AGH!

Maxeh · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:26

Some fool reversed into my car earlier on today and drove off. :mad:

It has ripped the whole front bumper off and physically moved the car so the wheel hit against the kerb.

Luckily a bloke over the road saw it all happen and got his numberplate.
I have phoned the Police and I am just waiting for them to come round.

Now what is the likely outcome of this?

I am insured third party, fire and theft.

The driver that hit me could be insured or uninsured.

Ex-RoNiN · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:29

I think with 3rd party/fire/theft, you can only claim for damages off the other party if you have legal cover, otherwise you're stuffed

Gaygle · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:29

Well, i'd say he is in a bit of trouble, but i bet he'll try and claim he had no idea he hit you, unless the witness can say that he saw the guy get out of the car and look at the damage and drive off anyway. Not sure if you can be done for leaving the scene of an accident if no one was in the second car...

If the police catch up with him and he's got insurance = probably good news for you.

If they catch up with him and he's not got insurance = probably bad news for him and you.

Maxeh · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:34

I have legal cover.

The bloke saw it all happen and the damage done to my car, no way can he claim he didn't know.

He must have hit it hard to shunt my car sideways into the kerb.

So if he has insurance, what can I claim? Will my insurance get affected by this aswell?

Gaygle · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:44

Well, generally it shouldn't affect your premium, because if he isn't insured the insurance company just won't fix your car and so they don't lose any money, and you're the only one losing out. But if he is insured and your insurance company get money off of his insurance company, your renewable will probably be a bit higher... (if ANY of that makes sense

)

its weird.

EDIT: If he's insured just tell your insurance company you have an impartial witness who saw the shunt and the driver drove off after hitting you. And that you have reported it to the police. Also, if there is any CCTV footage it will eliminate any doubt and his insurance will be forced to pay up and he could go to court for fleeing after hitting you.

daveyj27 · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:45

Maxeh said:
Will my insurance get affected by this aswell?

It'll very probably go up, which is very unfair imo.
A few years back I was stuck in a stationary traffic jam. A motorcyclist decided to dart up inbetween the traffic line and parked cars, smashed into an open door and then slid under the back of my car. Damage was minimal, just a scratched rear valance and scuffed bumper, but I followed the book and phoned my insurance company up to inform them of the incident. I decided that the damage was too small to worry about and didn't go ahead with the claim.
My insurance company still counted it as a claim though, and my premium went up.

Gaygle · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:48

daveyj27 said:
I followed the book and phoned my insurance company up to inform them of the incident. I decided that the damage was too small to worry about and didn't go ahead with the claim.
My insurance company still counted it as a claim though, and my premium went up.

Doing things by the book with insurance companies may give you that TINY bit of extra reassurance that everything is done properly (even though nobody will find out and you could lie about it even if they somehow found out), but your wallet will not thank you at all.

Insurance is just a business of ****ing people.

daveyj27 · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:52

Gaygle said:
Insurance is just a business of ****ing people.

You've got no argument from me.

I argued my insurer down on the phone, and told them that i'd be switching company. They then magically "found a way to re-evaluate my renewal quote" and knocked it down to the previous year's figure. I really had to fight my corner though.

barnettgs · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:59

daveyj27 said:
You've got no argument from me.

I argued my insurer down on the phone, and told them that i'd be switching company. They then magically "found a way to re-evaluate my renewal quote" and knocked it down to the previous year's figure. I really had to fight my corner though.

Insurer becomes a bank manager as soon as you claimed something. Not worth calling them up if you have a little damage, in this case I would rather fork out my own money rather than insurer's, they're willing to find any tiny excuse to bump the premium up!

However, there is big repair cost I can't afford then I would have no choice but to call them up.

Maxeh · 14 Mar 2007 at 22:23

This isn't good is it

Still waiting for the Police to arrive.... looks like it will be in the next few days.

I don't want to move the car just incase.

daveyj27 · 15 Mar 2007 at 09:53

Maxeh said:
This isn't good is it

Sorry to be negative mate, but I can see you being out of pocket (in some way) and through no fault of your own.

Sagalout · 15 Mar 2007 at 10:43

You will be fine as long as they are insured. You claim off their insurance as you're TPFT, so it wont affect yours.

daveyj27 · 15 Mar 2007 at 10:54

Sagalout said:
You will be fine as long as they are insured. You claim off their insurance as you're TPFT, so it wont affect yours.

Even if the other party is insured and the claim all goes through without a hitch, the OP's premium at renewal may go up (as he's been "involved in an incident, regardless of fault").

Sagalout · 15 Mar 2007 at 11:11

Has he though? His car has, but he wasnt in it at the time, so the OP wasnt involved in the accident.

Burnsy2023 · 15 Mar 2007 at 12:51

Maxeh said:
This isn't good is it

Still waiting for the Police to arrive.... looks like it will be in the next few days.

I don't want to move the car just incase.

Take lots and lots of photos if you do need to move it before you start.

Burnsy

daveyj27 · 15 Mar 2007 at 14:16

Sagalout said:
Has he though? His car has, but he wasnt in it at the time, so the OP wasnt involved in the accident.

I hope it does work like that for the OP.
From what i've seen over time though, i'm sure that the insurance company will see fit to up the renewal premium as the insured vehicle has been involved in an incident. Sure, the premium won't go up by as much as it would have if the OP was at fault, but i'm positive that there will be at least a small increase.
Like i've mentioned already, they did it to me even though I wasn't at fault (and I didn't even go ahead with the bloody claim, which added insult to injury).

Maxeh · 15 Mar 2007 at 16:22

Will I lose my NCB though?
My renewal comes up in 4 weeks and I would have got my first years NCB.

Police really don't want to know about this, nothing they can do.

I think either way im out of pocket.

TripleT · 15 Mar 2007 at 17:09

No you won't lose your NCB.

Your premium will not be higher than the current years although it might be affected slight. Don't worry about it (Unless he's uninsured obviously

)

Serj · 15 Mar 2007 at 17:32

Ex-RoNiN said:
I think with 3rd party/fire/theft, you can only claim for damages off the other party if you have legal cover, otherwise you're stuffed

You can always claim for damages from the other driver, whether you have FC or TPFT. Legal cover only determines who pays for any legal fees you may incur by instructing solictors.

Maxeh · 15 Mar 2007 at 18:41

Cheers for the help dudes.
I went to the Police Station and its all being sorted.

What im going to do is get new bits now and then let the insurance deal with it later if and when.