Someone crashed into me in car park. I have his details. What is best course of action?
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potatosalad
Posts: 16 Forumite
Hi,
Went shopping earlier and when I got back to my car (which is only 2 weeks old!) I found a big scratch down the side. After reviewing the CCTV with security, we found who did it and were able to track him down and speak to him. He admitted fault and gave me his details (would've been nice if he could've left a note in the first place!).
What is my best course of action from here? It's a brand new car and I don't want it to be anything less than perfect (it's a lease deal so I may get charged down the line if not). I've been trying to research online and I'm left confused about the best next steps. I've seen some things say go to his insurance, some say go to a credit hire company, and some say avoid insurance altogether since it will increase my premiums in future.
If it makes any difference, I'm insured with Direct Line and he is insured with LV.
Thanks in advance!
Pete
Went shopping earlier and when I got back to my car (which is only 2 weeks old!) I found a big scratch down the side. After reviewing the CCTV with security, we found who did it and were able to track him down and speak to him. He admitted fault and gave me his details (would've been nice if he could've left a note in the first place!).
What is my best course of action from here? It's a brand new car and I don't want it to be anything less than perfect (it's a lease deal so I may get charged down the line if not). I've been trying to research online and I'm left confused about the best next steps. I've seen some things say go to his insurance, some say go to a credit hire company, and some say avoid insurance altogether since it will increase my premiums in future.
If it makes any difference, I'm insured with Direct Line and he is insured with LV.
Thanks in advance!
Pete
0
Comments
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Avoiding insurance looks no good as the third party was hoping to get away with this!
If you know his Insurers then approach them and see if they have an innocent third party claims department to look after you.
If they won't help then you either use an accident management company to pursue the claim against the third party or bite the bullet and claim off your policy
Read up on credit hire companies to see the issues they can cause before going down to that route0 -
Thank you Quentin. I am going to call LV now and ask to speak to that department.0
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Let us know how you get on.0
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They should offer you a replacement car whilst yours is in for repair and let you choose the repairer (assuming lv is the third party insurer)0
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Report him to the police for hit and run as well, nice 5 points and £1000 for the nasty types who do this0
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There's no evidence of hit and run.
You do get time to report damage when you cannot exchange details on the spot at the time because the owner of the damaged property is absent.
It looks like details were swapped shortly afterwards
Police won't be interested0 -
There's no evidence of hit and run.
You do get time to report damage when you cannot exchange details on the spot at the time because the owner of the damaged property is absent.
It looks like details were swapped shortly afterwards
Police won't be interested
OP clearly states car was hit, no note left. Found the driver via CCTV and contacted them who then admitted they did. 100% bang to rights hit and run, easy fine and points for plod. Of course they'll be interested.0 -
Not leaving a note isn't "hit and run"!
You have up to 24 hours to report causing damage. This was not necessary as the OP and the third party did exchange details!
The police won't be interested - it's now a civil matter between the two parties0 -
Not leaving a note isn't "hit and run"!
You have up to 24 hours to report causing damage. This was not necessary as the OP and the third party did exchange details!
The police won't be interested - it's now a civil matter between the two parties
Third party did not report damage though did they? OP had to track them down via CCTV and presumably following up the plates. Third party admitted once they were contacted that they did it - i.e. a hit and run but did not admit it until spoken to some time later.
NOW it may or may not be, the time to report was as soon as the evidence was found showing the hit and run.
Please see below example of police prosecuting for a car hitting and not leaving a note. Note the defence of "didn't realise I had hit" was disregarded.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-286582170 -
Third party did not report damage though did they? OP had to track them down via CCTV and presumably following up the plates. Third party admitted once they were contacted that they did it - i.e. a hit and run but did not admit it until spoken to some time later.
NOW it may or may not be, the time to report was as soon as the evidence was found showing the hit and run.
Please see below example of police prosecuting for a car hitting and not leaving a note. Note the defence of "didn't realise I had hit" was disregarded.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-28658217
If I hit another car in my car today, I don't have a pen and paper on me to leave a note.
I would have to drive somewhere to get this, with no guarantee the car would be there when I got back.
It could be that the driver had the intention of contacting the police to report the damage but was contacted by the OP in the meantime and so didn't need to report after all.
But, as others have said - contact the other guys insurance and claim that way. Your own premiums will likely go up, but for most insurers you would need to declare the incident whether there was a claim or not so this is unlikely to make a difference.0
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