Damage in Car Park

blomoff

Hi,
I was parked in a shopping centre car park on Tuesday evening. I came back to my car and a person walked over towards me from a car in front. He told me that someone had just hit my car driving into the space and drove off and parked elsewhere, he wasnt sure where the car was that moved, but he said there was two people, in different cars and the other person was in the white car just in front of mine, and the car that hit me was a black mercedes. He got out of that and met the woman after shed moved her car. Unfortunately i didnt get his details, as was looking at my car etc, completely forgot

I asked the driver of the white car, when he came back to his car and he just got snotty and denied it, also denied even being with anyone else. I got his registration number though. There will be cameras in this car park, i asked the shopping centre but they wont show me them, only the insurance companies. Phoned the police, they say to go through the insurance.

When i got home i looked on my dashcam, and you can clearly see him get out of his white car, walk towards my car saying to the other driver "what now". Little time elapses, so they are clearly looking at my car where theyve hit it, as the witness described. I cant see the other car on this footage due to the angle, as it was beside me, but then it obviously moves to a few spaces to the left (still cant see the reg though). The white car driver then walks back past my car and towards the black mercedes, where hes seen talking to her and looking back at mine. (Funny for someone he wasnt with)

So if this caught on camera, it should show pretty much the same as the above. The damage is mainly a big scratch across the bumper. This is likely more of a headache to go through the insurance, but then why should i have to cover it either, so its a bit of a pain. If the insurance company cant get CCTV, then its likely just going to go as a claim against me, which isnt fair at all and the pair of tools that caused it get off scott free. So basically, what are my options here, or do i just have to either accept it and fix it myself, or bite the bullet and go through the insurance and potentially have them not getting the CCTV and me being well out of pocket for it?

Mark_d

You should go through your insurance.   A number of insurance policies now don't make you pay your excess and they protect your NCD if the accident wasn't your fault.

blomoff

I do have protected no claims, but not sure on the access. More bothered about it going down as a claim and potentially increasing next years cost for something not even remotely my fault

eskbanker

blomoff said:

There will be cameras in this car park, i asked the shopping centre but they wont show me them, only the insurance companies. Phoned the police, they say to go through the insurance.

[...]

So if this caught on camera, it should show pretty much the same as the above.

Have you returned to the car park to ascertain whether any cameras are likely to have captured the event in sufficient detail to support an insurance claim, i.e. positioned well enough to read registrations, etc?

daveyjp

You should report to your insurance, but state you are not wanting any repair to your vehicle at this stage.  You are informing them so they can investigate the incident.

blomoff

daveyjp said:

You should report to your insurance, but state you are not wanting any repair to your vehicle at this stage.  You are informing them so they can investigate the incident.

Will they even do that without making a claim? Although i'm sure it'll go against me in some way

cw8825

blomoff said:

daveyjp said:

You should report to your insurance, but state you are not wanting any repair to your vehicle at this stage.  You are informing them so they can investigate the incident.

Will they even do that without making a claim? Although i'm sure it'll go against me in some way

very very unlikely

Aretnap

daveyjp said:

You should report to your insurance, but state you are not wanting any repair to your vehicle at this stage.  You are informing them so they can investigate the incident.

They're an insurance company, not private detectives. Their job is to pay for the OP's repairs, if he wants them to, not to go trawling through CCTV footage or trying to find the other driver on his behalf.

If he makes a claim they'll look to recover their costs from the third party, if they think it's likely to be worthwhile, but that's something they do for their own benefit rather than his. If he doesn't make a claim there's nothing for then to do.

Gsaver1

I would pass the footage from your dashcam to your insurance company. Good bit of evidence imo.

Car_54

Gsaver1 said:

I would pass the footage from your dashcam to your insurance company. Good bit of evidence imo.

Evidence of what?

Read the OP. It doesn't show the collision. It shows the alleged culprit's alleged friend, which is of no relevance whatever.