To report myself to 101 even though I'm not sure I did anything?

[anxiousmumy]

I'm a new and very very anxious driver and got close to some parked cars (narrow street) when I heard an unfamiliar noise. I didn't think much of it at first as it wasn't loud,but as I got home five ish minutes later it occurred to me that maybe I could have scraped one of the parked cars or clipped a wing mirror.

I'm now stressing that if I have I can get done for fleeing the scene and losing my license. I still have time to be within the 24 hours if I self report to 101.

Dh thinks I'm being ridiculous and says I'd know if I hit something - I'd have felt it, and no marks on my car (well, new ones. Second hand car.) He says if I report to 101 then they could pin something along that road on me that I had nothing to do with. I'd have to do it behind his back as he made it clear he'd be furious. I do get where he's coming from as I have before thought a sound was something it wasn't, and I automatically jump to worst case scenario.

If I do report, will it have an impact on my insurance does anyone know? Will they know about it if nothing came from it?

Please be gentle ish on me

Inspect your car in daylight tomorrow. If there is any sign of damage that wasn’t there before, my advice would be to report to your insurer as a notification for information but no claim being made. That way if you have clipped another car and they happen to have a dashcam / doorbell camera that has picked up your cars reg details, you won’t get in trouble for failing to report an incident that could give rise to a claim and should the other party choose to pursue a claim against you for any damage, your insurance will be valid and will cover you.

If there’s no sign of any damage on your car, then I wouldn’t do anything as it likely means you didn’t hit anything.

Definitely do not tell your insurer. Nothing has happened!

IF op has hit another car and fails to notify their insurer, they can under the terms of any standard motor policy, decline to deal with any subsequent claim and would likely cancel the policy which would make it very difficult (not to mention extortionately expensive) for the OP to get insured in future. Or they would refuse any repair costs to OPs car, agree to pay for the costs of any repairs to the other vehicle but would then take action to recover those costs from OP at a later date.

Insurers will try to avoid paying if they can, and will stick to and enforce the letter of the policy to their advantage. If OP does genuinely think she hit a car, it is in her best interests to notify them to cover herself just in case. A notification without any claim materialising will not affect her premium. Failure to declare and a subsequent claim being made absolutely will.

No leave it now. The time to have checked if you wanted to do that was right at the time. Not now. Something else could have happened since or even before which is nothing to do with you. What are you going to do look for scratches on other cars? You could find several and you wouldn’t know who had caused them especially as there’s no damage to your car.

It’s completely unnecessary. Forget it. Move on.

OP I have to park my car on a narrow road and I noticed the other day some small scratches where someone has obviously driven too close and their car has rubbed along mine. I’ve got cameras but I won’t be reporting it to the police because I don’t know when it was done, it would take forever to check the camera footage and because the cameras are on the opposite side of the car I doubt I could prove who it was if I did find them, the damage is minimal(I won’t even bother getting it repaired) - it’s just a hazard of parking on a narrow road.

And as PPs have said if you’d hit another car you’d know, the noise is awful and you’d have felt some resistance in your car.

You shouldn’t be driving. Anxious drivers are dangerous, they hesitate and don’t react.

You'd know if you hit/scraped something. Remember that you didn't think anything of it as it happened. Trust your instincts. I'd put money on it being a can/bottle that you went over; whenever that happens to me it nearly gives me a heart attack!

I did exactly this and felt sick to my stomach. I went back and checked all the cars a few hours later and the biggest amount of damage was to my own car. I was so worried and was convinced I'd get done, but nothing happened.

Wing mirrors are designed to fold in when they get hit, and sometimes the cover will come off. Apart from that, you have to be going at a fair old speed to actually do some more damage. You'll be okay 🤍

As a new driver I had this, when I heard a weird noise as I passed an awkwardly stopped car early in the morning. I had to wait till the end of my drive to check my car. No marks on it. I now think I went over some gravel or something on the road, which rattled, and it was a coincidence. Nothing ever came of it.

And in the real world none of that would happen.

EVERYONE clips a wing mirror/touches another car when parking/manoeuvring a narrow gap etc or has it happen to them. All that you’d say - in the incredibly unlikely event that someone a) had damage, b) noticed the damage at the time c) had a way of finding who did it and d) reported it to their insurer - is that you didn’t realise you’d done it. The scenario you’ve given above would not apply for a knocked wing mirror, and I say that as someone who worked in the insurance industry for a long time

It was a really unfair comment. You don’t stop when you anxiety and OCD, it will just pass to something else. Work through it.

This is ridiculous advice. You haven’t hit a car. This PP doesn’t understand OCD/ severe anxiety.

Theres no need to contact your insurance and raise your premiums by hundreds.

@gillefc82 she's not even sure if she hit the car! What bad advice!!!

Realistically the insurance company would never find out. People clip things, things happen. They would absolutely use it to raise premiums.

I did in a similar situation. Couldn't park in a carpark a few weeks after passing my test. Did a million point turn to turn around, and stressed I'd stopped on a car rather than the brake. Got out and couldn't see any damage, but was so stressed I just left rather than trying to find the owner. My DP, like yours, told me to forget about it but I couldn't, so I self-reported online. Had a lovely chat with a policewoman a few days later who said that no reports had come in, that it was highly unlikely that I could have caused any damage considering the speed I was moving at and the fact I'd hit the brake anyway, and to stop worrying. She was very understanding about it.

It’s more likely you drove over a pothole or a bottle in the road or something, you’d know if you’d properly hit something.

Did it push your insurance up?

I drive defensively and carefully , I drive to the speed limit, so why shouldn't I be driving? Surely being anxious is better than being over confident. I do not panic when I'm driving, it's afterwards when I think back. If I'd hit something for sure I'd have pulled over and dealt with it there.
As it stands I don't think I did, just my anxiety is making me question myself.
Also maybe I need to drive? I have children that rely on me. These comments are very cruel.

@concernedchild @GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin @Mummame2222 please read my post. I said if, after the OP inspects her car, she sees there is some damage that wasn’t there before, then I would recommend covering herself by notifying her insurer, just in case it does come back to bite her on the behind. A notification without a claim by the OP or a third party won’t result in a premium increase. Yes it may be an unlikely scenario, but if I had a dashcam/door camera and discovered my car had been hit overnight, you bet I’d be trying to see if the car involved could be identified and if it could, would most certainly be passing on the details to my insurer, regardless of the extent of the damage.

In also worked in insurance (I managed the global corporate liability insurance programme for a FTSE Top 30 company, including motor third party for a car/commercial vehicle fleet of 15,000) and for what its worth, my advice when dealing with any insurance company is it’s always better to be safe than sorry. If in doubt, declare it. You don’t want to be left without cover, and worst case, with a cancelled policy leaving you struggling to find any insurer to cover you (at an affordable price at least).

But as I also said in my first post, if OP can’t find any signs of damage to her car then it’s more than likely she didn’t hit anything, and she can relax as she needn’t do anything.

I damaged my car. Never reported it because it'll just triple my premiums. It's fixed. They'll literally never find out

Did it involve another party? If so, you should have reported even if you were planning to pay the repairs yourself. Why? Because if, in 2/3 years time, the other party decides they want to make a claim against you for personal injury and your insurers haven’t been notified of an accident in the first place and in reasonable time, they could legitimately refuse to indemnify you, which means you would have to meet the costs of any legal fees and, if they were successful, fund any amount they are awarded for their claim. It’s just not worth it, especially when insurance companies seemingly delight in finding any reason not to pay out!

I would take everything gillefc is saying with a pinch of salt OP. to get a claim
like that though anyway you need a third party witness with no connection to the claimant, however this is all moot because you didn’t hit anyone. Not a random claim 2/3 years later with no evidence, that’s never gonna fly.

Look, this is just the advice I would give OP based on my own jading annd ant times, unpleasant experiences with complex motor claims and insurers. I work in Risk so will admit I’m naturally risk averse and inclined to always play it safe. I understand not everyone else is the same.

I’ll leave it to OP to determine her best course of action. Hopefully it’s irrelevant anyway as there was no collision.

@anxiousmumy please don’t let my post worry you unduly - it’s not my intention.

Enjoy the Easter BH weekend!

I completely relate to this feeling OP, I was like this when I first learnt to drive. If you ever actually do hit something it’s pretty unmistakable though.

@gillefc82 no damage to the other car. No personal injury as the car was empty.

You’re more likely to concern your insurer and up your premium if you ring up with imaginary claims