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Original poster

Lady won't give me her insurance details when she bumped into my parked car!

36 replies

Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:00

Please can someone help? I've (fortunately) not had to claim or deal with car insurance before and I can't quite work out how it all works.

Last week we were parked legally on the edge of a road, engine off, and a car drove past too close and scraped the side of the car. It's not a huge scratch, but parts are down to the metal so I think will need dealing with. We swapped contact details. She was 100% at fault and there was a witness who's details we got.

She has so far refused to provide her insurance details, instead saying that she has reported the incident to her insurance company, and they will be in touch with ours. I have not yet given her my insurance details however.

I am unsure if I want to claim on insurance due to no claims bonus and excess. We have reported to our insurance company just for info though.

My question is - why would she be refusing to give her insurance details?
Why does she need ours?
If I want to get it fixed and reclaim money from her - do I need to do this through my insurance company (who will reclaim the money from hers I assume) and will this affect my NCB?

What is the best course of action here? We didn't part on particularly good terms as she was fairly rude about it and was making a lot of excuses "why" she hit out perfectly legally parked stationary car!

Any advice gratefully received thanks!

OP posts:
DelilahBucket · 25/10/2022 13:02

She probably believes if she acts this way she won't have to pay. Give your insurer her reg, they will locate her insurer don't worry.

Original poster
Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:03

DelilahBucket · 25/10/2022 13:02

She probably believes if she acts this way she won't have to pay. Give your insurer her reg, they will locate her insurer don't worry.

That you! If I go through my insurer, even though we were no at fault, will that count as a claim and affect no claims bonus do you know?

OP posts:
LittleBearPad · 25/10/2022 13:03

Just give your insurance company her registration number and they will deal with it.

Denny53 · 25/10/2022 13:03

Phone insurance company. Give registration number and let them deal with it. It’s what you pay insurance for!

Amicompletelyinsane · 25/10/2022 13:03

If its her fault go through the insurance. I didn't have to pay an excess or lose no claims as it wasn't my fault. I wouldn't avoid insurance as she doesn't sound likely to actually pay up otherwise. The insurers can get the drivers insurance details off the car reg anyway. So just let them get on with it

LittleBearPad · 25/10/2022 13:03

Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:03

That you! If I go through my insurer, even though we were no at fault, will that count as a claim and affect no claims bonus do you know?

Show quote history

Only your insurer can answer that question.

SoftwareDev · 25/10/2022 13:05

She’s delusional. One of many people I’ve encountered who believe if they make life difficult enough you will just give up.

Let your insurance deal with it. Pass on the details of the witness. She can’t avoid this issue by burying her head in the sand - however much she might like to!

thepurplepenguin · 25/10/2022 13:05

You don't need to exchange details of insurance companies. Personal details and the car registration are sufficient. When I had an accident recently we did this - I was at fault (well, technically) and my insurance company contacted the other party directly.

thepurplepenguin · 25/10/2022 13:07

(I reported it to my insurers as this lady has said she has done)

Original poster
Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:09

Ok thank you - I will just let the insurance company get on with it and deal with it.
She was really passive aggressive and we were running late to an appointment so I said - can we just exchange details quickly and make sure we've got all the photos we need and she started going on about how she'd driven that road hundreds of times past lorries parked and never hit them and so it must be our parking (we were literally right up against the pavement!) and how inconvenient this was for her too.

OP posts:
LIZS · 25/10/2022 13:10

If you have the reg and driver details your insurance company can track it down.

BrimFullOfAsher · 25/10/2022 13:10

Yes it will still go down as a claim. As for your no claims, that depends on your policy.

When you next renew, you would have to declare that you have had an accident too. You will be able to say that there was no fault on your part but it's still an accident/claim.

unfortunateevents · 25/10/2022 13:13

You may have a protected no claims but you will have to contact your insurance company to find out. I had a similar situation last year and haven't lost my no-claims as a result, nor does it seem to have affected my premium.

CointreauVersial · 25/10/2022 13:15

Fleet Manager here....You don't need her insurance company. Name and vehicle details are enough.

Although, with cut-and-dried cases like this, where it's pretty clear it's their fault, you might well find her insurance company calls YOU and asks to handle the claim. This is generally a good thing, because you won't have to pay an excess or anything like that, and your insurance company stays out of it (her insurance company would do this so they can mitigate their own costs and control your repair etc). You can ask for things like a courtesy car while yours is being repaired, if it's not your fault.

Alternatively, leave it with your insurance company. Give them all the details (witnesses etc) and leave them to get on with it. You might (but not always) have to pay an Excess up front but this is generally recoverable if it is found not to be your fault. To be honest, now you've informed them of the incident you are already on file as such, so you might as well claim. They handle everything, including dialogue with the other insurer.

And if it is proved to be a no-fault claim you won't lose your NCB.

xogossipgirlxo · 25/10/2022 13:17

thepurplepenguin · 25/10/2022 13:05

You don't need to exchange details of insurance companies. Personal details and the car registration are sufficient. When I had an accident recently we did this - I was at fault (well, technically) and my insurance company contacted the other party directly.

Same here, we exchanged phone numbers and car regs and our company contacted other driver's insurance (it was my husband's fault).

CointreauVersial · 25/10/2022 13:23

Just to add, photos and independent witness statements are INVALUABLE. Very difficult for a claim to be contested if one car was stationary/unoccupied.

bevelino · 25/10/2022 13:24

OP it is good that you have the car registration of the other drivers vehicle as it will be resolved in your favour.

Someone hit my car while it was parked and left no details. The damage cost £3k to repair and as a consequence my insurance premiums have increased, even though it was not my fault.

Original poster
Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:30

Just to update I checked our policy which said our No Claims Bonus will not be affected in cases where "claims which are not your fault where we have recovered our money in full".
So hopefully given I don't think there is any way she could try and argue she wasn't 100% at fault, we should be able to protect our bonus.
Sigh - what a lot of admin to deal with!

OP posts:
Original poster
Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:30

But I appreciate that does still mean our premiums will likely increase grr.

OP posts:
Msloverlover · 25/10/2022 13:40

Your premiums probably won’t increase. Mine didn’t when I was crashed into. Actually went down.

Fleur405 · 25/10/2022 13:45

It’s an offence not to provide your insurance details after an accident. You could report her to the police (or tell her you will do so if she doesn’t provide the info).

Skodacool · 25/10/2022 14:23

Fleur405 · 25/10/2022 13:45

It’s an offence not to provide your insurance details after an accident. You could report her to the police (or tell her you will do so if she doesn’t provide the info).

Not an offence according to this:-

www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/if-youre-in-an-accident

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 25/10/2022 14:27

Isit2021yetplease · 25/10/2022 13:30

But I appreciate that does still mean our premiums will likely increase grr.

OP we recently had a very long drawn out claim completed (hit by a HGV, he denied any responsibility, our insurers threatened court and mysteriously he suddenly accepted full liability).

But the unexpected bonus was shortly after insurers gave us a cheque to compensate for difference in premiums whilst claim was open.

SolarEcrisp · 25/10/2022 14:30

As others have said, let your insurance co deal with it - don’t contact her directly and if I was you I wouldn’t respond to any messages from her or answer her calls.

Do you have a witness to the accident? I ask as similar happened to me and the other party lied and said I’d pulled out and they’d hit me (I was actually stationary with handbrake on). Because there was no independent witness and our stories conflicted we had to accept joint liability. Unfortunately people are arseholes, especially when it comes to minor road traffic collisions.

Fleur405 · 25/10/2022 14:35

Skodacool · 25/10/2022 14:23

Not an offence according to this:-

www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/if-youre-in-an-accident

Show quote history

It is according to s170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988

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