Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I did something stupid

85 replies

Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 13:32

I did something really stupid this morning. I clipped someone’s wing mirror (the car I hit was stationary). I didn’t realise what had happened until I was further on.
Then realised the casing around my wing mirror had come off. The mirror itself is in tact, but the casing has come off and the underneath is exposed.

When I realised I drove back up but I didn’t know which car it was that I’d hit, couldn’t see any debris in the road from my car.

I have no idea what to do now. I couldn’t leave a note as I didn’t know which car it was!

Can anyone advise? I’m really shaken up.

OP posts:
Whattodowithit88 · 20/11/2023 14:22

Such a bunch of dramatics! She clipped a wing mirror, not took a sledge hammer to the car.

It’s minor, do nothing and wait and see if anything comes through the post, which I very much doubt.

Hayleyoldnewwm · 20/11/2023 14:26

It happened to me when driving in narrow High street. I clipped parked car's mirror so my own mirror shut in.
I immediately stopped and checked, no damage and went back to see what car was it, but I couldn't see any cars parked there, they must left by the time I got there ( 10 mins or less) It was a yellow line, so everyone parked there only shortly. This was about 5 yes ago. Now I always shut in my mirrors when in narrow road.

Luxell934 · 20/11/2023 14:28

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 20/11/2023 14:16

Why??

Show quote history

Well if she fails to report the incident to her insurance company and there comes to light there was dashcam footage or a witness who snapped a pic of her number plate then the other party could make a claim against her. Her insurance company will be informed who will then contact her to ask her why she hasn’t reported the incident herself. By not reporting it could make her insurance invalid god forbid she has a more serious accident during this time.

FiveWordsWillDoNotEightyFive · 20/11/2023 14:29

do nothing and wait and see if anything comes through the post, which I very much doubt.

I’m sure the person that clipped our car thought that!
Thankfully the dashcam got her full plate and the police were able to contact her. They didn’t take any action as she agreed to give her insurance details. We’d have been £400 down for the repairs if we didn’t have a dashcam. She claimed she didn’t know she’d clipped us but she had a fair bit of damage to her own car!

itsmyp4rty · 20/11/2023 14:31

We've had our wingmirror taken off three times - no one has let us know it was them. I really wouldn't tell your insurance, your premiums will go up if if they don't find out who you hit I expect. From experience you can buy a new wingmirror from ebay for about £50.

Just leave it and see if anything happens. You tried to find the car and couldn't which is more than most would do. Just learn your lesson and drive more carefully.

NotLactoseFree · 20/11/2023 14:31

Luxell934 · 20/11/2023 14:28

Well if she fails to report the incident to her insurance company and there comes to light there was dashcam footage or a witness who snapped a pic of her number plate then the other party could make a claim against her. Her insurance company will be informed who will then contact her to ask her why she hasn’t reported the incident herself. By not reporting it could make her insurance invalid god forbid she has a more serious accident during this time.

Show quote history

For a start, if she DID actually damage someone's car (which seems unlikely as she couldn't find it) would they even call their insurance company? I certainly wouldn't for such a small issue. I'd chalk it up to experience and be annoy3ed. Just like I am about the large scratch someone in a too-big 4x4 put in my passenger door...

But if they DID, and OP's insurance company calls, here's the likely conversation:

Insurance company: we've had a claim against your car - someone has a picture of you damaging a parked car's side mirror. This happened 4 weeks ago. Were you aware of this incident and why didn't you report it?

OP: I was. I went back to look to see if I could figure out whose car it was, and there appeared to be no damage to any cars on the road so I assumed there was no damage to any other cars. In the meantime, I had the side mirror fixed myself on my car.

Insurance company: Okay, but now we're going to have to go through a claim process so please provide the following (hideous boring) details....

Lemmoella · 20/11/2023 14:33

Ok this happened to me. I reported it to my insurance - just in case. I didn’t claim on it either I repaired it. I now have had to declare this on insurance for 4 years! I didn’t realise the first year and got in trouble with the new insurer for not declaring a ‘claim’ I tried to fight it as it wasn’t a claim but apparently it still counts as it got noted. My original insurer said it was just a 6 month ‘note’ on my insurance record but no, it’s been passed on as a claim and haunted me ever since, putting my premiums up! Next year it will be gone finally

NotLactoseFree · 20/11/2023 14:33

FiveWordsWillDoNotEightyFive · 20/11/2023 14:29

do nothing and wait and see if anything comes through the post, which I very much doubt.

I’m sure the person that clipped our car thought that!
Thankfully the dashcam got her full plate and the police were able to contact her. They didn’t take any action as she agreed to give her insurance details. We’d have been £400 down for the repairs if we didn’t have a dashcam. She claimed she didn’t know she’d clipped us but she had a fair bit of damage to her own car!

DH clipped, and destroyed, a side mirror on a parked car recently. We paid to have it fixed -it cost just over £100 with the bulk of th cost coming from having to get some fancy fitting as he took out the electrics that feed the little light or something.

That's very different to damage of £400 odd. That suggests she really did damage your car, and hit it quite hard, rather than just taking out a side mirror.

Comedycook · 20/11/2023 14:34

Someone hit my car (their fault, pulled out of side road into main without looking or stopping) and drove off. Police were not very interested at all.

Luxell934 · 20/11/2023 14:35

NotLactoseFree · 20/11/2023 14:31

For a start, if she DID actually damage someone's car (which seems unlikely as she couldn't find it) would they even call their insurance company? I certainly wouldn't for such a small issue. I'd chalk it up to experience and be annoy3ed. Just like I am about the large scratch someone in a too-big 4x4 put in my passenger door...

But if they DID, and OP's insurance company calls, here's the likely conversation:

Insurance company: we've had a claim against your car - someone has a picture of you damaging a parked car's side mirror. This happened 4 weeks ago. Were you aware of this incident and why didn't you report it?

OP: I was. I went back to look to see if I could figure out whose car it was, and there appeared to be no damage to any cars on the road so I assumed there was no damage to any other cars. In the meantime, I had the side mirror fixed myself on my car.

Insurance company: Okay, but now we're going to have to go through a claim process so please provide the following (hideous boring) details....

Show quote history

Well that’s for the other person to decide if they want to make a claim not the OP.

and yes that’s likely how the conversation would go with the insurance company BUT what if OP gets into a more serious accident tomorrow and needs to claim herself, then they could say sorry your insurance was invalid because you failed to adhere to the terms and conditions of reporting any previous incidents. Then they could make OP pay all costs out of her own pocket if they deem her insurance invalid.

3luckystars · 20/11/2023 14:35

So you just heard the bang, saw the stationary car, and kept going because you panicked ?

If that’s what happened, then that’s understandable but you should try to track down the other car owner and advise them.

Bobtheamazinggingerdog · 20/11/2023 14:36

Lemmoella · 20/11/2023 14:33

Ok this happened to me. I reported it to my insurance - just in case. I didn’t claim on it either I repaired it. I now have had to declare this on insurance for 4 years! I didn’t realise the first year and got in trouble with the new insurer for not declaring a ‘claim’ I tried to fight it as it wasn’t a claim but apparently it still counts as it got noted. My original insurer said it was just a 6 month ‘note’ on my insurance record but no, it’s been passed on as a claim and haunted me ever since, putting my premiums up! Next year it will be gone finally

Edited

and this is why you'd be mad to tell yours.

Conkersinautumn · 20/11/2023 14:36

I wouldn't worry. I'm sure a pedestrian would report it for you, I've certainly done this. How on earth do you hit a car and not know what the car looked like?

PurpleNebula84 · 20/11/2023 14:41

Do an online report to the Police.

You have made reasonable steps to find any vehicle you have damaged.

However, if the car has already gone and there is damage (and CCTV) you could be caught up with for failing to stop and failing to report.

If the other party doesn't contact Police or insurance - you have done everything you can.

Original poster
Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 14:52

This is what I’m planning to send to police 101 incident form online, does it sound ok:

I was driving and clipped the wing mirror of a stationary car.

The casing of my wing mirror has come off, however the mirror is still in tact, but I didn’t notice any marks on the other car.

I wasn’t able to safely stop as there was no where to pull over and there were roadworks happening further up with temporary lights.

When it was safe to do so, I drove back to the area in question, but I wasn’t sure which car it was or whether it had already driven away by this point.

OP posts:
CharlotteBog · 20/11/2023 14:52

I clipped someone’s wing mirror (the car I hit was stationary). I didn’t realise what had happened until I was further on. Then realised the casing around my wing mirror had come off.

If you clipped it hard enough to remove the casing from around your own wing mirror I can't fathom how you didn't realise, as that level of impact would surely have made a quite a loud bump. Or your casing was already loose?

Luxell934 · 20/11/2023 14:53

Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 14:52

This is what I’m planning to send to police 101 incident form online, does it sound ok:

I was driving and clipped the wing mirror of a stationary car.

The casing of my wing mirror has come off, however the mirror is still in tact, but I didn’t notice any marks on the other car.

I wasn’t able to safely stop as there was no where to pull over and there were roadworks happening further up with temporary lights.

When it was safe to do so, I drove back to the area in question, but I wasn’t sure which car it was or whether it had already driven away by this point.

Police no, I wouldn’t bother unless your insurance company tells you to, just report to your insurance company.

CharlotteBog · 20/11/2023 14:55

Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 14:52

This is what I’m planning to send to police 101 incident form online, does it sound ok:

I was driving and clipped the wing mirror of a stationary car.

The casing of my wing mirror has come off, however the mirror is still in tact, but I didn’t notice any marks on the other car.

I wasn’t able to safely stop as there was no where to pull over and there were roadworks happening further up with temporary lights.

When it was safe to do so, I drove back to the area in question, but I wasn’t sure which car it was or whether it had already driven away by this point.

Well it's a different account from your OP.

"didn't realise" has now become "I didn't stop because it wasn't safe to do so"

And "didn't notice any marks on the other car" is not consistent with "I wasn't sure which car it was"

Original poster
Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 15:00

I think it may already have been loose as part of it hasn’t worked for a while.

OP posts:
Original poster
Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 15:02

I just don’t want to get into trouble with the police , it was a genuine accident and there were roadworks happening at the time, meaning people were squeezing through smaller than normal gaps, I guess I obviously moved over more automatically and whichever car it was I clipped.

OP posts:
housethatbuiltme · 20/11/2023 15:02

It seems batshit to bother the police and report it to insurance.

People clip mirrors all the time round here (narrow rural roads), mine gets hit at least once a week during the night when parked.

I clipped someone else's once, stopped and they didn't even let me get out of the car before rolling down their window to pop it back and yelling 'its fine, it happens... don't worry'.

Unless you hit it going fast enough to do serious damage like taking the mirror off then usually it just folds (they can even fold backwards to a point) and is really its no big deal.

NigellaAwesome · 20/11/2023 15:04

Honestly, I wouldn't bother doing anything. You stopped, you checked to see if there was any damage, there wasn't any.

You are over thinking this.

Police wouldn't be remotely interested.

Original poster
Moorlandheather · 20/11/2023 15:17

I guess because it took my wing mirror casing off I feel like it was something significant, but maybe it didn’t more damage to my car…I’m still in two minds whether to report to police 101 online.

OP posts:
WombatChocolate · 20/11/2023 15:26

Did you clip the other car or it’s wing mirror?

Wing mirrors have some bounce in them, specifically for this kind of thing. They can often take a gentle bump and just spring slightly.

Personally, I think that if you know which car you clipped, you leave a note for them on their windscreen and the. It’s up to them if they want to pursue it with you or through insurance. It’s their decision to judge if they want to or not. I would always leave my details following an incident plus take a photo of the car reg if poss. However, I would then wait to see what happened. If it was something where I couldn’t see any damage I wouldn’t contact the Police or my insurer unless I heard from the other party. Sometimes people choose not to pursue it - they check their car and can’t see any damage themselves. Or they check and whatever has happened is so minor they aren’t interested in it. Sometimes they are interested in an out of insurance settlement ir sometimes they want to go to insurance. It is totally up to them and personally I would be guided by them.

Reporting an incident where you cannot say which car it was or specify any damage you’ve done, sounds like it won’t achieve anything for the owner and in all likelihood the owner won’t be pursuing it, but reporting it will mean it’s on your insurance record for 3-5 years, even though it’s essentially a non-event. If the owner if the car reports the incident, then you take full responsibility and let matters take their course. But the point is, there maybe no matter to take it’s course.

Perhaps return to the area again to look at cars there. However, I think what you did was reasonable. Sometimes something like a clipped wing mirror has happened and you’re only aware if it as you are beyond the car. You may have to drive a little distance down the road in order to stop and look at your own car and to turn round and return to where it happened. If you can’t see any damage to any car where it happened a few minutes later…chances are you didn’t cause damage. Something like a clipped wi g mirror can sound Lou’s and damaging but there’s nothing to show for it. I think you did the right thing to go back and look. If there’s nothing to see there’s nothing to report.

margotrose · 20/11/2023 15:28

There was a thread recently about a girl who'd had an accident and failed to report it - the police turned up at her door.

Legally speaking, you need to report accidents to the police if you haven't been able to swap details with the other driver. Personally I would report it to 101 - it only takes a few minutes and at least you'll have a clear conscience.