Hit brick wall with car - possible damage and who to tell?

jj42

While driving at the weekend, I took a corner too sharply without spotting a hidden low brick wall which the car hit and made a loud noise.

I can clearly see minor scraping damage on the lower corner of the passenger side bodywork, and a panel slightly out of place, but i'm not sure if there's anything serious that needs checking out. What sort of damage could I inspect from an impact on the lower side/underside of the car?

I intend to take it into the garage for a check - do I need to tell my insurance company about this incident? I don't intend to claim on the insurance if the repair quote is low enough so I don't lose my NCD.

Thanks in advance.

Spicy_McHaggis

jj42 wrote: »

While driving at the weekend, I took a corner too sharply without spotting a hidden low brick wall which the car hit and made a loud noise.

I can clearly see minor scraping damage on the lower corner of the passenger side bodywork, and a panel slightly out of place, but i'm not sure if there's anything serious that needs checking out. What sort of damage could I inspect from an impact on the lower side/underside of the car?

I intend to take it into the garage for a check - do I need to tell my insurance company about this incident? I don't intend to claim on the insurance if the repair quote is low enough so I don't lose my NCD.

Thanks in advance.

First you should have stopped.
Told the owner of the wall, if you damaged it.
If you couldn't find them then the police.
Then tell you insurance company you've had a crash.

Foxy-Stoat_3

The goody-two-shoes people will say, tell EVERYONE and expect higher premiums as a result for years and years to come, that will learn you.

In the real world, just get them to spray the cill with underseal to stop it rusty and maybe repair the door if it doesn't open. Tell no one and never tell anyone if asked.

Quentin

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

..... Tell no one and never tell anyone if asked.

Problem with this philosophy is you don't know if anyone witnessed the crash and noted down the reg.


If the wall was damaged then it is a legal requirement to report this to the police ASAP and at least within 24 hours.


You commit an offence by not doing so and will be caught out if there was a witness who reports it.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Quentin wrote: »

Problem with this philosophy is you don't know if anyone witnessed the crash and noted down the reg.


If the wall was damaged then it is a legal requirement to report this to the police ASAP and at least within 24 hours.


You commit an offence by not doing so and will be caught out if there was a witness who reports it.

Only if the brick wall was damaged......was it?

shaun_from_Africa

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

Only if the brick wall was damaged......was it?

Which is exactly what Quentin stated in the post that you quoted.

Quentin wrote: »

If the wall was damaged then it is a legal requirement to report this to the police ASAP and at least within 24 hours.

InsideInsurance

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

The goody-two-shoes people will say, tell EVERYONE and expect higher premiums as a result for years and years to come, that will learn you.

In the real world, just get them to spray the cill with underseal to stop it rusty and maybe repair the door if it doesn't open. Tell no one and never tell anyone if asked.

Unfortunately its due to these sorts of attitudes why we also get all the posts about people returning to their car/ home etc and finding it damaged by an unknown party and being stuck with a repair bill from no fault of their own

MysteryMe

I had a dishonest person cut from the same cloth as Foxy Stoat who hit my car in a car park. He had got out his car to look so he knew the damage he had caused before just driving off. Trouble for him was that someone had seen it, noted down their details and left a note on my windscreen. They also gave their own details offering to give a statement of what they had seen if required.

I went to the police to report the incident and and I know the dishonest little weasel, too cowardly to own up, was paid a visit by them. I was given his name and insurance company. He had a relatively unusual name so I soon got his home address. Luckily for him his insurance paid up in full.

Spicy_McHaggis

MysteryMe wrote: »

I had a dishonest person cut from the same cloth as Foxy Stoat who hit my car in a car park. He had got out his car to look so he knew the damage he had caused before just driving off. Trouble for him was that someone had seen it, noted down their details and left a note on my windscreen. They also gave their own details offering to give a statement of what they had seen if required.

I went to the police to report the incident and and I know the dishonest little weasel, too cowardly to own up, was paid a visit by them. I was given his name and insurance company. He had a relatively unusual name so I soon got his home address. Luckily for him his insurance paid up in full.

The police should have given you his name and address.

Spicy_McHaggis

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

Only if the brick wall was damaged......was it?

And that's why #2 says he should have stopped.

jj42

Spicy_McHaggis wrote: »

First you should have stopped.
Told the owner of the wall, if you damaged it.
If you couldn't find them then the police.
Then tell you insurance company you've had a crash.

The brick wall (I describe it like this, when really it was about 3 bricks high and 5 bricks wide on the corner of a junction) was in the middle of nowhere (no property nearby) in the middle of a triangle of mud/grass that was surrounded by roads as a junction.

There was no damage to the wall from what I was able to determine at the scene, and even if there was I wouldn't know who to contact.

Do the police and/or the insurance company need to know if there was no damage to the wall itself?