Hit and run advice

fudgeeyena

Hello.

A couple of months ago, my car was parked outside a garage after having work done. A man drove into the car parked behind mine which in turn caused extensive damage to the back of my own car. The driver then fled the scene, leaving his own damaged car in the middle of the road. Police were called, witness accounts taken and the garage also had full CCTV of the incident. I contacted the drivers insurance who confirmed that he was insured and that they'd get back to me. 

I didn't hear anything back for weeks and when contacting them, I was told there was nothing they could do to help me and that I need to claim from my own car insurance. My own car insurance have told me there's nothing they will do to help as I was only third party, fire and theft insured as opposed to fully comprehensive. 

Im now stuck with a damaged car and no help from either insurer. This doesn't sound right to me but I'm not sure what my next step should be. Can anyone advise me at all? Many thanks 

Tiexen

Are you claiming off the car that actually hit yours?

fudgeeyena

Tiexen said:

Are you claiming off the car that actually hit yours?

No, both myself and the other car involved are claiming from the hit and run drivers insurance 

Tiexen

Don't think that's right, the "other" driver didn't hit your car.

Aretnap

Tiexen said:

Don't think that's right, the "other" driver didn't hit your car.

It's entirely right. You can't claim from a car you can only claim from a person - the person whose negligence caused the damage to your car. That means the driver who caused the accident (assuming you can find him). You would have no possible grounds to claim from a person whose car was parked up and who played no part in the accident.

fudgeeyena

Aretnap said:

Tiexen said:

Don't think that's right, the "other" driver didn't hit your car.

It's entirely right. You can't claim from a car you can only claim from a person - the person whose negligence caused the damage to your car. That means the driver who caused the accident (assuming you can find him). You would have no possible grounds to claim from a person whose car was parked up and who played no part in the accident.

Thankyou for your reply. Yeah, we found him - police were on the scene when I arrived and already had the name of the driver and gave me his insurance details in order for me to contact them. This is why I don't understand how they can refuse to help me, there's no doubt he caused all the damages 

Grey_Critic

*** That means the driver who caused the accident (assuming you can find him)***

But did the OP not say that both he and the other innocent driver were claiming off the identified culprits insurance?

Aretnap

As you only have TPFT insurance, your own policy does not provide any cover for accidental damage. If you have legal cover with your policy then you can ask your insurer to provide a solicitor to help with the process of making a claim (against whom I'll come onto), but if you don't have legal cover then your own insurer has no role to play and you are on your own.

Your rights in this situation depend on whether you can identify the driver. Is the owner of the car whose driver fled the scene denying that it was him driving? If so, then unless you can prove otherwise (how clear is the CCTV of the guy getting out of the car and running off?) then his insurer isn't isn't required to cover an unknown driver. You might however be able to make a claim from the Motor Insurers Bureau under the Untraced Driver's Agreement

https://www.mib.org.uk/making-a-claim/claiming-against-an-untraced-driver/

If the driver has owned up, or if you can prove that it was him, then the insurer of the car that he was driving does indeed have to cover your losses. However as you're not their customer, if they're being unhelpful you don't have the same consumer rights as you would if you were claiming from your own insurance company. The next step would be to issue a court claim against the driver for the damage to your car. His insurance company would then either step in and settle the claim, or in theory it could go as far as an actual court case - if you won the insurance company would be obliged to pay any compensation you were awarded, on behalf of their driver.

Aretnap

Grey_Critic said:

*** That means the driver who caused the accident (assuming you can find him)***

But did the OP not say that both he and the other innocent driver were claiming off the identified culprits insurance?

As the driver legged it, it wasn't clear from the original post whether he'd actually been caught, or whether the OP was trying to claim off the insurance of the car's owner (who he assumed was the driver).

An unidentified driver was also the most obvious reason why the third party insurer might deny liability.

However now that the OP has clarified that the driver has owned up, that does indeed make the "assuming you can find him" comment redundant - along with a good chunk of my second post (which was cross-posted with the clarification).

So if there's no doubt about the identity of the driver, what reason (if any) have the third party insurer given for not paying up?

Jenni_D

Tangential question - did you actually save any money by going with TPFT cover rather than fully comp? (Something to consider going forward).

Ectophile

You need to work out how much the damage to your car will cost.  It's probably easier if the car is beyond economic repair, as it will be the value of a second hand car of teh same specification.

Then you send a Letter Before Action to the person who caused the accident, giving then 14 days to pay up.  If they don't pay, tell them that you will have to take legal action.  If they have any sense, they will pass it on to their insurance company.

Don't believe someone else's insurance company if they tell you that they can't help you.