Someone's complained that I knocked into their car

homeless9

Hi,

Someone at work is claiming that I caused some slight minor damage to his wheel arch when parking. I parked up, went into work - no concerns. I come out and there's a note on my car claiming I caused damage to their wheel arch. I checked my car - no damage.

The guy wants £60 out of me. I genuinely don't know if I caused the damage or not. I don't know if the damage was on his car 5 months ago, or caused by someone else parking up in the 6 hour window before I arrived.

2 questions:

Would insurance deal with this? as the damage is so minor, even if I had caused the damage and took the blame - would I have to pay any excess, which I think might be around £250, when the damage is £60 - £70.... ?

The guy seems like a bit of a nutcase. I could never straight out accuse the person that's parked next to me at the time I go back to my car to be the one that caused the damage. I'd have to be certain before accusing anyone. He's determined to get money out of me. I am tempted to give him the £60 to get him off my back just for peace of mind and move on. Everyone I spoke to says I should not feel obliged to give him anything as their's no evidence I hit his car. Also, people are saying it can be seen as an admittance of guilt if I hand over money, although it would be cash - so untraceable. If the insurer doesn't deal with such minor incidents for less than excess cost, then do I need to worry?

Thanks.

wongataa

You don't pay the excess on third party claims, only claims you make for your car (unless you have an insurance policy that states otherwise but if they exist they are uncommon).

If you don't think you did any damage I wouldn't be handing over any money.  It is up to the third party to prove who did the damage before any payout should happen.

Car_54

Yes, your insurance would deal with it. There would be no excess to pay: that only applies for damage to your own vehicle.

Jonboy_1984

The couple of times I have even lightly grazed a fence post or similar when parking I have known about it. Unless you were playing ac/dc at top volume just keep firm with it wasn’t you, and make sure you have date stamped photos of your car to show no marks.

The_Unready

What evidence has he provided to you that indicates that you were responsible?

 You also sound a tad equivocal in your denials - if you parked correctly you should be nowhere near his car. So why are you thinking that there is a possibility that you caused the damage? Were you that close when you parked?

DullGreyGuy

Yes your insurers would deal with it but they may be pragmatic and just pay because it'll cost them more in staffing costs to dispute the claim.

Presumably both vehicles were still in situ when you went to your car and saw the note? Did the damage align to anything on your car, like the edge of the drivers door?

Hoveactually

What evidence is he producing? Why should you accept what he says? Say: "I consider this to be insurance fraud" and leave it at that. He can call the Police if he thinks you damaged his car and walked off.

DullGreyGuy

Hoveactually said:

What evidence is he producing? Why should you accept what he says? Say: "I consider this to be insurance fraud" and leave it at that. He can call the Police if he thinks you damaged his car and walked off.

That would be an exceptionally odd thing to say given there are no insurers involved? 

The other consideration is that this is a work colleague not some random person in the street... starting to accuse people of fraud and involving the police isnt likely to create the best working environments.

Its a very common assumption that if you have new minor damage to your parked car that its the one next to it that's done the damage. In most cases the response is often something to do with the wind pulling the door out of their hand but when they checked they didn't notice any damage. 

sheramber

Somebody could have parked in that space and damaged his car before you parked.

How  soon did he challenge you to know it will cost £60?

What is to stop him cming back next week and saying it actually cost £160 and wants more money?