What do I do? Accident not my fault

Kingtalk · 16 November 2018 at 3:27PM

Yesterday a man hit my car in a supermarket car park. I had just got in my car so I was in the vehicle when it happened. He was all set to drive off but I flagged him down and said you’ve just hit my car.

My car was not completely free of damage previously it’s a 8 year old car! But there are clear deep scratches which match up to the ones on his car. He is claiming that those scratches weren’t him. And that he has not done any damage to my car.

There were 2 witnesses who have given me their details.

I took the car to a local garage today and they have quoted £270 to have the damage repaired.

I called the man today and offered him the opportunity to pay this before I go to the insurance company. He is saying that there is no damage to his car (despite my photos) and that any damage on my car was there previously.

My excess on my policy is £300. What should I do?

cajef · 16 November 2018 at 3:32PM

Have you tried informing him that you have two independent witnesses that saw him hit and damage your car?

Nasqueron · 16 November 2018 at 4:23PM

You are required to tell your insurer anyway, get it done sooner rather than later before the witnesses lose interest in responding and then get his details from his plate and claim off his insurance. As soon as you mention photos and 2 witnesses you should get the wheels in motion.

OnanTheBarbarian · 16 November 2018 at 5:10PM

Much depends on whether you want to spend months of your life arguing with either him or his insurers that he caused the damage.

You can't claim via your own policy as the damage is less than your excess.

Even notifyng your insurers may give rise to your premiums increasing in future as you will have to declare this incident for the next 5 years when getting a quote. So it's up to you if you keep quiet with your insurers or not. He is obviously not going to notify his insurers as he has no damage and disputes he caused any damage to your vehicle, so currently the incident is off the radar of insurers.

I would try one last attempt with him saying you have 2 witnesses who will support him causing the damage (assuming the witnesses did actually see his vehicle make contact with yours rather than just being witnesses to a discussion afterwards) and if he still won't budge then you need to decide if it really is worth it or not.

Even if you manage to get his insurance details and push the claim directly to them, you still have to declare the incident on future quotes and you would need to report the incident to your insurers "for information purposes only".

What do I do? Accident not my fault

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