Damage to car

[BarberellaWife]

A few weeks ago whilst driving on a country road, a large piece of rubble fell from a skip lorry on to my bonnet and has caused a very large scratch.
I was on my own at the time with my two small children in the car so was unable to take down the registration number. I could only remember the last three digits which doesn't help as it turns out all of their lorries have the same as they are personalise. I was quite shaken up as the incident was scary.
I called the skip hire company once I stopped and informed them of what happened, the road, time etc and they said that all their lorries have rear dash cams so they'd look and find the footage.
A few weeks have passed and they have now said they have been unable to find the 'alleged' incident and cannot help unless I have evidence. I've provided them with so many details to try and narrow it down - several cars had overtaken the lorry so I mentioned those and what they looked like.
I'm so angry as I don't think there is anything I can do now.
Does anyone have any advice of how I could take this further or is this a lost cause?
Thanks.

Do you have legal cover on your car insurance? They may be able to help you with a stern letter and a threat to take to small claims court?

Yes I have legal cover but was wanting to avoid speaking to insurance in case it upped my premium.

Yes I have legal cover but was wanting to avoid speaking to insurance in case it upped my premium.

So why bother paying for legal cover then, @BarberellaWife ? It's so frustrating when people do absolutely anything not to go through insurance.

You have to justify to yourself whether the cost of repairing the scratch, is going to be less than the feared upping in premiums over a year.

Lets say your premiums go up by £20 a month or £240 a year. Will the cost of repairing the scratch be more, or less? The legal advice is 'free', and they could get you all the costs - so why not go for it?

I think you should go through your legal cover like the PP said. This country is batsh!t about insurance sometimes, it's like no one ever wants to use it, for any reason. Pay for the scratch repairs yourself if you'd rather not risk it..

So why bother paying for legal cover then ? It's so frustrating when people do absolutely anything not to go through insurance

I've never known anywhere like MN for the total reluctance to claim on insurance. Its crazy.

I had a claim a few years ago & my premium didn't go up by any more than i expected when it came to renewal. I shopped around & got it lower by moving ins companies which I tend to do anyway.

Did you contact the police?

Driving with an unsecured load is a criminal offence so the company might be able to find the footage then.

Wouldn't that lessen the likelihood of them "finding" it even more?

No I didn't, didn't really see it as a police matter

Don't think you need to be quite so abrupt.
I have a claim already on my insurance so it's already quite high.
For something that wasn't my fault of course I want to avoid my insurance.
You're probably right though, we all try and steer clear of our insurance for fear of having to pay loads out

First get their insurance details. Send that with film footage to your insurance company.
Any huffing and puffing - a friend/ relative who’s a senior police officer has asked to see the footage and their insurance docs. They’ll soon pay up.

It's shit but these things happen. The chance of you being able to provide negligence is almost zero without video footage. Are the company really going to provide you with such footage even if it does exist? Wishful thinking.

Let it go.

How close were you driving to the skip though? I generally drop back quite a way from those things for this very reason.

This happened in March and she doesn't have any film footage!