Parked car hit by a drunk driver :(

Tinders · 2026-03-23T07:21:55+0000

Joys of living on a main rd

Woke up to a right old racket outside in the early hours, some absolute melt, off his trolley, decided to wipe out 8 parked cars on our street, he came down the wrong side of the street, smashing into cars. Of the 8, atleast 5 are a write off.

Thank fully he's car was totalled so he couldnt get away, neighbours subdued him until the police came and arrested him. Ive got some cctv footage and its quite an amusing watch, esp as said drunkard says he will pay for the damage and proceeds to pull out 20's from his wallet!

My wifes old Yaris has been scraped down the side, but some of the other cars on the street have been properly smashed up. ive check and his car is on the MID database, a neighbor few doors down has suggested using a claims company rather than going through our own insurances.

Just after a bit of advise on the least painful way to proceed!

Nasher · 2026-03-23T07:55:08+0000

Well at least he didn't do a runner.

Go directly to your insurer, don't bother with claims companies. Or call up and claim off their insurer.

All a claims company will do is sit in the middle and inflate the cost of everything.

Livewire88 · 2026-03-23T08:08:23+0000

As above, ignore the advice from your neighbour few doors down. Contact your own insurance (who will also inflate the claim costs to some extent) better still wait for the at fault insurer to contact you if you are able to wait a day or two.

Accident management companies are a bunch of vultures, and are one of the main reasons why car insurance premiums are ever increasing in cost.

Maundie · 2026-03-23T08:21:40+0000

This is literally what your insurance company are for, do not use a claims company as all they do is try to raise the cost of everything and generally fleece both parties

Kenai · 2026-03-23T08:26:28+0000

These days for a non-fault, your own insurer might just pass you on to a claims management firm anyway (read: a claims management firm that they have a financial interest in themselves).

Whole industry is as bent as a £9 note.

HoneyBadger · 2026-03-23T08:54:52+0000

Remember to claim for your and yours whiplash

Livewire88 · 2026-03-23T09:03:19+0000

HoneyBadger said:
Remember to claim for your and yours whiplash

Car was parked and unattended :cry:

HoneyBadger · 2026-03-23T09:06:18+0000

Livewire88 said:
Car was parked and unattended

I know!

tamzzy · 2026-03-23T09:09:30+0000

I knew I had deja vu

Another Drunk Driver Crashes into my Car

Last night about 10.30pm I hear a crash, screeching tyres and another crash. Got out of bed and ran to the window to see my cars hazzards are flashing so I knew my car must have been hit. Got outside to see a bloke staggering about saying its his fault and hes had a drink. It looks like he was...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

Diddums · 2026-03-23T09:16:01+0000

Kenai said:
Whole industry is as bent as a £9 note.

Back in November I was standing outside a supermarket loading some shopping in to my scooter. Bloke next to me tried to pull off but forgot to remove his disc lock, so he clouted it against his caliper and fell on to me, damaging both sides of my bike.

Me, being the kind of person who doesn't like to contribute to sky high insurance costs, decides not to go through insurance and instead go through an assistance company.

Oh what a mistake this was.

They collected the bike, £280. Storage costs, £35/day. I opted not to have a hire bike as it was getting cold and I'm too much of a pussy to commute through winter so thought rather not rack up unnecessary costs. The other party, Hastings, admitted liability on the 12th of December.

This was then followed by what can only be the longest, most drawn out, completely unnecessary display of absolute and utter incompetence I have ever seen in my life. I had to basically usher the whole process along myself, with frequent emails, weekly calls to both sides, and basically become an absolute nuisance before they did anything.

I was given many reasons for this being so drawn out, but from what I've gathered it was because one side was asking for approval and the other side sent bank details so they kept emailing each other the same stuff over and over without anyone at any point going "well maybe we should sort this out".

It's taken four months so far, I'm hoping to have the bike back this week.

Now go add up those costs, no wonder we get bent over like we do.

Also, some of my current clients are insurance companies and they're basically just dripping in cash.

lordrobs · 2026-03-23T09:18:11+0000

Livewire88 said:
Car was parked and unattended

"My wife and I both awoke with such a start that we simultaneously suffered severe neck trauma."

Bear · 2026-03-23T09:37:03+0000

I have a bit of experience at this now having had two cars smashed up by drunk drivers, one having been written off :rolleyes:

On both occaisions Ive just went straight through my own insurance and being not your fault and being hit by a drunk driver, things tend to happen quite quickly. Tell your insurance company about the drunk driver, give them the police crime number, the drunk drivers insurance details and they will proceed by getting you a hire car ASAP and getting your car picked up. You wont have to pay any excess and your claim should get resolved from the third party much quicker than you might have imagined

Tinders · 2026-03-23T09:39:32+0000

I didnt get the drivers details, he had been arrested by the time i awoke from my slumber, but we have the crime number and the drivers reg etc.

I have had a pain in my neck since then tho

but i doubt i'd get a pay out for wife related trauma.

Bear · 2026-03-23T10:29:03+0000

Tinders said:
I didnt get the drivers details, he had been arrested by the time i awoke from my slumber, but we have the crime number and the drivers reg etc.

I have had a pain in my neck since then tho but i doubt i'd get a pay out for wife related trauma.

The police will know the insurance details as they will have checked, you can call them and and get the info but failing that, the crime number and the reg is enough for your insurance company to get things moving

tamzzy · 2026-03-23T10:44:27+0000

Insurance co will probably prefer you go direct rather than through a claims management company as it'll be cheaper for them

Tinders said:
Thank fully he's car was totalled so he couldnt get away, neighbours subdued him until the police came and arrested him. Ive got some cctv footage and its quite an amusing watch, esp as said drunkard says he will pay for the damage and proceeds to pull out 20's from his wallet!

Upload it so we can lol at it too?

dave28 · 2026-03-23T10:48:09+0000

By the way you have to inform your insurance even if you don't claim from them or it can invalidate your policy.

Diddums · 2026-03-23T11:43:40+0000

Shirley if he's hammered his insurance is invalid?

That means your insurance will hafta swallow it which will then bend you over come renewal time.

Do you lose your NCD?

Kenai · 2026-03-23T11:50:29+0000

Diddums said:
Shirley if he's hammered his insurance is invalid?

It won't absolve them of third party responsibilities but he won't be having a pleasant time with them when they pursue him for the costs they incurred.

Nabinium · 2026-03-23T11:56:37+0000

Insurance will probably bend you either way at renewal time unfortunately. It's sad that it's like this.

Bigpig · 2026-03-23T12:16:58+0000

Yes. Your premium will go up since you have been in a non fault accident. Happened me. Someone reversed into the side of my parked car.

Both my insurance company and the other drivers were both being pricks about it. I then passed it onto an accident company to handle.