Got rear shunted - Other person denies they did it

[decmatt]

Hi all

Had an incident where I was stationary waiting at a roundabout and I got rear shunted, I turned left to stop and the driver went straight on.

I did a u turn and followed the driver about 2 miles before they stopped (I flashed my beams a few times), she said she heard a noise and her hand bag fell off the chair, but didn't know she hit me.

My damage is an out cracked rear bumper, and some scratches... Her damage didn't seem to bad, a hanging off bottom plastic bumper (which I have a photo of her fixing it), and a couple of scratches to the top plastic bumper. My insurance put me through to no fault company Albany, who have taken it away to fix.

Today I had a call saying she doesn't believe she hit me and denies it happened. Insurance have given me an option to pursue, but I don't have legal cover, so I can pay £100 flat fee to use their services.

What are the chances of me getting this as a no fault claim, or will she get away with it? Is it worth using the legal service?

Edit] There are no witnesses

 

[mysticsniper]

You should have got out the car straight away with her still behind you and sorted it out, instead of driving round the corner.

To be honest, it's not looking good for you, especially as there are no witnesses.

How much will it cost to have your car fixed?

 

[decmatt]

You should have got out the car straight away with her still behind you and sorted it out, instead of driving round the corner.

To be honest, it's not looking good for you, especially as there are no witnesses.

How much will it cost to have your car fixed?

About £1000 garage said, its new rear bumper, re spray and parking sensors I believe, but garage already have it and have started work.

Just feel sick about this.

 

[skaif]

What a cow. This is where front n rear dashcams would have come in handy. May of even been worth trying to blag to her that she's on film. Were there any CCTV cameras there? What's the damage on her car?

 

[koooowweeee]

If you have a pic of he fixing her car I'm sure her insurance wouldn't let it go to court? So you won't need legal cover.

If you started claiming whiplash and the damage was bad then her insurance may go court but for a grand and what ever the other costs are I think they will just pay up

 

[Diagro]

You got a picture of her. Why else would you if it wasn't for her hitting you?
Simple logic there.

I think you will be fine.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Pics of damage?
Garage coudl be having your eyes out.

And you should have contacted her insurance first not yours from what I've been told.

 

[hyperseven]

You should have filmed the interaction with he woman on your phone, c'mon everyone's phone can record video?? Then at least you could have shown where the damage matched up on both vehicles, maybe some paint transfer.

As it it stands you could have just took a photo of some random woman fixing her car and done the damage to your car elsewhere.

Did your insurers not give you any better advice?

 

[Orionaut]

Of course back in the dark ages Bumpers were designed to take minor bumps without damage. A butterfly farting on a modern one can cause a grand of damage. Stupid!

It ought to be possible to design a bumper that can take a "Contact" (Say 0.2M/s) without damage and make it a legal requirement.

I can certainly remember when parking by "Touch" in a car park was perfectly acceptable and caused no problems.

 

[pepsilol]

Hey Fox, what were you saying about dash cams?

A woman hit my 330d and denied the crash when she got home. I told them I had the video and that got the ball rolling.

 

[decmatt]

You should have filmed the interaction with he woman on your phone, c'mon everyone's phone can record video?? Then at least you could have shown where the damage matched up on both vehicles, maybe some paint transfer.

As it it stands you could have just took a photo of some random woman fixing her car and done the damage to your car elsewhere.

Did your insurers not give you any better advice?

Not really know, I'll be honest this is the first accident I've had, and just entered auto mode.

I have a pic of the woman which matches her details (her company website has a photo of her) fixing her car, so I don't think random?

 

[Steedie]

I had this, woman hit me and pulled over straight away. She apologised profusely and admitted fault, gave me her details.

Then when I called insurance, she had denied everything and said it didn't happen. She was on her husbands policy so he'd obviously stepped in

Had to just drop the claim in the end as it wasn't worth losing my no claims over

 

[decmatt]

I had this, woman hit me and pulled over straight away. She apologised profusely and admitted fault, gave me her details.

Then when I called insurance, she had denied everything and said it didn't happen. She was on her husbands policy so he'd obviously stepped in

Had to just drop the claim in the end as it wasn't worth losing my no claims over

Out of interest, how long did it take her to deny claim, what options did insurance give you?

Edit] I don't get why the insurance would think I got her details (address, mobile and insurance company), a photo of her car, and a photo of her if no accident took place? I wouldn't give this out if I denied an accident at the time.

 

[ScoobyDoo69]

I had this in my first year of driving. Woman went into the back of me damaging the paint on the rear bumper. I heard the thud and couldn't see her bonnet in my rear view so presumed the worst.

Found her car still connected to mine with her looking puzzled as to why I've got out of the car. Seemed to cooperate at the time but saying "I don't think I hit you" - exchanged details and when I called I ended up dealing with her husband who said flat out that his wife did not hit my car (wasn't even there!!!)

Ended up going to court, I provided video of my car on the road to show I couldn't possibly roll back, pictures of the damage on her car and mine. Cheeky bint said I never spoke to her husband and that she may sound manly on the phone.

Result? Judge sided with me saying that the woman clearly wasn't paying attention at the time to have not even realised that her car had collided with another and being an auto he believed that she must have left it in drive and not held the brake correctly.

She of course argued but.. denied.

I don't understand how you don't realise when you've hit someone...

 

[a1ex2001]

Camera phone out at the scene and take pictures next time!

In this case I'd try arguing the toss with her insurance company a bit you have a time and dated picture etc which while not of the actual incident will still carry some weight as has been said the insurance company may well cough up such a small amount without too many questions!

 

[Steampunk]

Of course back in the dark ages Bumpers were designed to take minor bumps without damage. A butterfly farting on a modern one can cause a grand of damage. Stupid!

It ought to be possible to design a bumper that can take a "Contact" (Say 0.2M/s) without damage and make it a legal requirement.

I can certainly remember when parking by "Touch" in a car park was perfectly acceptable and caused no problems.

Most modern cars have bumpers and crumple zones. Mine is a big box rod running along the back of the car bolted to the subframe. All of that is hidden behind the plastic bumpers that make it look nice, and that (along with parking sensors, rear door, bay, etc) is what gets repaired along with the bumper that's designed to be damaged to absorb and direct the impact around the passenger shell. Plus you can add 50 percent on top for labour and the additional cost of hire cars.

As well as making the car look nice, the plastic is so that low speed impacts with pedestrians give them a chance of not being too seriously injured, because they get hit with bendy plastic at low speed, instead of hard steel.

Lighter bodywork also means lighter cars, making them more efficient and able to use smaller engines. There's no going back to the days when we all drove steel boxes that were built like tanks and had engines out of tractors.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Hey Fox, what were you saying about dash cams?

You know what I think about dashcams.

But somebody on the internet just had a crash, so we should all fit front and rear facing 1080p cameras to everything we drive now.

Also, wearing bodycams would help in mugging incidents. Got yours yet?

A good set of photos, which the OP has, will sort this out without needing to turn your car into a mobile surveillance van for the once every 15 year minor junction shunt.

 

[Steampunk]

Hi all

Had an incident where I was stationary waiting at a roundabout and I got rear shunted, I turned left to stop and the driver went straight on.

I had the same thing but the woman stopped (damage more more extensive, and no chance of her "not realising" she'd done it). I engaged her in banter, while the wife took photos. Ours also went to Albany, and the car was fixed and back in a couple of weeks, with the other driver admitting fault and it was all closed within a month.

To be fair, the woman who hit us was upset. I thought she was going to burst into tears and I refrained from giving her a hug and bringing her back to ours for a cup of tea (we were just around the corner from home) because I was pretty ****ed off myself.

Still, she was a good sort and obviously owned up to it (her insurance company contacted us the next morning), so not everyone is scum trying to get out of their obligations. You really need to stop there and then to take photos if you don't have a dashcam, because its very easy to become one word against another, and at that point you're in a no win situation.

 

[snapdragon69]

I always set the phone videoing before I leave the car and dim the brightness. Then pretend to take photos while the video is rolling then just hold it casually to record the audio while they admit it.

 

[TheVoice]

I always set the phone videoing before I leave the car and dim the brightness. Then pretend to take photos while the video is rolling then just hold it casually to record the audio while they admit it.

How often are you crashed into that you've developed a routine?!