Woman hit my parked car whilst I was in it. Denied it even tho car is scraped

froslass

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice as to whether or not this is worth pursuing.

Today I was parked in a local Euro car park (with CCTV). The engine was off and myself, my mum and my daughter were in the car. I was just checking my phone when the whole car was jolted forward. I got out and a woman was reversing away from her car, shaking her head at me. I thought she was saying sorry, but she rolled down her window and starting saying "I didn't hit your car I never touched it" before I'd even said anything! I told her she'd hit it reasonably hard as we all felt it and been jolted forward. (My daughter was strapped into her car seat and I still had my seatbelt on) she denied the whole thing. I said could I have her license plate and she kept denying it! I said ok I will take your license plate then, she clapped her hands at me and said "good for you love!" And when I went to look at the front of her car to check for damage she raced off!! My rear driver side has several scrapes including ones where her paint has transferred.

I am so angry and I'm not sure whether or not to purpose this. My car is a 52 plate clio in decent Nick, but it's only really worth about 1200-1500.

There is CCTV proving she did it and drove off and the police have said to bring my details in and report it formally as it's illegal for her to drive off.

But insurance wise, I'm not sure where I stand or if I'm just going to have to either live with the back of the car being scraped or swallow the costs as our excess is £400. If she admits liability do I have to pay excess? Should I even bother reporting it?

If she had just said sorry id have said no worries and been disappointed, but she was very confrontational and horrible!
What will happen on her end once I've given the full report to the police?

rudekid48

If the CCTV proves she hit you whilst you were stationary then you will not have to pay your excess if you claim directly from her insurers - assuming she is insured.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Further, assuming it is settled, if you claim off your insurance, then when it is settled the other insurers will refund your excess, but you will have to pay the excess to the repairers.

Getting the police involved is a good thing, especially if there is CCTV. They are not going to find her very convincing. Chances are they will find her so obnoxious that they decide to charge her with leaving the scene of the accident, or they will get her to make a community settlement, where they get her to agree to sort your car out in exchange for not taking it any further.

It sometimes depends on insurers, but you may find it easier in this case to deal with your own insurers, take the temporary hit of the excess, if the other party denies the incident to the insurers or makes stuff up.

It is never easy on an old car to know whether to get a repair done, but we did it on out 52 plate Golf which got rear-ended a year ago. Depends how near to extinction you think it is!

arcon5

Don't claim but report it to police. She'll soon regret it

Tomc144

At the very least, if you have the other drivers registration number and you are backed up by CCTV .....they are the person who drove off after an accident, the CCTV will demonstrate liability and the driving off. Depending on the damage to your vehicle it may be cheaper to go to a body workshop privately rather than lose you NCB.

dacouch

arcon5 wrote: »

Don't claim but report it to police. She'll soon regret it

People like that need the police to deal with them properly to stop them getting away with it

bod1467

If it's a Euro Car Park then there likely won't be CCTV ... there'll be ANPR cameras at the entrance/exit which will not in any way capture what the OP describes.

Swipe

Report it and leave it at that. Not worth spending any money or having a no fault claim for a 52 plate that will follow you around for the next 5 years. All you'd then need is another claim down the line and your premiums would soon start rising.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Welcome to UK 2015.
Unfortunately where that low life female was once thankfully unique, it's no longer a rarity.
I hope the police take action, but don't hold your breath that will be the case.

froslass

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Each shop has CCTV cameras outside so I am hoping one of them has caught it.

I would like to have it repaired obviously, but I think I will just have to deal with it unless she admits full liability.

arcon5

To clarify, do you mean euro car parts shop car park or a euro run car park?