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

Oh dear, someone else who can't conceive of their mobile being stolen or the internet going down. The paper copy is the real world back-up. 🙄

You absolutely ARE required to provide your address if it’s asked for by anyone who has reasonable grounds i.e. someone whose property you’ve just damaged.

He doesn’t, you were fine, ignore the many confidently wrong people (driving threads bring a lot of them out)

how are you today? Any accident is stressful.

Are you sure about that?

If you check the gov.uk website it states that you have to contact the police. This is when there is damage or injury- not a minor scrape. The police do not want to be contacted about every bump and scrape on the road. And given that you dont need someone's address to start an insurance claim the other person involved in the accident does not have reasonable grounds for requiring it.

Ok hands up, the address is technically a requirement so apologies to any posters I thought were wrong.

I think I’m practical terms you’re still fine, but yep, letter of the law is to do so

Nope, you must provide the details to anyone who has reasonable grounds which includes the third party you’ve been involved with.

No the back up is providing my number plate as that’s all thats needed to check insurance. I can manage that as it’s on the car

You need to tell your insurance company what happened, give the other driver your insurance details, then let them deal with it, no need to engage with the other driver once you've done that.
Not sure why you're getting such a rough time on here, it's upsetting enough to be in an accident without being made to feel you're somehow doing the wrong thing!

What are the reasonable grounds for him needing the address?

I totally get that he needs enough info to contact insurance but how would OP address help with that?

This from the Assoc of British Insurers

Provide details address name etc if someone is injured
If you are unable to do so, contact the police within 24 hours

If you feel threatened you have a right not to get out of your car or engage
The guy OP went into was aggressive which is a good enough reason to not engage and hand over personal details
His insurance company can access all of that with just her car reg

Stick to going through insurance and let him go to the police if he wants to.

if I have damaged someone's property I categorically am NOT giving them my address. I don't know what kind of people they are. I will happily give my name and phone number and I will give my address to police or insurance companies.

what would be the purpose of him having my address? what does he gain from my address?

Op you're going down rabbit holes trying to sneak your way out of dealing with this. It's very very simple. You drove without due care and attention and reversed into a car that was behind you. His car and insurance status is completely irrelevant, I don't even understand why you felt the need to check his mot/tax status anyway, it's almost like you were hoping he was driving illegally?

THIS!!! This could so easily backfire on you, and to be honest, I hope it does.

The reasonable grounds are that he needs the details, which includes the address.

And what reason would they need your address that would mean it was a reasonable ground?

Not if you can’t for whatever reason, ie you feel threatened and it’s only a requirement if someone’s injured and you can

I was in a similar position last year…I misjudged a tight turn and bumped into a car. He didn’t have his insurance docs to hand but I did, so sent him a screen shot of them. I also photographed damage to both cars…which luckily showed his registration. I also took a photo of his driving licence (he offered this) which was from Iran but the address was a uk one.

Long story short…he kept pestering me to send him cash. I refused and sent what information I had to my insurance (didn’t really think any more about it to be honest). He sent ever increasing demands for cash (a big amount too…he wanted £1500! The damage was minimum, I slightly clipped his front passenger door…it wasn’t even dented, just scratched). I asked him to send me quotes for repair as this seemed excessive for the damage seen…he refused. I didn’t pay obviously, reiterating that I was going through my insurance.

About 6 months or so later, I got a letter from my insurers saying they were closing the claim as he hadn’t responded to any letters. I had searched his registration and it had no MOT or insurance. 🤷‍♀️

If he thinks OP is required to give him her address maybe he should make a complaint to police....?

The law. Read it.

No
He doesn’t

I don't agree. He needs reasonable grounds for each item on the list.

I would also not be keen on given my address to a stranger, I don't want him turning up at my door. Very happy to give all the details for him to pursue a claim through the insurance though.

No it’s not.

there is no chance the law requires me to give angry aggressive men my home address

Not just injury, any damage. If you feel threatened then that’s fair enough, you should call the police and give them all the details, you’ll then have met your obligations under S.170 RTA. Obviously in a minor collision where everyone’s friendly it’d be a waste of police time.