Car hit by another car whilst parked in Supermarket car park. Other owner denying involvement

35har1old

[Deleted User] said:

Cammy0102 said:

Hello, yesterday my girlfriend parked our car (dark blue colour) in a LIDL car park around 3pm and went inside the supermarket. When she came back around 3.30pm she noticed there was damage (paint had been scraped off) to the front passenger side bumper and on the wing. She looked at the cars on either side of our and noticed there was a different car (to the one that was there when she parked) and there was correponding damage (in height, area and appearance) to their front passenger side bumper. Also she could clearly see dark blue paint of our car had transferred to the bumper of the other. The other is an old Vauxhall Corsa in light turquoise colour.

My girlfriend took photos of both cars and spoke to the Manager of LIDL. He came outside to inspect and also agreed that it was obvious that the other car had collided with our car. There were couple of cameras in the car park but none covering the area our car was parked in. 

I took an Uber and went to the site and we waited in the car for the other driver to arrive. Around 5.30pm the driver arrived and we asked him whether he'd hit our car but he flat out denied. We told him there was corresponding damage to his car and there's dark blue paint on his bumper but he said he didn't know how that happened. He refused to give us he details. So we just left and after speaking to the Police on 101, my girlfriend filed a report (there was no where to upload pictures by the way).

It was hugely frustrating. We are pretty sure the other driver damaged our car (Supermarket manager agreed as well) but since he's denying any involvement and there's no one who witnessed the incident and if there's no camera capturing the incident, I don't see Police being able to do anything. It's unlikely the driver will fess up. 

Today, I contacted a local garage, sent the picutres of the damage and they quoted about £500 to fix. It'll be far more economical than going through our insurance as I will have to pay £250 of excess, lose 13 years of no claim discount and the premimum will go up.

Do you think anything will come out of the Police investigation? Will they even investigate since it's not a huge accident and no injuries occured? 

Do we hae to report the incident to Insurance? Since we have filed a police report (police said they won't inform Insurance), can the Insurance company see the car has been involved in an accident (though it's not our fault)?

Thank you.

It's possible they genuinely didn't know they'd done it !
I am in contact with a person who has Peripheral Neuropathy, so little or no sensation in lower legs/and or feet, and they can't feel the pedals in the car nor any impact the car has with an object !
This could be the case here if the evidence all points to that vehicle
Doesn't help your bank balance regards the repair cost but could be an explanation to driver denying/not knowing they'd done it.

Has he informed the DVLA about his are her condition 

400ixl

35har1old said:

400ixl said:

If you have protected your NCD and this is your first accident, then you will not lose any years of NCD.

As for declaring, if the question is have you had any incidents /  accidents then yes you have to answer honestly.

You likely not lose the NCD but your premium might still go up

Yes, that wasn't the part I was clarifying for the OP as multiple people have already stated that correctly.

Spies

Can you not just report it to your insurer, give them the reg and pictures and let them go after the other driver? 

ontheroad1970

Spies said:

Can you not just report it to your insurer, give them the reg and pictures and let them go after the other driver? 

With no witness and no CCTV, going after the driver is going to be no more successful for the insurance company than the OP

Tiexen

I've had two repairs both similar damage to rear arches 1st was insurance cost other parties insurance £2000 and had to put 1 claim (even though not my fault) on my next 5 years insurance renewals, other was my fault so paid £200 for a smart repair - and as I didn't make a claim no need to report.

35har1old

Tiexen said:

I've had two repairs both similar damage to rear arches 1st was insurance cost other parties insurance £2000 and had to put 1 claim (even though not my fault) on my next 5 years insurance renewals, other was my fault so paid £200 for a smart repair - and as I didn't make a claim no need to report.

Even if you don't make a claim you still have to report it

oscarward

My son had a small bump where someone ran in to the back of him. He managed to get her name and address but when we asked for cost of repairs she flatly refused to respond.  We went to her insurers via askmid and registered a claim with them, and notified his own insurers as required.

 She wouldn’t respond to her insurers enquiries so they eventually paid for my sons repairs as a good will gesture without admitting liability. Not sure what the outcome with her insurers was but as it was a battered Old Ford focus I don’t think she had it repaired.

Okell

35har1old said:

[Deleted User] said:

Cammy0102 said:

Hello, yesterday my girlfriend parked our car (dark blue colour) in a LIDL car park around 3pm and went inside the supermarket. When she came back around 3.30pm she noticed there was damage (paint had been scraped off) to the front passenger side bumper and on the wing. She looked at the cars on either side of our and noticed there was a different car (to the one that was there when she parked) and there was correponding damage (in height, area and appearance) to their front passenger side bumper. Also she could clearly see dark blue paint of our car had transferred to the bumper of the other. The other is an old Vauxhall Corsa in light turquoise colour.

My girlfriend took photos of both cars and spoke to the Manager of LIDL. He came outside to inspect and also agreed that it was obvious that the other car had collided with our car. There were couple of cameras in the car park but none covering the area our car was parked in. 

I took an Uber and went to the site and we waited in the car for the other driver to arrive. Around 5.30pm the driver arrived and we asked him whether he'd hit our car but he flat out denied. We told him there was corresponding damage to his car and there's dark blue paint on his bumper but he said he didn't know how that happened. He refused to give us he details. So we just left and after speaking to the Police on 101, my girlfriend filed a report (there was no where to upload pictures by the way).

It was hugely frustrating. We are pretty sure the other driver damaged our car (Supermarket manager agreed as well) but since he's denying any involvement and there's no one who witnessed the incident and if there's no camera capturing the incident, I don't see Police being able to do anything. It's unlikely the driver will fess up. 

Today, I contacted a local garage, sent the picutres of the damage and they quoted about £500 to fix. It'll be far more economical than going through our insurance as I will have to pay £250 of excess, lose 13 years of no claim discount and the premimum will go up.

Do you think anything will come out of the Police investigation? Will they even investigate since it's not a huge accident and no injuries occured? 

Do we hae to report the incident to Insurance? Since we have filed a police report (police said they won't inform Insurance), can the Insurance company see the car has been involved in an accident (though it's not our fault)?

Thank you.

It's possible they genuinely didn't know they'd done it !
I am in contact with a person who has Peripheral Neuropathy, so little or no sensation in lower legs/and or feet, and they can't feel the pedals in the car nor any impact the car has with an object !
This could be the case here if the evidence all points to that vehicle
Doesn't help your bank balance regards the repair cost but could be an explanation to driver denying/not knowing they'd done it.

Has he informed the DVLA about his are her condition 

Quite.  I'm not sure how anybody could safely drive an unadapted car if they literally can't feel the pedals with their feet...

DullGreyGuy

oscarward said:

She wouldn’t respond to her insurers enquiries so they eventually paid for my sons repairs as a good will gesture without admitting liability. Not sure what the outcome with her insurers was but as it was a battered Old Ford focus I don’t think she had it repaired.

Most likely its just a fault claim registered on her policy... generally has to be something more extreme for an insurer to decide they don't want to have dealing with you again in the future.

fatbelly

How bad is it?

If you polish it with t- cut, and buy a touch-up pen, how bad is it then?

If you ask your local SMART repairer, how much will that cost?

https://www.whocanfixmycar.com/car-body-repair