Somone crashed in to my car & left a note

terley

terley

terley

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So this morning at some point somebody crashed in to my car causing some damage to the near-side wheel arch/front wing, I am suspecting that it may have been a neighbour reversing out of his drive-way but i can't be sure.

This is the damage done:
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He left a note through my door saying the following:
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The only reason i suspect it may be a neighbour is because i was parked accross & up the road slightly outside another neighbours house, they must know who the car belongs to if they posted the letter through my door..

Annoyingly he hasn't provided a reg number, i sent him a text message this morning saying i would be more comfortable going through his insurance and for him to provide me with his reg/insurance company details, he hasn't replied and not long ago i tried to ring him, no answer..

Should this guy fail to be contactable what are my options? I am going to keep a close eye on the next door neighbours and their cars to look for damage/reg numbers.. and hopefully i can find some information if he doesn't contact me..

But if this fails & i call the police 101 number will they tell me there is nothing they can do and it is a civil matter?

Thanks for any advice.
 
think you'll be ok - can't imagine anyone would go to the trouble of actually writing the note and posting it through your letterbox if they weren't playing fair. dial the number from a different number to the one you text from see if you get an answer that way.

that said there was an incident locally where someone had their wheel trims stolen and a note left on the window saying something along the lines of 'sorry I needed these for my MOT - here's my number, give me a call when you want them back' course the victim called the number immediately and got someone on the other end who hadn't a clue what they were talking about!! - I shouldn't chuckle but that was a wee bit funny
 
Someone may have crashed into your car and where witnessed by someone so had to be seen to leave a note on your car even though it may have a false number?
 
Paying privately and "off the books" for minor damage repairs is normal, since it often works out cheaper and far less hassle than going through insurance. Just give them a bit of time to respond. They should have left more details though.

But if you are going to repair it yourself, just find a another wing in the same colour and the door should be easy for someone to touch up. It won't cost a lot compared to 5 years of premium hikes, maybe £150 all in.
 
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I'm starting to get the feeling that he has no intention of providing me with any details or money for repairs..
 
Taking cash for the repair is infinitely better for YOU than involving your insurance company, so hope he's legit and not a scoundrel going through the motions of making any witness think he's left real contact info. I would leave a message saying a cash payment would be quite acceptable in case he isn't insured and panicking. You want the damage fixing with no insurance hikes, not justice here, IMO.
 
I'm not sure I would class this as " minor damage ", a new wing and a paint job will cost a lot more than a 10-20% hike in your
annual premium.

Press on with getting the miscreant to pay up though, not sure it's a bona fide police matter but having two coppers
rattling on his door might make him reach for the credit card pronto.
 
terley said:
I'm starting to get the feeling that he has no intention of providing me with any details or money for repairs..
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Bit early to come to that conclusion to be fair, many people work jobs where they can't look at their phone during the working day etc.

That said the wording would annoy me - "If" you want them to pay to repair it.
 
Roland Butter said:
I'm not sure I would class this as " minor damage ", a new wing and a paint job will cost a lot more than a 10-20% hike in your
annual premium.

Press on with getting the miscreant to pay up though, not sure it's a bona fide police matter but having two coppers
rattling on his door might make him reach for the credit card pronto.
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Well he has replied luckily, so at least i have evidence that his number matches the person who crashed in to my car should it go that far

"Hi "" Sorry for not picking up i'm at work at the moment. I understand what you're saying however going through insurance will affect both of our insurance premiums. Are you sure you want to do this:? Alternatively you could get a quote for the work and i could pay to have this done. Your choice mate. Cheers."

I told him i want to continue with insurance due to me needing my car for work, and i want it to be checked thoroughly by an engineer, not by a bodywork mechanic trying to make as much money as possible off the job.
 
You should have mentioned your intention of wanting to involve insurance once you had spoken to him and gathered more details. If he for whatever reason doesn't wish to involve insurance he will now probably stop responding and you're in a pickle. You could always check the cars on your street for damage to their rear bumper which could match up wit the damage on your car...
 
TS7 said:
You should have mentioned your intention of wanting to involve insurance once you had spoken to him and gathered more details. If he for whatever reason doesn't wish to involve insurance he will now probably stop responding and you're in a pickle. You could always check the cars on your street for damage to their rear bumper which could match up wit the damage on your car...
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Yeah it was rather short sighted of me in all honesty, although i am confident that it is a neighbour that reversed out of their driveway in to it, so he won't be able to hide the damage to his car.
 
Get it checked by an engineer? Really?

It's cosmetic damage.

I'd just go get a quote from somewhere reputable and leave it at that.
 
paradigm said:
Get it checked by an engineer? Really?

It's cosmetic damage.

I'd just go get a quote from somewhere reputable and leave it at that.
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As i say, i need my car for my job.. Not just to drive to and from, i want to make sure nothing else has been damaged..

I've been crashed in to before with seemingly less damage than this and it caused extensive chassis damage that required a lot of work to fix.
 
The suspicion is unjustified here, he's just acting like any ordinary person would, or at least should!

OP - do you really want this to cost you hundreds of pounds through increased insurance costs, just for a garage picked by your insurance company (almost certainly selected by lowest bidder) to do the work on your car? On the other hand you could take it to a place you know and trust, get a quote, and the person who crashed in to you will pay. There's no reason why this job couldn't be up to the standard you're talking about getting if going through insurance.

It's a no brainer to me.
 
Get a quote for the repair work done at a recommended bodyshop then see if he will pay, if he won't then look into involving insurance. Due to him leaving a note you'll probably find he'll pay for the work providing you show a quote / invoice from them (people are known to stick extra values on work when giving verbal prices to try pocketing some extra cash)
 
terley said:
I'm starting to get the feeling that he has no intention of providing me with any details or money for repairs..
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going through insurance will mean increased premiums for both him and yourself for the next 5 years. you would need to declare that you had been involved in a claim. the amount of the claim as well as whether or not it was fully recovered by your insurer.

if he offers cash in hand then you want to take it to a bodyshop and get a quote. you can usually in this sort of situation if you have something small and niggly on your car to add that onto the quote but not mention it on the quote itself so you can get it fixed for free off the books.

e.g. someone smashes into the side of me. and i have a cracked rear light. i'd ask the garage to add an extra £100 on to cover that on the premise then the garage gets more money and work done and you don't need to pay for it. obviously you won't be able to add thousands on to a small bill but you can get away with a hundred or two.

it looks like you car needs a new panel may even need to be sprayed to match. door needs resprayed and possibly even your wing mirror too if it's been scratched. your side indicator looks okay but you never know.

it could be a big bill.
 
terley said:
As i say, i need my car for my job.. Not just to drive to and from, i want to make sure nothing else has been damaged..

I've been crashed in to before with seemingly less damage than this and it caused extensive chassis damage that required a lot of work to fix.
Click to expand...

It's pretty evident from the pictures that this is cosmetic damage. I think you are massively playing this up (for no real reason from what I can tell), if you were that reliant on your car *always* working, surely you'd priority would be running something new(er) and under a manufacturer's warranty, rather than getting an insurance company to fix (which lets face it, they will get any bodyshop they get preferential rates for using, rather than ensuring they are good) your older Fiesta that could break down leaving you stranded? :confused:
 
Been there done that.

Hiked premiums since 2014 haven't been good. And the countless 'accident claim' calls over the years gets tedious...

Quote the work, get the cash of them and get the car done.
 
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