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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think you shouldn't be able to hit a car and get away with it?

27 replies

guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 19:58

Posting on behalf of a friend for advice!

A friend's parked car was hit and damaged by a passing car. Not just cosmetic damage - it's not usable in its current state. The driver (from now on known as 'idiot driver') drove off.

As the car was parked on my friend's street at the time, she managed to get CCTV from a neighbour, with reg plate clearly legible. This shows someone driving like an idiot and bashing her car. Someone else witnessed the crash first hand and gave my friend their account of the incident which aligns with the CCTV footage. In short, there is absolute proof of the car involved, the reg plate, when this happened, and what happened.

My friend reported this to the police. The police have reported this to idiot driver's insurer.

This was a good month ago and so far, nothing. Idiot driver's insurer have said they have tried to contact idiot driver and she won't respond, so they've basically given up. Police aren't interested any further and said to go to Citizen's Advice. There is the option for my friend to claim via her insurance, but they said her premiums will likely go up because of this.

Does anyone have any sage advice? Who would deal with this? Surely you can't just drive around damaging people's vehicles and it all goes away if you ignore everyone's calls?

OP posts:
YoullCatchYourDeathInTheFog · 10/01/2024 20:04

It's a bit rubbish for the police not to take action, but it's pretty low down the list of things that they should be able to deal with but are too busy.

The way to deal with this is to contact your insurers and let them deal with it. They'll sue idiot driver's insurers, who'll pay up, put a mark on her record that she's an idiot driver and eventually she'll suffer the consequences.

Yes your insurance takes a hit if you have a no fault claim, but you still have to report it anyway, it's a term of the contract.

YoullCatchYourDeathInTheFog · 10/01/2024 20:09

Basically if someone causes you financial loss then if you want to get recompense then you have to sue them. There isn't always a magic wand you can wave to make them into nice people who'll voluntarily give you the money: there's just the civil courts, that's what they're there for.

Fortunately in this case motor insurance will do most of the heavy lifting for you and if you have the legal insurance add-on then they'll sue to get your excess as well.

EauNeu · 10/01/2024 20:09

Your friend hasn't followed the right process.. Using her insurance company for what she's paying them to do. She needs to make a claim and let the insurance companies hash it out. Can't use the police for this

janfebmarchapril · 10/01/2024 20:17

We had this last year. Woman hit my husbands car and a passer by got her number plate and very kindly left my husband a note. We went through insurance, we had to pay excess but claimed it back. They don't make it easy but we got there in the end

Original poster
guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 20:22

janfebmarchapril · 10/01/2024 20:17

We had this last year. Woman hit my husbands car and a passer by got her number plate and very kindly left my husband a note. We went through insurance, we had to pay excess but claimed it back. They don't make it easy but we got there in the end

How did you claim it back? Was it a fairly straightforward process through your insurer (using the legal add on mentioned by the first poster)? Glad you got it sorted eventually!

OP posts:
Gymrabbit · 10/01/2024 20:24

unfortunately it sounds like the woman was with a dodgy insurance company.
When a similar thing happened to me we contacted the culprits insurance company and they fully paid up for damage.

AnxiousPangolin · 10/01/2024 20:24

Why hasn’t she reported it to her own insurance company? This is exactly why we pay for insurance. Give them the details and let them pursue the driver.

Original poster
guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 20:24

Gymrabbit · 10/01/2024 20:24

unfortunately it sounds like the woman was with a dodgy insurance company.
When a similar thing happened to me we contacted the culprits insurance company and they fully paid up for damage.

Did you have to send them video evidence or anything like that?

OP posts:
chocolateisavegetable · 10/01/2024 20:25

I had similar - I got my insurance company to get my excess back from the other driver’s I insurance company. I did have to chase them though.

AhBiscuits · 10/01/2024 20:27

She needs to put it in the hands of her insurer, they will sort it out and recover the money from the woman's insurer.

Original poster
guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 20:27

AnxiousPangolin · 10/01/2024 20:24

Why hasn’t she reported it to her own insurance company? This is exactly why we pay for insurance. Give them the details and let them pursue the driver.

Sorry, that wasn't clear in my OP - she has, but they said it'll put her premiums up if they pursue, which apparently won't be the case if the other driver's insurer does the leg work. Given there's video evidence of it happening my friend was assuming the other driver couldn't just stick her head in the sand and it would have been sorted via the other driver's insurer by this point.

OP posts:
Gymrabbit · 10/01/2024 20:30

guineapigthyme

the police had been called (not by me as my car was parked and I was nowhere near it at the time) as the culprit had smashed into it and come off his bike so there was an incident report.

she shouldn’t have to pay excess etc but her insurance will definitely go up a little whatever, that’s just what happens when you make a claim even if it’s not your fault.

Original poster
guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 20:37

Gymrabbit · 10/01/2024 20:30

guineapigthyme

the police had been called (not by me as my car was parked and I was nowhere near it at the time) as the culprit had smashed into it and come off his bike so there was an incident report.

she shouldn’t have to pay excess etc but her insurance will definitely go up a little whatever, that’s just what happens when you make a claim even if it’s not your fault.

Thanks! No incident report etc. here as the police reckon it's a civil matter. May be worth my friend calling her insurance company again and sorting out exactly what they can/can't do and how much it will cost etc., as the person they spoke to initially didn't seem 100% certain.

OP posts:
NewName24 · 10/01/2024 20:37

As per the first 4 replies.

It is down to your friend's insurance company to pursue this. That is what you pay your insurance for.

janfebmarchapril · 10/01/2024 20:48

@guineapigthyme we actually didn't have legal aid- it's something we've added on for the future. Lots of back and forth to the insurance company and took a while but got it all bsck!

Mumof2NDers · 10/01/2024 20:55

Am I a bit stupid?
I thought it was illegal to leave the scene of an accident?

baileybrosbuildingandloan · 10/01/2024 20:55

The Motor Insurance protocols in the U.K. are crazy and the least protected is the innocent party.

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 10/01/2024 20:57

Tbh her insurance premium will most likely go up anyway because she's reported it to her insurance so she might as well have them do the work!

Parky04 · 10/01/2024 21:05

Mumof2NDers · 10/01/2024 20:55

Am I a bit stupid?
I thought it was illegal to leave the scene of an accident?

Technically, it is. However, very unlikely the police will prosecute for a minor collision unless there are injuries.

GlasgowGal82 · 10/01/2024 21:22

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 10/01/2024 20:57

Tbh her insurance premium will most likely go up anyway because she's reported it to her insurance so she might as well have them do the work!

This is very true - my husband contacted his insurer after another car went into the back of him at a junction. The woman who had been driving came round with her Dad and said that they wanted to sort the repair themselves rather than go through insurers and OH agreed. OH asked the insurer not to pursue it, for various reasons the repair didn't happen and eventually the woman and her Dad backed out of the agreement. When it came to renewal time our premium went up anyway and we still have a damaged car! Having contacted her insurer already your friend has nothing to lose in asking them to pursue a claim.

BunnyMum2000 · 10/01/2024 21:38

Hi,

so I had this last year.

my car was parked (I wasn’t in it) and someone drove in to it, and then drove off. Luckily we had it on CCTV as it was outside our house.

so firstly I reported it to the police …. They found the person and took them to court .. they got 6 points and about £700 in fines.

for fixing my car … I only had third party insurance so couldn’t go through my insurance. I did phone them to ask for advice though and they put me through to a third party who could claim on my behalf (I think it was enterprise - but they were rubbish and did nothing)

So then after about a month I decided to just take it to a garage to get fixed .and it turned out that garage worked with a different third party company who they said would sort it all out for me- and they did! They gave me a courtesy car for 2 weeks and fixed my car … didn’t cost me a penny and didn’t affect my insurance at all.

Bizarrely … my insurance was actually due for renewal not long after, and I decided to upgrade to fully comp … and that was cheaper than I’d been paying for third party!

AnxiousPangolin · 10/01/2024 21:52

guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 20:27

Sorry, that wasn't clear in my OP - she has, but they said it'll put her premiums up if they pursue, which apparently won't be the case if the other driver's insurer does the leg work. Given there's video evidence of it happening my friend was assuming the other driver couldn't just stick her head in the sand and it would have been sorted via the other driver's insurer by this point.

Show quote history

Her premium will go up regardless if it’s her own insurance company or the other party’s which deals with it. I find it odd that she was told it wouldn’t. Perhaps she has misunderstood what they said.

Original poster
guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 21:55

AnxiousPangolin · 10/01/2024 21:52

Her premium will go up regardless if it’s her own insurance company or the other party’s which deals with it. I find it odd that she was told it wouldn’t. Perhaps she has misunderstood what they said.

Show quote history

Interesting! Possibly - it has been a bit 'Chinese whispers' as obviously I'm just going off what she said she was told.

OP posts:
Scrantonicity2 · 10/01/2024 22:01

So she isn't using her insurance to pay for repairs? What is she doing? That's what insurance is for. Yes if you prove to be more of a "risk" than they thought, premiums might go up, but it's the same if you move or change jobs.

I had someone go into the back of me and I got it sorted. Paid the excess because apparently it wasn't initially clear cut I wasn't to blame (Hmm) but got it back... after 10 months of chasing. Premiums weren't affected that much, but they're all going up anyway at the moment...

YoullCatchYourDeathInTheFog · 11/01/2024 09:20

guineapigthyme · 10/01/2024 21:55

Interesting! Possibly - it has been a bit 'Chinese whispers' as obviously I'm just going off what she said she was told.

Show quote history

Some companies have various "we won't put your price up if X/Y/Z" guarantees, so it's possible that her insurers have one of those.