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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Hit and Run- WWYD

35 replies

Camperqueen · 17/08/2018 11:16

Recently I posted about car drama and I got a lovely new car. Just over a week later and yesterday evening my DH pointed out that there was a scrape on the front bumper of the car. Attaching a pic.

I have certainly not hit anything - I only used it to go out for an appointment for an hour and it had been in a parking garage. I believe the person next to me on the right must have pulled out and scraped my car as they would have had to turn left out of their space to get into the one way to leave. I didn’t notice it at the time as the car park was quite dark where I was.

I’ve contacted the operator of the parking garage and they have confirmed that they do have cctv however I need to either file a police report or I need to claim through my insurance to get access to it (fine)

What would you do? Just get it fixed at a shop or file a police report and go through insurance to find the culprit? Am livid! My pretty new car!!

OP posts:

Emmageddon · 17/08/2018 11:18

File a police report. It's not difficult.

RowenaDedalus · 17/08/2018 11:19

If I had the cash I would probably just get it sorted rather than go through my insurers. Shame!

BarbaraofSevillle · 17/08/2018 11:25

Yes, file a police report and see if the CCTV has anything that can be used to claim off the other drivers insurance.

But if you don't get anywhere, which is unlikely, as the CCTV probably won't show the incident clearly, I'd just get Chipsaway or similar to sort that out and not bother with the insurance, if it's just a paint scrape (hard to tell from the pic).

Annoying, but one of those things, and if you go through the insurance, your excess and premium hike because you are now known to park next to shit drivers will make it not worth claiming.

Original poster

Camperqueen · 17/08/2018 11:32

Yes I kind of want to avoid the insurers.

Can I do that if I file a police report? Or will I have to notify them?

OP posts:

GreatWesternValkyrie · 17/08/2018 11:34

This happened to my husband last week in a supermarket car park, also only a week old car. The security team were super helpful and did look at cctv footage but coverage where he was parked (well away from the busy bloody parts of the car park!) wasn’t great and they couldn’t see anything useful to identify the culprit. We did contact the police for a crime number (for insurance co) but we already knew the cctv was no help to us.

It’s a scrape and a very small dent, so Chipsaway can fix it but we’re doing it through insurance as total cost is £650!!. Meanwhile the careless idiot who did it just drove off, oblivious or just inconsiderate.

ResistanceIsNecessary · 17/08/2018 11:46

Bloody annoying. Contact the police to file the report and then get the CCTV footage. If the other car is clear then contact your insurers, give them the footage and let them thrash it out with the other side.

BarbaraofSevillle · 17/08/2018 11:48

Yes, you should probably inform your insurers as it is 'relevant' in the eyes of insurers and there are all sorts of databases that could be used to bite you in the ass in future.

However, what I meant was not claiming off your own insurers if the culprit cannot be found and the repair is fairly modest, by which I mean your excess plus £50/100 - it's probably not worth claiming from your own insurer if the excess is similar to the cost of repair.

lovelovelovepancakes · 17/08/2018 11:49

This happens all the time where I live. I've had more people hit my car in this area than when I lived up north and no one is honest about it if they can get away with it.
Brand new car after my car was written off in an accident that wasn't my fault and some dozy twat reversed into it causing £2000 worth of damage. I would get a quote to see how much it'll cost first and go from there. I claimed on my insurance but I know other people can afford a couple of grand but I certainly couldn't. They found the culprit and they admitted fault as there were witnesses so alls well that ends well but still it's a bloody mare round here for this and it's full of rich people who clearly can't reverse their jags & rolls!

Ginorchoc · 17/08/2018 11:52

You can probably do it online to get a crime report. It looks very minor.

VeniVidiWeeWee · 17/08/2018 12:04

Camper.

It's difficult to tell from the photos but it looks like there isn't any scuffing or scratches.

If that is the case a cutting polish like Tcut would probably polish them out.

Iwantaunicorn · 17/08/2018 12:05

If you can afford it, I definitely wouldn’t call your insurers, I’d just pay to get it repaired. The cost increase in your insurance for a second claim over the next 5 years I’d guess will be way more than the couple of hundred quid to get the car fixed. It’s not fair, some people are arseholes!

GabsAlot · 17/08/2018 12:05

prob not worth the insurance claim unless your excess is low-not a great chance they'll catch them

Missingstreetlife · 17/08/2018 12:06

Definately tell insurance if you report to police, computers link everything.

deste · 17/08/2018 12:10

My DD got a brand new car from my sister for her birthday. As it was a couple of days away I had to drive it home. We went into an empty superstore car park for five minutes and when we came out there was a car next to us and a ding on the door. 20 minutes old and 5 miles on the clock.

Amanduh · 17/08/2018 12:12

It doesnt look like much can you tcut it?
Annoying!

SoupDragon · 17/08/2018 12:18

I agree with others - try polishing it out and then get Chipsaway to fix it if that doesn’t work.

ResistanceIsNecessary · 17/08/2018 12:22

If it's scuffing only rather than chips, and the bumper isn't bent in at all, then try some T-cut on it. Follow the directions on the bottle (buy it from Halfords or online).

If it is down to the base layer of paint/metal then contact Chips Away. They should be able to do a SMART repair on it.

If it's more than that then it will be a bodyshop job and it's worthwhile going through insurance. Annoying, but that's why you have it!

BitOutOfPractice · 17/08/2018 12:28

It looks like most of that will polish out with T-Cut

UpstartCrow · 17/08/2018 12:32

''You have the right to request closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of yourself.
The CCTV owner must provide this within 30 days, and can charge up to £10.''
www.gov.uk/request-cctv-footage-of-yourself

SoupDragon · 17/08/2018 12:35

The footage isn’t of the OP though, it’s of her car and someone else.

Whwhywhy · 17/08/2018 12:39

Don’t file a report as even if you don’t claim you will then need to declare on insurance and it will go up. Try some t cut first.

Original poster

Camperqueen · 17/08/2018 12:40

T-cut won’t get all of it, the round spots and the lines above the headlight are where the white paint is completely gone and down to the black under-coat.