I've got myself into a sticky situation

Own up and from now on always reverse into your driveway. My neighbours parents always parked in my blind spot and with kids in the back and stuff on the parcel shelf I hit it. Twice.

I hit a much bigger car than mine parking in a large car park.

saw scratches on it, not sure if they were/ could be from my car but went to Reception and left my details. Also phoned my Insurer.
I never heard back , but was relieved I’d done that.
apart from the honesty issue, there are cameras everywhere.

You checked the car and there was no damage. What he is describing is significant damage that you would have seen. And that sort of damage would likely have caused damage to your car too.
It wasn't you.

The time discrepancy is the odd thing. If the gf left at 9am, how could it be you that hit her at 10.30? Are you sure about those timings?
Otherwise your road was car crash alley this morning!
I'd own up and tell the truth, but I'd check it was the same colour/make of car first.

I once reversed into someone’s car in a car park, barely moving, negligible impact, so I was stunned to see a massive dent in the side of their car (and not a scratch on mine). I left a note apologising profusely. The owner messaged me back and said not to worry, the dent had been there already! I’m glad he didn’t see an opportunity to get me to pay for existing damage!!

I did this. A tiny scratch that was hardly noticeable on the bumper. Because it was my neighbour, I left a note and owned up immediately as I was on my way out. Had a conversation later, he told me not to worry, it was booked in for other repairs anyway and the bumper was being replaced as part of the works.

The arsehole then claimed for ALL the work on my insurance. £5000!!!! I told the insurance company, provided photographic evidence of the tiny scratch.

They told me to just let it go.

It was 5 years ago, I’m still LIVID.

I had this happen to me, we worked out who had hit my car, police not interested

Someone scraped along the side of my car when I was parked at work. A really long nasty scrape it was. They must have done a terrible bit of parking coz when I saw the damage I could barely work out how they'd done it. Must have come in at a terrible angle. They left a note with details on my windsceeen and came back when I called. I said it was decent of them to own up . The slightly odd thing was that a man came back but he said it was his wife who'd done it. I think I remember getting her insurance details but she was nowhere to be seen. It was all a bit odd.

What I would expect her to say is “sorry, I should have told you, here are my insurance details”.

100% this. You made a mistake, it’s not the end of the world because your husband spoke to the man and not you. But don’t let it go any further, it will just cause you more worry and stress.
You didn’t think there was damage but you should have checked thoroughly and left a note. Don’t let one mistake spiral.

If she left at 9am then it wasn’t the car you hit. If that’s the time she goes to work then they haven’t got the time wrong. Are you sure it was 10.30? It could all be coincidental

All she can say to that is that she didn’t think there was any damage.

What do you think she should say?

True, she should have stopped and knocked on the door or at least left a note.

If I was the owner of the car, I’d then ask why I was being told now and not at the time it happened.

Absolutely! Why do people advise lying?
Just tell the truth.

I bumped into a neighbour’s car as I reversed out. They didn’t normally park there and I just didn’t see the car.

I was going to collect my DC from school but I still messaged them straight away. They’d seen it on their ring camera! 🤦‍♀️🤣

They were really nice about it and of course, I offered to pay. They said they weren’t bothered about it.

There was minimal damage, btw.

We get on really well and help each other out.

Why can't you just say that her husband answered the door and she hadn't told him yet? That's what actually happened.

You need a story to save face. Could you say when they came round you weren't well/had something going on and weren't thinking properly? As long as you sort it out that will be their priority. You just need something to say that isn't "I lied".

Does he or anyone near have a ring doorbell? He might already know it was you.

Happened to me but my car was parked. We only noticed the impact several hours later when we returned to the vehicle and knocked on all doors and everyone denied it, including the person that did it. We gave out our number and a few hours later they called and owned up.

I would confess but at the same time tell him the timings don’t match up. My thoughts are, you don’t know who’s got a doorbell camera and caught the footage of you hitting the other vehicle. If that’s reviewed and you get identified you’ll look bad for not owning up. Best to be honest, sorry!

You need to tell them what happened. You can tell them the timing and say you think you bumped a different car and couldn’t see any damage but you thought it best to tell them in case it was her car you hit. When i hit a parked car, i left a note and contact details under the windscreen wiper. There was visible damage, mind you.

I’d agree if they were unsure of the timings. I’d be checking the details of the car match before admitting to anything.