Car Driven Into, Didn't Leave Details. Vandalism or Uninsured Driver claim?

leodis23

Woke up to find someone has driven into my car overnight. The damage isn't extensive, but was enough to push it onto the pavement and left some nasty scratches/dings on a few panels.

I'm still waiting for my insurer to call me back, but the offending driver didn't leave a note and there's no way of me finding who it was (dashcam's g sensor didn't trigger, and there's no CCTV covering the street). My policy (with By Miles) covers both Uninsured Drivers and Vandalism, would this sort of accident come under that? My excess is £550 so am worried that if it doesn't fall under either of those then it could cost me a fortune to repair.

davidmcn

They describe their policies as fully comprehensive, so I don't see why it wouldn't be covered. It's just an unidentified driver, you don't know whether they're uninsured or did it maliciously.

garth549

Unless your insurer waives your excess for vandalism or in cases for an uninsured/un-traced driver (I'm not aware of any that do) then you'll have to pay that regardless I'm afraid.  

Some allow you to keep your no claims discount which is different.  

leodis23

This is from my insurer's policy handbook regarding vandalism:

If yourcar is damaged through an act of vandalism then yourinsurer will cover the damage, as long as you provide us with a crime reference number given to you by the police.

I don't have the car's details that hit me, so wouldn't be able to go down the uninsured driver route

RBN20

Unfortunately it is unlikely to be classed by your insurer as vandalism or as an uninsured driver. It will likely go down as an unrecoverable claim which means it would reflect the same as a Fault claim and your excess will apply. 

This is because they have no one to recover their costs from, and often the uninsured driver promise would only apply if you had the third party details and it is proven they are uninsured, which unfortunately can’t be done as they didn’t leave details. 

It’s a very frustrating situation, I hope you get it sorted 

leodis23

RBN20 said:

Unfortunately it is unlikely to be classed by your insurer as vandalism or as an uninsured driver. It will likely go down as an unrecoverable claim which means it would reflect the same as a Fault claim and your excess will apply. 

This is because they have no one to recover their costs from, and often the uninsured driver promise would only apply if you had the third party details and it is proven they are uninsured, which unfortunately can’t be done as they didn’t leave details. 

It’s a very frustrating situation, I hope you get it sorted 

Thought as much. Might just have to live with it for a few months and then get it repaired without using the insurance - currently buying a house so couldn't have come at a worse time for needing to pay an excess on the car insurance

Sea_Shell

leodis23 said:

RBN20 said:

Unfortunately it is unlikely to be classed by your insurer as vandalism or as an uninsured driver. It will likely go down as an unrecoverable claim which means it would reflect the same as a Fault claim and your excess will apply. 

This is because they have no one to recover their costs from, and often the uninsured driver promise would only apply if you had the third party details and it is proven they are uninsured, which unfortunately can’t be done as they didn’t leave details. 

It’s a very frustrating situation, I hope you get it sorted 

Thought as much. Might just have to live with it for a few months and then get it repaired without using the insurance - currently buying a house so couldn't have come at a worse time for needing to pay an excess on the car insurance

Technically it's still a declarable incident.   What will you say to your insurers when they ring back?

frederick1950

You will still have had an "incident" and as such have to  declare it for the next five years and your premiums will rise  so you might as well get it repaired through your insurance.