Yesterday someone low-speed bumped my car whilst it was parked outside my house, causing significant damage to the rear bumper (colour coded etc.). They got out of their car, inspected the damage and then drove off. My neighbour got their reg. number, swept up their broken glass etc.
Does anyone know what my chances of tracking them down and exchanging insurance details? Should I report the incident to the police? Should I report it to my insurance company (even with £250 excess I'll need to make a claim if I have too) and expect my legal expenses cover to handle tracking them down and getting a claim on their insurance?
Needless to say I am a bit wound-up about this!
Cheers
Aaron
|
Failing to stop after an accident is a criminal offence, so I'd go straight to the Police, and also inform your insurance company of what happened. You have little chance of tracking them down yourself (unless they live locally).
Andy
|
But he did stop and thereby may have complied with one leg of the duty imposed in accidents cases.
There is a second requirement in that where damaged has been caused to any other vehicle then there is a duty on the driver causing to give his name and address, the address of the owner and identification mark of the vehicle to any person having reasonable grounds for requiring these.
If he does not do so then the driver must report the accident to the Police. Failure to do so is an offence.Sect 170 Road Traffic Act 1988
This is a matter that should be investigated by the Police. Ensure the witness safely retains the piece of paper on which the offenders details were recorded as evidence.
Do not repair, clean or interfere with the damaged area of the parked car as paint samples may be taken as evidence by the Police.
DVD
|
Do not repair, clean or interfere with the damaged area of the parked car as paint samples may be taken as evidence by the Police.
Also keep any broken parts left by the other car. These can help identify the hit/run car. A car once hit my Dads Astra and drove off. The hit/run car left behind the remains of his mirror cowling. It had a BWM stamp mark on it, also the year/month of manufactuer by means of a circle of 12 numbers with an arrow pointing to one of them. The year was stamped either side of the arrow. A quick drive around the block found the offending car - minus a mirror. Bloke denied it until my Dad showed him the parts he left behind. Bloke coffed up for the repair.
|
|
Some years ago a heard a loud bang outside. I ran out to see a girl in a mini at a junction had just been hit by another motorist, who was hastily exiting the scene. Poor fool him, he left his number plate behind. No difficult to track him down.
|
|
|
|
|
Very very good luck to you! A Telegraph reporter had his laptop stolen from his car the other day (window smashed etc). He got the number of the car in which the perps got away and the whole thing may have been recorded on the garage's CCTV. He rang 999 and waited an hour and then was told they'd follow up with him and 48 hours later they hadn'e even attempted to interview the registered owner of the car whose number was taken! 10 parking tickets and 20 speeders looks better on the target statistics (Sorry - performance indicators!) than one chaps laptop and smashed window and probably not cleared up anyway!
|
|
Was the laptop in view...if it was more fool him.
|
|
Maybe more fool him but should we really no be able to leave our possessions in a locked car in broad daylight while we take 5 minutes to go and pay for our fuel? These things may happen but it doesn't mean that they are right! If they catch the scumbags they'll probably get counselling or anger management courses or be sent on a safari in Africa where even the lions won't touch them! The country is over-burdened with unwashed ill educated oafish young men and the fact that there are a lot of them doesn't mean that they are right!
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you write to the DVLA, enclose a cheque for £3.50 and provide a valid reason why you need to trace someone's address (in this case, the accident), then they'll supply you with the registered keeper's details.
|
|
Good tip. Didn't know that.
|
|
|
If you write to the DVLA, enclose a cheque for £3.50 and provide a valid reason why you need to trace someone's address (in this case, the accident), then they'll supply you with the registered keeper's details.
Is it really that easy? I would have thought with the Data Protection Act, it would be easier getting blood from a stone.
|
|
|
|
Should you report it to the police?
Yes, you should. The driver who hit your car may also have reported the accident to the police. They may not yet have got around to contacting you. If the other driver hasn't reported yet, the police can trace them.
|
Definately report it to the police, the accident wasn't your fault, and sho shouldn't affect your premium too much. Also, you don't know what damage he has done behind the scenes, after my bump the car looked perfect, but there has been £850 worth of damage!
Get the s0d reported to the police ASAP, they will track him down for you, charge him with the criminal offence that he has comitted and you can claim off his insurance (if he has any) otherwise you can sue him. Was it a newish car? That may give a clue if he's insured...
|
|
|
|
It shows just how low police/public relationships have fallen when someone who has been the victim of an illegal act has to debate whether or not (s)he should report it!
|
Some months ago the metal barriers out side my sons's junior school were badly damaged in an accident in the early hours of the morning. The cost to the tax-payer was obviously going to be thousands of pounds so when I spotted the offending vehicle a few streets away (huge V shaped dent in bonnet etc. and missing wheel trim just like the one at the scene of the accident) I reported it to the police. The accident hadn't been reported by the driver (surprise, surprise !)
and all they would tell me was that the registered keeper didn't live at the address where the damaged car had been left. They didn't want to know about anything else and weren't interested in following it up. I then reported it to the Local Council who were equally uninterested even though I felt they should follow it up to recover the cost of repairing the railings etc. Nothing happened for a couple of weeks until one day on the way to the shops I spotted the car being towed away by another vehicle. Thought nothing of it till I got home and found it dumped in my road with number plates hastily removed ! reported this to the council and told them everything again at which point they infromed me they would remove the vehicle and follow up the matter with the owner (female) whohad dumped the car at her boyfrien's address originally. It really took quite a lot of time and effort to get this point and I agree with the sentiments expressed above - that these people shouldn't be allowed to get away with it in the way that they clearly do. I have heard nothing more about the incident despite a promise by the officer concerned to keep me informed and possibly call me as a witness !
Just one other point - I don't blame the individual police or workers on the ground but they're moronic leaders and our MP's most of whom are totally spineless and
oblivious to public sentiment.
|
Sorry folks - the above should read:-
"...their moronic leaders and our MP's....."
|
|
|
The cost to the tax-payer was obviously going to be thousands of pounds.......... ........the Local Council who were equally uninterested even though I felt they should follow it up to recover the cost of repairing the railings etc.
Find out how to contact the auditors and let them know.
|
Report the accident to the police and request they contact the other party.
You can now of course write to DVLA and for a cmall fee £3.00 I thnk they will disclose the details of the owner who may not of course be the driver but it is the insurance company you are after and the driver the police are after.
Peter
|
I'm sure you can't get the owners details by paying the DVLA, it is against the data protection act. All they can tell you is if the registration number exists.
Regards
Andrew
www.hispecgolfs.co.uk
|
|
I'm sure I read that you can get details of the car provided that you have a 'legitimate interest' in them. I suspect that there is some get-out clause in the Data Protection Act (we all know what the government are like when it comes to Data Protection etc..)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact the police , make sure you get an incident report number to allow any follow up. This may get you some way forward if the police do the leg work then you can contact your insurance. Do not expect your insurance company to bend over backwards trying to get recompense from the other driver. Even with legal cover you need to push hard to get anything as most of these all seem now to work on a value for money so unless a couple of grand to be recovered then only expect a couple of hours work from them which is normally a few letters then the reply to you that they have done all they can.
|
So Aaroon,
What did you do?
DVD
|
|
|
|
