I just reversed into a car which has no insurance, tax or MOT. What happens now?

[notthisnowaswell]

driving home, residential streets with lots of parked cars obstructing views...edged out of a t-junction to turn left. there was a car coming down the road, so I reversed back....into the car which had followed me out of the junction.

his car is scuffed over the passenger wheel arch (mostly paint transfer from my car) and I have quite a crunch to the right back corner

he was really cross and wanted me to bank transfer him money to repair his car. which I declined and said I want to go through insurance (as I'm skint), gave him my name, number and registration. I have his registration and phone number.

I have checked online and the vehicle tax expired in march 2024, MOT expired march this year. so he has no insurance. what will happen now?? I am not planning on telling my insurance company unless he makes a claim because I am financially really really struggling and don't want my premium to increase

Is it?

Fuck me. I failed again.

You admit you were to blame. You damaged his car so it's your responsibility to pay up, either through your insurance or not. Whether he's insured or not is nothing to do with you. Have a conscience.

@Crazyworldmum If you hit the car in front, you were too close. Doesn't matter whether he slammed on his brakes or not. You should always have enough distance in front to allow you to stop, no matter what happens. It's simple. I can't understand why people don't do it.

Yep this. It's your fault and your problem. You have a moral obligation, you can just walk away (or don't be upset of the same happens to you in the future). He has your details and if you reversed into him that's pretty straightforward that you are at fault so he could also turn you into the police, oh although if he has no MOT then he's probably not allowed on the road. Sounds like it could get complicated, so maybe you should just contact your insurance company and get them to deal with it all

🤣

....yeh and opening wanting to LIE to your insurer.

What an upstanding citizen you are!

This. He's probably on the barebones of his arse if he can't afford any of this. And you're making it worse. I don't know how you can't feel guilty also you probably shouldn't be on the road if you reverse into other vehicles, thank God it wasn't a person

Op you reversed into him, either pay the £200 or provide your details. How much is your excess? Just asking as mine is £200… you’ll have to pay that regardless so it would be in your better interests to pay him cash and avoid the excess and premium increases. For that bodywork damage, it’s going to cost him more than £200 to repair.

Don’t you have it via link to the insurers portal on your phone like 2025 people 😂

Who do you need to produce that information to? The police can check if you have insurance they dont need to see physical documents these days. In a crash the main thing needed is the car registration of the other driver.

Agree. Would be different if driving abroad, but if U.K. car in U.K. not clear why you would carry insurance docs.

I had a minor crash earlier this year and all I had was his name and car reg and my insurance company found all the details they needed.

The one thing that can be handy in your car is your breakdown policy number. Your breakdown company could probably call up your details using your name, car reg etc but being able to give them your policy number would make it quicker and less stressful when you are stuck needing rescued. Edited- I'm sure the one time I needed a call out I didnt actually have the policy number and they managed to find me on their system quick enough.

Are you sure about the insurance?

Not having a valid MOT or Tax doesn't automatically invalidate a policy. It may be difficult for him to claim on his own policy, but there's nothing stopping him claiming on yours. The insurance company decides if the police is valid enough to claim.

You can report him for the document offences, but you have also commented an offence ? due care and attention.

Regardless of his document offences, you did hit him. You should be paying for the damage. If it went to court you would lose. If he has insurance the only offences the courts would look at would be the tax and MOT, both of which are irrelevant in his claim for damages.

I don't think this would reach the threshold for driving without due care and attention. Accidents are not always criminal offences!

Sure it would.

The OP was reversing and HIT another car.

If she was paying attention (which by her own admission, she WASNT), that wouldnt have happened.

It, could be though, that's my point. If the OP wants to play the couch lawyer game, it could backfire on her.

How though? Someone would have to report her to the police and the police would have to arrest interview and put forward a file to CPS and cps take forward for prosecution.

i mean obviously, you know that isn’t going to happen? So what’s the point in telling the OP you think she might technically have committed an offence

Why on earth do people comment on things they clearly know nothing about?

Yes it's just nonsense talk isnt it. These types of minor bumps and scrapes probably happen every minute of every day on our roads.

No, because then I'd have to remember a very lengthy, complex password to the portal. I only log on to the portal from home because I can access my password- protected spreadsheet containing all my very lengthy, complex and (crucially) different passwords. 😉

Oh dear. Get your kids to introduce you to password saving 😂

honestly what a place. Imagine printing out your insurance certificate and putting it in your glovebox religiously every year to be “adult 101” 😭

So you causes damage so were at fault and you are blaming him?

I have "password saving" - in a spreadsheet on my laptop - which is no less secure than using a password manager (which is the term you meant to use) on my mobile. The main difference is I'm not walking around in public using my laptop so it's unlikely to get stolen, which sadly isn't the case for mobile phones (the number of phone thefts almost doubled in the five years to July 2024, with over 83,900 reported across the UK in that year). But you do you. I'll stick with a download of my COMI on my phone and a paper copy in my car (in case my phone gets stolen). 😊

You really should report all incidents to insurers, even minor ones, ones where you're sure you're not at fault and if there's little or no damage. If someone later claims against you your insurer might refuse to cover for non-notification and might refuse to cover you at all in future. It's a requirement in the terms and conditions.

As he's harassing you, you can block him. He can look up your reg on MID and contact your insurers directly to pursue a claim. Though I bet he won't.

So ... you could take a risk and not report and cross your fingers and hope he doesn't pursue. But it is a risk.

If I were you I would do everything “properly” to cover yourself - you don’t need to claim, just report it “for information only”, tell the other driver to go through your insurance and then block him.

One of the benefits of paying for insurance is so that you don’t have to deal with idiots at the roadside - if he wants to claim he can ring them - if not, that’s his decision and nothing to do with you.

OP @notthisnowaswell This really smacks of "crash for cash", a very common scam where people orchestrate a very minor bump and try to settle outside of the insurer.

I work for an insurer and I personally would not report it myself. Premium will go up unnecessarily.

He can report it, which he won't. If he does, just tell your insurer it was so minor you didn't think it warranted reporting.

Ignore those "holier than though" people putting you down.