my car damaged (intentionally) by a van while parked in TESCO car park,is there anything I can do?

xplod

I have the picture and number plates of the van from my dash cam footage.(Wembley Windows Company Van).

so I parked my car next to this van in a Tesco car park.
my car was correctly inside the parking bay but the two vehicles abit too close to each other.

when I returned I notived 2 large dents on my passenger door.
the location and shape of the dents looked intentional.

my understanding is that the van driver found the gap between my car and his door to narrow (although I was parked within my bay),and had to use their passenger door to enter,got angry and deliberately hit their door to mine,damaging my car.

I'm not going to claim insurance or contact them since I have to pay lots of excess.

do you think there is anything I can do with this company and their driver?
is there any point in informing the police?

the cost of repair will be at least £300.

this is just so unfair.

eddddy

xplod wrote: »

do you think there is anything I can do with this company and their driver?

You can contact the company and/or the driver with a bill for the damage they've caused.

If they don't pay, you can start a claim in the small claims court.

If it got as far as a hearing, the court would decide, on the balance of probabilities, whether the driver/company is responsible for the damage to your car.

If the court decided that the driver/company is responsible, the court would order them to pay the repair costs.


If the damage really was caused intentionally, then it would be 'criminal damage' which is a criminal offence. You could report that to the police if you want, but I suspect that they might not investigate.

xplod

but I don't have any proof that they actaully did that.(unless we can see the Tesco parking CCTV).
it's very obvious to me what happened but nevertheless no proof.
I've contacted the company and asked them to identify the driver.

alfie1950

Why park there if you know you were too close even though you might have been in the middle of your bay? You were asking to get your car damaged whether it was intentional or not !
You make a lot of assumptive remarks even though you have not proof such as ' the dents looked intentional' ?? and 'my understanding is' ... ?? and 'got angry and deliberately hit my door '...
Why not just put this down to experience and learn not to park too close to someone... it's not as if he parked too close to you. Or you could persue it , involve the police , your insurance find out and you then have an 'incident' you have to report and your premiums rise anyway.
I always park at the far end of a supermarket car park where there's no other cars but by the time I come back out there's always one dipstick parked next to me.
Get on with your life .

lisyloo

xplod wrote: »

but I don't have any proof that they actaully did that.(unless we can see the Tesco parking CCTV).
it's very obvious to me what happened but nevertheless no proof.
I've contacted the company and asked them to identify the driver.

Are you saying this is entirely speculation?

There is another scenario, that the driver had an urgent/emergency and had no other option in order to get into their vehicle.

Why do you think a company will spend hours trawling through CCTV and how do you think they’ll identify the driver? (Or registered keeper).

csgohan4

Good luck getting proof, they will bury you with GDPR, e.t.c


Next time don't park too close and not next to a van. I have a few dents in my car myself. Comes part and parcel of having a car.


Maybe your concerned because it's an expensive car or a new one. Which is why I don't tend to buy new cars.

sal_III

This is one of the risks of using public car parks. You knew you are too close, yet decided to block the van door regardless. Due to the size of vans it's likely that the van itself was also entirely within his bay.

For all we/you know the other doors might have been locked/welded shut and the only entry was through the driver's door that you blocked, the damage might have been caused by the driver trying to squeeze in.

BTW I believe you still need to inform the insurance company of the incident, even if you don't plan to claim.

xplod

There was no free space nearby hence why I parked next to the van.
And my car was parked properly within my bay,so how can I be blamed?
my car is not new.but was in perfect condition.
The dent is huge almost half size of the passenger door + one credit card deep dent above it.
It looks intentional because just accidentally hitting it by opening a door won’t cause such a huge dent.


I contacted the company and now they've responded asking me to give them a phone call saying they will resolve this via their insurance.

If I do so,will my own insurance needs to be involved and my policy increase?
(I don't want my already expensive policy to increase at any cost)
do you think they will rely on the pictures I have from their van next to me (dash cam with date + pictures of my damaged car) and what I say or will they request actual footage of the moment they hit my car?

eddddy

xplod wrote: »

If I do so,will my own insurance needs to be involved and my policy increase?

You should report the incident to your insurers. Many insurers would then increase the cost of your policy at renewal, but some don't.

xplod wrote: »

do you think they will rely on the pictures I have from their van next to me and what I say or will they request actual footage of the moment they hit my car?

I guess they'll ask their driver if he/she caused the damage.

If their driver says 'no', they'll probably walk away - unless you can provide evidence that their driver did cause the damage.

(If you took them to court, it would be decided on the balance of probabilities. i.e. Is it more likely that the driver caused the damage, or is it more likely that the driver didn't cause the damage.)

xplod

I’m not going to inform my insurance.
I’m already being ripped off and paying £1400 a year for a 8 years old small city car.
Everyone says they will increase my premium even if I’m not at fault.
car insurance in this country is more like a joke and a scam unfortunately.
I think I have to pay for the repair out of my own pocket and accept it as a misfortune/ experience.

lisyloo

It would be better if you took some responsibility and learnt a lesson not to prevent other people getting access to their vehicles.