Car Insurance matter (someone hit my parked car and took off - got their details from witnesses)

njeri

Hi collective,
This morning I parked my car and went into a shop, someone came and tried to park behind me, gave my car a big bump and took off after realising what he had done.  Luckily the lads in the shop where I had parked saw this, wrote down the reg number and description of driver and handed this to me when I got back.

I just changed Insurance companies 5 days ago, - my question is, should I try and call and inform my insurance and give them the details and facts as I have them? It is a biggish bump but I wondered whether this would bump up my insurance come renewal time - I have 10 years protected NCD.  

S

Mark_d

Yes you should inform your insurance company of any incident, regardless of whether you want to make a claim or not.

It difficult to say whether it would affect your premium at renewal time.  It depends on the insurer and it depends on whether you end up successfully claiming against the third party.  As you have witnesses, it is likely that things go your way.

In any case you should inform your insurance company about what has happened.  If you don't inform them then it is fraud - and at renewal time you would be paying for an insurance policy that will not cover you in the event of a claim.

DullGreyGuy

njeri said:

Hi collective,
This morning I parked my car and went into a shop, someone came and tried to park behind me, gave my car a big bump and took off after realising what he had done.  Luckily the lads in the shop where I had parked saw this, wrote down the reg number and description of driver and handed this to me when I got back.

I just changed Insurance companies 5 days ago, - my question is, should I try and call and inform my insurance and give them the details and facts as I have them? It is a biggish bump but I wondered whether this would bump up my insurance come renewal time - I have 10 years protected NCD.  

We are the Borg 

You are legally obliged to inform your insurer, were you able to settle the matter privately with the third party (TP) then many people would "forget" to mention it. Some do claim directly from the TP insurance and also "forget" to mention it but as then it's likely there are records in CUE and other counter fraud databases it becomes a much more risky strategy. 

What will happen to premiums depends on if you claim off your own insurance or not and also if the TP insurer reimburses yours or not. Whilst it's great the lads got a registration plate and description it wouldn't be the first time ever that witnesses have noted a registration incorrectly or the offending vehicle is on cloned plates etc. If you claim and ultimately the TP cannot be traced then it's a fault claim and will impact your premiums. If it's a non-fault claim then it depends on your choice of insurer and how good a risk you are otherwise, some will not raise premiums for a single non-fault incident, others will. 

Nasqueron

Report the other driver to the police also, hopefully nice 5 points and fine for them, hate people who damage cars and leave, so dishonest

DullGreyGuy

Nasqueron said:

Report the other driver to the police also, hopefully nice 5 points and fine for them, hate people who damage cars and leave, so dishonest

An optimistic outcome... vast majority of the time its a "its a civil matter, tell your insurers and they'll deal" or at best a producer that simply gets filed (what happened to me when someone reported me to the police for having failed to stop when indeed I had stopped, they hit my stationary car after all but they said they'd "remember" my details - no damage to our car, broken wing mirror on theirs)

Nasqueron

DullGreyGuy said:

Nasqueron said:

Report the other driver to the police also, hopefully nice 5 points and fine for them, hate people who damage cars and leave, so dishonest

An optimistic outcome... vast majority of the time its a "its a civil matter, tell your insurers and they'll deal" or at best a producer that simply gets filed (what happened to me when someone reported me to the police for having failed to stop when indeed I had stopped, they hit my stationary car after all but they said they'd "remember" my details - no damage to our car, broken wing mirror on theirs)

Eh Ed Balls (I think??) managed to get 5 points and a fine for lightly clipping a car mirror among a throng of journalists swarming a car. Without reporting these people it'll NEVER happen, rather than being unlikely

DullGreyGuy

Nasqueron said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Nasqueron said:

Report the other driver to the police also, hopefully nice 5 points and fine for them, hate people who damage cars and leave, so dishonest

An optimistic outcome... vast majority of the time its a "its a civil matter, tell your insurers and they'll deal" or at best a producer that simply gets filed (what happened to me when someone reported me to the police for having failed to stop when indeed I had stopped, they hit my stationary car after all but they said they'd "remember" my details - no damage to our car, broken wing mirror on theirs)

Eh Ed Balls (I think??) managed to get 5 points and a fine for lightly clipping a car mirror among a throng of journalists swarming a car. Without reporting these people it'll NEVER happen, rather than being unlikely

No idea about Balls but would suggest it's an outlier... dealt with hundreds of alleged hit and runs and dont recall our policyholder getting points on any of them inc the ones we conceded and paid out. 

Absolutely rarely becomes never if its not reported just some seem to use the police as a way of retribution rather than justice in which case the OP shouldn't be looking forward to booking the day off work to see the guy in court