A (potential) car incident

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Hi mumsnetters,

I'm in a situation and I just don't know what to think about it (not trying to be defensive) and don't know how to handle this situation.

A person has rang up my kids school saying someone has hit their car and if this is not sorted then they will escalate this further.

I was contacted today by the school to say is this your car reg and it was. My car has been caught on cctv (apparently) hitting a car and 'running off'.

Now, I am not aware of hitting a car, well not that I know of. I was given the persons contact details which I was happy to take so I could discuss this further with them. I rang them and they were extremely defensive saying that I am a bad person and who would do such a thing etc. I asked have you personally seen this cctv footage and also if you could send me pictures of the damage done to your car. They also mentioned that there was an eyewitness who left a note with tier number saying that it was a hit and run.

I am not a hit and run type of person so this person has gotten the wrong end of the stick.

I have asked the person to also send me the cctv footage so I can review it too. They have refused to do so. I don't know why. They have said you can contact the school and obtain this your self.
I will be looking to get this done and check out the whole footage.

But what do you think I should do? A part of me is like maybe I did hit a car but unaware. The photos of the damage are scratched as if bumper to bumper scrape kind of thing.

Any advice please.

By the way, I am the only driver of the car and it was at the time that I would've been around at the school.

Something sounds dodgy with this - either go through insurers or ignore. The school should not be giving any information or CCTV out.

You still hand it to your insurers 🤷‍♂️

Phone your insurance explain that you have accidentally damaged a car and didn't realise. Give them the details of who you hit and then leave it to them to deal with.
It sounds like the person you hit may not have insurance themselves.

How will this affect my insurance?

Because if I did hit it then I would want to pay for the damage. I wouldn't necessarily want to go through the insurance.

You're supposed to go through the insurance anyway and I'd DEFINITELY want to go through the insurance in this case because it sounds really dodgy.

I think I would start by asking the school if they have shared CCTV footage with anyone.

If the answer is yes then I suggest that you ask to see it and proceed from there.

If the answer is no refer the matter to The Police

You have to report an accident to your insurer whether you claim or not. Just hand it over to them and let them deal with it. If it is a scam they’ll spot it, they’ve seen every scam in the book.

I'd hazard a guess that THEY hit YOUR car (if you've got marks that weren't there before) and they're trying to pull a fast one!
Ask school for the footage - if they've given it to one party, they'll give it to the other party. If school say no, you'll know the other party hasn't seen it either.

Dont forget BTW that you can check their Tax/Mot/Insurance on line

https://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx

https://www.gov.uk/browse/driving/vehicle-tax-mot-insurance

I don't know what their car is. They've just sent me pictures of the scratches

Go through the insurers they could take loads of money off you now and fleece you again in the future via your insurers anyway.

Do not engage with them any further and go through your insurers.

My DH was hit while parked up a few scratches cost their insurers nearly 5k to put tight. The insurance handles it all.

When you renew your insurance they ask if you have been involved in an accident or claim and if you answer ‘No’ you will be lying.

To be fair I’m a primary school teacher in a small village school and we all know which car belongs to which parent.
Whether we would get involved is a different matter but we would know who it was.

Was it definitely the school that rang you?? This all sounds very dodgy.
How many pupils are at this school? How has the headteacher got time to ring every single pupil contact?!

See photo for the damage

That’s my thought too.

Doesn't sound right to me at all! Definitely get the CCTV!

If they don't want to go through Insurance, that means that they are either not insured themselves, on a ban or nothing ever happened in the first place and they're trying to frighten you into handing over money indefinitely. After all, the Insurance companies would need to see this video footage if it exists.

There's also the possibility that they hit your car (or somebody hit both) - or that if you start handing over money, they suddenly announce that they were in the vehicle at the time and now have whiplash and severe back pain.

Call their bluff. You'll wait until you hear from the Insurers and they will handle it.

Someone drove into my parked car recently. They asked to pay for the damage rather than claim through insurance. No problem.

However, I still notified my insurance company. There is an option for not raising a claim. You usually need to notify them within 48 hours of any incident. If it comes to their attention that you have had an accident (or are accused of one) without notifying then then your insurance could be invalidated. If I were you, I would call them and explain the situation. Better to have it on record so that if something goes wrong in your communications with the other party (this all sounds very dodgy) you are protected through your insurance statement.

In my case, I explained that the other party wanted to pay for the damage without claiming through insurance. My insurance company said no problem, but if they didn't pay, then I could go back to them and open the claim. My insurance premium increased by £30 or so.

You would be ridiculous not to go through your insurers in this case. Maybe it’s not a total scam, but they are clearly a bit dodgy being so insistent to avoid insurance when they are claiming you are at fault rather than them. And saying they will go to a ‘professional’ garage rather than a recommended one. Why do you think this is? Apply some common sense.

Show us a picture of the damage on your car.

That certainly looks like damage caused by scraping another vehicle but it’s impossible to say which vehicle was parked and which was moving, from that one picture.
It might be possible to work it out with pictures of the damage to both cars and a clear idea of how they were parked.

You'd pay for the damage, why wouldn't you?

I just want to know who this eyewitness is

I would start by asking for make model and registration number of the car.

It is possible to get date and location data from the photo if you know how - i don't but perhaps someone can oblige.

If they are taxed, insured & MOT'd you then need to ask for the particulars they are required to provide by law, name address and Insurance Company

Hand everything over to the insurance. Do not engage with these people again. Block the number.