suction pads to try and pull it out yourself - for about a tenner.
But a quick Google brings up one near me -- http://www.dentgo.co.uk/ with starting prices at £40.

Yes I thought the same that it seemed alot to get a massive dent sorted.

pg1981

When it happened before it cost the insurer about £1200 I think, although it was damage to the front wing and a bigger dent. So that is what I based my estimate on. The dent is of sufficient size that I think it will require a proper trip to a body shop to fix - the main dent is about a foot long and and 1/2 inch deep, with several surrounding scratches and scuffs to the paint work

I am in process of getting rough estimates this morning from body shops based on photos

No CCTV available on our street unfortunately

bargainbetty

Is the dent all contained within one panel? It might work out cheaper to purchase a new panel and get it spray matched. Speak to a couple of body shops and see - you are trying to make a decision without all the facts. It might be significantly cheaper than you think.

pg1981

The dent is confined to the driver door. I have emailed photos to a few body shops to get a rough idea of cost to fix

I have not raised with insurers yet.

Its a 2004 BMW. I was looking to sell it in the next 6 months - any thoughts on whether I should just leave it and expect a discount on sale. The car is still driveable, I just feel a bit sad (and irratated) every time I see it