Urgent advice needed

building_with_lego

Franz_Ferdinand wrote: »

There's no reason for the police to be involved and even if they were it wouldn't complicate anything.

I was that 'busybody' a while ago when I saw someone crunch into the car behind while reversing to get out of a space on the local road. I actually tweeted the driver of the crunched car, including a shot of the naughty driver leaving (after I had spoken to him and he had confirmed that he knew he had damaged it and was not going to leave his details) and several people asked me whether I was going to report it to the police. It turns out it's quite common around here and can mean expensive repairs- one person was over £500 out of pocket.

I rang 111 and they were actually very interested, as potentially it's leaving the scene of an accident. (Long story short the crunched car's driver did not press charges but the naughty driver got a proper b0ll0cking from the plod and told that next time he'd be up in court...



The police wouldn't be involved in the repair side of this case, neither would they in the 'leaving the scene' side, since you have made contact with and given your details to the driver. Don't worry, but I would advise you report it to your insurer.

Franz_Ferdinand

building_with_lego wrote: »

I was that 'busybody' a while ago when I saw someone crunch into the car behind while reversing to get out of a space on the local road. I actually tweeted the driver of the crunched car, including a shot of the naughty driver leaving (after I had spoken to him and he had confirmed that he knew he had damaged it and was not going to leave his details) and several people asked me whether I was going to report it to the police. It turns out it's quite common around here and can mean expensive repairs- one person was over £500 out of pocket.

I rang 111 and they were actually very interested, as potentially it's leaving the scene of an accident. (Long story short the crunched car's driver did not press charges but the naughty driver got a proper b0ll0cking from the plod and told that next time he'd be up in court...



The police wouldn't be involved in the repair side of this case, neither would they in the 'leaving the scene' side, since you have made contact with and given your details to the driver. Don't worry, but I would advise you report it to your insurer.

Of course he did, he got away with a crime.

Joe_Horner

Confused_driver wrote: »

Thank you all, appreciate the quick reply. I will obviously pay for repair if I have to but I am just worried about being ripped off because the scratches are so minor they would be very easy to repair but his insurance will certainly charge me a fortune for that.

Assuming your insurance record is otherwise clean, don't worry too much about it. His insurers won't charge you anything for it, they'll bill your insurance company.

Inform your insurer asap (like, now) if you haven't already so that there's no question of you trying to hide it from them.

The other insurer may well get an accident management company involved. Say nothing to them, let your insurer deal with it.

My partner had a very similar parking scrape earlier in the year and it made a grand total of £30 difference on her renewal quotes. Incidentally,, the lowest figure they accepted for cost of claim was £1000 - that's pocket change for them.

wba31

building_with_lego wrote: »

I was that 'busybody' a while ago when I saw someone crunch into the car behind while reversing to get out of a space on the local road. I actually tweeted the driver of the crunched car, including a shot of the naughty driver leaving (after I had spoken to him and he had confirmed that he knew he had damaged it and was not going to leave his details) and several people asked me whether I was going to report it to the police. It turns out it's quite common around here and can mean expensive repairs- one person was over £500 out of pocket.

I rang 111 and they were actually very interested, as potentially it's leaving the scene of an accident. (Long story short the crunched car's driver did not press charges but the naughty driver got a proper b0ll0cking from the plod and told that next time he'd be up in court...



The police wouldn't be involved in the repair side of this case, neither would they in the 'leaving the scene' side, since you have made contact with and given your details to the driver. Don't worry, but I would advise you report it to your insurer.

I too have been that busybody, was walking across a car park to my car to see an old guy in a large merc reverse into the car next to mine and left his front bumper hanging off. He got out and remarked to his passenger that it's only a "Crappy old ford" and drove off. I left a brief note on the windscreen of the car in question advising of the time/date of the incident, reg number and description of the driver, and left my number in case my details were needed as a witness in an insurance claim. I never heard anything back, but had it been the next space along it would have been my "crappy old honda" being hit and i would have wanted to know

Strider590

Confused_driver wrote: »

Hi. I have just had a small car incident at a retail car park. I touched someone's car whilst trying to squeeze in a tight parking spot. Stupid mistake I admit. The damage was very minor, few scratches to the back. I reversed back and decided to move to another parking place.

Confused_driver wrote: »

What can I do? just wait and hope for the best? contact him in a couple of days? and what can the other woman who took my registration number do?

Reverse park....

lazer-zxr

I wish someone had been a 'busy body' when someone trashed my car in a car park. Would've saved me a lot of worry, and money.

Tiddlywinks

Confused_driver wrote: »

Thank you all, appreciate the quick reply. I will obviously pay for repair if I have to but I am just worried about being ripped off because the scratches are so minor they would be very easy to repair but his insurance will certainly charge me a fortune for that. My car also had what I thought were thick scratches but when I got home I Used a damp cloth and they were nearly all gone! Pretty sure his were similar.

Look - YOU damaged his car - it was entirely YOUR FAULT.

The other party is perfectly entitled to get the best service possible to rectify the damage.

Just suck it up and stop feeling like a victim... just accept this is the price you pay for a mistake you made.

ElefantEd

Also, busybody is a noun, not an adjective.

Stoke

Truth be told, I would let your insurance handle it. You'd be surprised how much 'a few scratches' can cost..... trust me.

You're worried about not being ripped off? How much do you think it'll cost? A wing repair could cost in excess of £300 and that's just on a good day.

As for damp cloth t-cut job... nah, not if it was my car and i wasn't at fault.

Franz_Ferdinand

Stoke wrote: »

Truth be told, I would let your insurance handle it. You'd be surprised how much 'a few scratches' can cost..... trust me.

You're worried about not being ripped off? How much do you think it'll cost? A wing repair could cost in excess of £300 and that's just on a good day.

As for damp cloth t-cut job... nah, not if it was my car and i wasn't at fault.

Bank on a grand a panel and you won't be far off the mark. If it's a company car he'll need a replacement when it's in the workshop.