A (potential) car incident

[hahavzv]

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.

@hahavzv I also checked out my policy last night and it does say that my excess is £810 so I don't think my insurance would even cover this.

You're going to get scammed out of a lot more than £810 honey, simply because you are too obtuse to do what you've been advised to do by so many on this thread. In the time it's taken you to post on MN, you could have had this sorted through your insurance. (Assuming you genuinely have insurance, I'm beginning to wonder...)

You've done the right thing. I suspect that the person in the school is cr8pp1ng themselves right now that they have shared sensitive data, I wouldnt let that go either OP. what other information on pupils do they share to anyone who asks??!!

I'm not doing anything until I have evidence firstly so trying to get hold of the cctv

YOU don't need evidence. That's for your insurance company to deal with. That is what you pay the premium for. Why have a dog and bark yourself?

@hahavzv

I also checked out my policy last night and it does say that my excess is £810 so I don't think my insurance would even cover this.

Completely irrelevant; there is no excess on 3rd party claims.

You really are shooting yourself in the foot in some of your interactions with this person, though. Saying things like you "have no recollection" of hitting her car is leaving you open to her simply claiming you admit you may well have hit her and just didn't realise. Before you know it there will be a claim on your insurance and you'll be footing the bill for a higher premium when you didn't actually do anything.

You should have denied it outright.

Keep notes of calls / conversations
keep texts photos

I’ve had false accusations twice in car parks. I told my insurer right away that there was a scammer, long annoying call but they said I did the right thing. I did not want person accusing me of hit & run …… neither “claim” went forward.

on private property I believe that “hit & run” isn’t a police matter if it’s damages only. Don’t quote me though, I was told this at car park where they refused to supply cctv as it was private property ..

You’re not allowed to view a third parties CCTV by law.

Almost every single person on this thread has told you that you NEED to report this to your insurance company regardless of any so called evidence and yet you persistently choose to ignore the correct process which will prevent you being scammed. But hey ho you do it your way

While no one has to show the the CCTV it is worth seeing if you can get it from thr school.

It is possible to hit a car and not notice. Please ignore people here who are saying the marks on both cars aren't consistent with hitting eachother. You'd be amazed at the difference car makes, paint job, angle of hit etc. Have on damage to car.

You’re not allowed to view a third parties CCTV by law.

This is not true.

I still don’t think the damage corresponds but it could do, some plastics bumpers bounce right back with no evidence there was ever a bump.
I also still think, regardless you go to your insurers but be clear you don’t think it happened and you do not admit any liability.
It will either be proven it was you and your insurance will sort it or it won’t be proven it will be you and it will all go away.

As everyone has told you, you need to inform your insurer. You won't pay the whole excess if the repair is less. You'll just pay for the repair. But you'll know that it's been properly looked into and isn't a scam.

@hahavzv I can’t even see anything on yours that won’t polish out? This is very dodgy.

You should not have engaged with them at all. Even if it's not a scam (as seems likely), the burden of proof is entirely on them.

No need to give them your insurer's details, as their insurers will be able to identify them from your registration. So just block them immediately.

Report the attempted scam to the school, the police, and your insurer. In detail. Then draw a line and forget it.

I suggest a message to her saying 'I'm sorry you believe I have hit your car. My insurer is XXX. Please contact your insurance provider and give them these details. I've been advised not to contact you again but I hope you get this sorted soon'

And then do not engage further. It's for the insurance to sort out. You could, for peace of mind, get the cctv footage so that you can see it. I think you'd know if you hit someone? They could have hit you though.

Ask them for measurements on where the damage is. Then measure your car. Quite likely it won't match and wasn't your car that did the damage since you don't recall hitting anything.

I mean it could be possible with kids singing and making a noise in the car that maybe you touched and didn't notice. Bit you probably would have noticed noise of damage

Do NOT contact the other driver!! Inform your insurance,just as likely she hit your car!You are dealing with this completely wrong.

I also checked out my policy last night and it does say that my excess is £810 so I don't think my insurance would even cover this

They will still investigate it and if there isn't sufficient evidence you won't have to pay anything.

Totally suspicious that they don’t want to go through insurers. I smell a rat! I would give her your insurance details and not engage further .

She won't have to pay a penny anyway!

(Other than increased premium, potentially.)

This is wrong!

OP won't have to pay a penny regardless of whether the damage is £10 or £10,000.

It's not on her to play detective! Let the insurance assessors sort it if it ever gets that far.

There's a post on here advising people to consult a lawyer. This is not necessary; if lawyers need to be involved the insurers should organise that.

OP if you have hit this car you want to admit it because if not your looking at a crime (willful fleeing) and/or losing your license (not fit to drive).

I have been in a scrap like the one shown (not wildly rare at schools in the shitshow of rush hour) and there is zero way to not know its happening. Its not a bump, touching doesn't cause the damage but friction does when the cars attempt to pull away. Both cars jolt and it makes a pop noise.

If you genuinely did do it and your story is you where 'completely unaware' and you are sticking to it then you clearly aren't suitable to safely drive a car. If there is CCTV its pretty cut and dry.

If you genuinely didn't do it then why on earth are you confused as to if you did? its like listening to a child tie themselves up in knots around a lie.

If you genuinely did nothing wrong then go to insurance and follow the legal channels.

This is absolutely nuts. OP, why are you even entertaining this and then doubling-down by running around trying to obtain CCTV, etc.?

It's pretty simple. They've accused you of damage, and say they have proof.
Get them to show you the proof. If they won't, you can either:
a) block them and move on with your life
b) tell them you don't understand why they won't share - but they're entitled to open up an insurance claim and provide evidence to the insurers.

You don't have to prove your innocence here, they have to prove your guilt.

There's all the hallmarks that this is an obvious scam:

• a bump that you don't even recall
• damage to their vehicle of a magnitude that suggests you surely would have noticed the bump
• their damage shows white paint transfer, your vehicle is black
• no damage to your vehicle
• some vague "witness"
• wanting a cash-only settlement
• wanting a cash-only settlement marked up to their phantom "premium" (read: overpriced) bodyshop
• Edit addition: use of terminology such as "hit and run" to scare you into compliance under fear you'll get into trouble with the law
• Another edit: convenient alleged CCTV footage that not only happens to cover the exact area where this took place, but the school oh-so-happily submitted to them without any question

This is so frustrating I'm winding myself up in responding, but hey ho.

If your first image was of their car, to me that looks like white paint on their car… can’t be you.

tell them to go through their insurance if they think it was you, but you don’t think ao

id also suggest there is no eye witness.

I think this is a scam.