Car Insurance Claim (responsible party no cooperating)

mrecuk

A couple of weeks ago someone drove into the front of my parked car whilst i was visiting a nearby house and caused fairly moderate damage to it. They were nice enough to leave a note saying sorry that they hit my car and left their first name, mobile number and address and said that they were in so i could go round and get their details (luckily it was only a few doors down from where i was visiting). I had the vehicle recovered and notified my insurers who asked me to pay the excess charge and assured me i would get it back if the responsible party admitted liability. I decided not to involve the police as i thought that given that they had left some details, i would be able to resolve it without too much trouble. I then tried going to the address to speak with them and get their insurance details and i also tried ringing the number they left but i wasn't able to get hold of them. Stupidly (and rather naively) i left it to my insurers to deal with it as i thought that as they had left a note clearly stating that they were responsible for the damage, they would then be decent enough to explain that to my insurers that they were liable and i would be able to claim back my excess charge.

Needless to say, this hasn't happened. It's been several weeks now since my insurance company first tried to contact the party about the accident and they have had no response. I've tried on multiple occasions to contact them to get this resolved but haven't had any luck. I can only assume that they don't want to accept liability so they're trying to avoid it. As you can imagine I'm now starting to lose patience with the other party and just want this resolved. My question is, what else can i do to help move this along? As i don't have anymore details than what they left on the note and i have no idea what car it was that hit mine, my insures have said I've just got to wait until they reply.

I feel my last option is to take the issue up with the police (which i really should have done in the first place) as the party didn't actually leave their insurance details which as i understand it is a criminal offense.

Has anyone else experienced a similar incident, and has involving the police helped?

Thanks

rich13348

You could try searching Google with the details you have and see if you can get a surname. Or go back to the address and look for a car with front end or rear end damage at the address.
Or just keep knocking at the door at different times of the day and night until you get someone in.

Retrogamer

It's not an offence to not leave your insurance details unless someone has been injured IIRC.

If you're claiming via your own insurance company haven't they managed to repair the car and resolve the scenario for you? I'd have imagined the only delay is them getting their money back and re-instating your NCB and refund of excess if you have legal cover?

If you have Facebook try popping their mobile number in there and seeing if a profile appears.

Silver-Surfer_2

mrecuk wrote: »

A couple of weeks ago someone drove into the front of my parked car whilst i was visiting a nearby house and caused fairly moderate damage to it. They were nice enough to leave a note saying sorry that they hit my car and left their first name, mobile number and address and said that they were in so i could go round and get their details (luckily it was only a few doors down from where i was visiting). I had the vehicle recovered and notified my insurers who asked me to pay the excess charge and assured me i would get it back if the responsible party admitted liability. I decided not to involve the police as i thought that given that they had left some details, i would be able to resolve it without too much trouble. I then tried going to the address to speak with them and get their insurance details and i also tried ringing the number they left but i wasn't able to get hold of them. Stupidly (and rather naively) i left it to my insurers to deal with it as i thought that as they had left a note clearly stating that they were responsible for the damage, they would then be decent enough to explain that to my insurers that they were liable and i would be able to claim back my excess charge.

Needless to say, this hasn't happened. It's been several weeks now since my insurance company first tried to contact the party about the accident and they have had no response. I've tried on multiple occasions to contact them to get this resolved but haven't had any luck. I can only assume that they don't want to accept liability so they're trying to avoid it. As you can imagine I'm now starting to lose patience with the other party and just want this resolved. My question is, what else can i do to help move this along? As i don't have anymore details than what they left on the note and i have no idea what car it was that hit mine, my insures have said I've just got to wait until they reply.

I feel my last option is to take the issue up with the police (which i really should have done in the first place) as the party didn't actually leave their insurance details which as i understand it is a criminal offense.

Has anyone else experienced a similar incident, and has involving the police helped?

Thanks

As there was no injury that was the only thing they didn't need to provide at the time. They maybe guilty of failing to report the collision as you were not present and I doubt they have been to the police.

You're likely to get fobbed off by the police if you try and report it now.

mrecuk

Retrogamer wrote: »

It's not an offence to not leave your insurance details unless someone has been injured IIRC.

If you're claiming via your own insurance company haven't they managed to repair the car and resolve the scenario for you? I'd have imagined the only delay is them getting their money back and re-instating your NCB and refund of excess if you have legal cover?

If you have Facebook try popping their mobile number in there and seeing if a profile appears.

I always thought you had to leave your insurance details no matter what. Oh well. The car has been fixed through the insurance company, like you said, it's more about retrieving the excess charge, reinstating my NCB and them recovering their costs for the repair.

mrecuk

Silver-Surfer wrote: »

As there was no injury that was the only thing they didn't need to provide at the time. They maybe guilty of failing to report the collision as you were not present and I doubt they have been to the police.

You're likely to get fobbed off by the police if you try and report it now.

Yeah I thought that they might fob me off as I've left it for so long (which is my own fault).

jk0

Anyone hear the story about the guy who returns to his car and finds a large dent in it? He finds a note on the windscreen which reads: 'The people watching me think I'm leaving you my name & address'.

Sounds like o/p has a similar problem.

mrecuk

rich13348 wrote: »

You could try searching Google with the details you have and see if you can get a surname. Or go back to the address and look for a car with front end or rear end damage at the address.
Or just keep knocking at the door at different times of the day and night until you get someone in.

I have tried all times of day and night but had no luck. No one can be out that often so I can only assume they're either away or they're deliberately ignoring me. I have had a look around to see if I can find any cars with damage that would fit the damage to my car. There are a few with knocks and scratches in the right places but not enough to have caused the damage to mine. There is one that has damage that's been badly repaired which could potentially be the car but I'm still trying to find out who owns it.

Retrogamer

mrecuk wrote: »

I always thought you had to leave your insurance details no matter what. Oh well. The car has been fixed through the insurance company, like you said, it's more about retrieving the excess charge, reinstating my NCB and them recovering their costs for the repair.

Just leave it with them i guess.

A few weeks isn't a long time to wait. My friend had his car wrote off after someone came out a T junction and T boned him. 100% their fault. Police accident report confirms this
9 months later it's still not settled with insurance.

foxy-stoat

You got faked numbered - I hope the repair bill was high enough to make it worth while claiming.

Silver-Surfer_2

foxy-stoat wrote: »

You got faked numbered - I hope the repair bill was high enough to make it worth while claiming.

Looks like he's already claimed.