Carpark Capers

[robmx]

Just asking see what I can do here, just to see whether it is worth ringing my insurance company about it.

Yesterday, I went shopping in Leeds and as council car park's are free on Sunday's, you can imagine parking can be a bit of a nightmare. Anyways, I luckily found a spot vacated by a Golf Plus, plenty of room, but the only problem was it was on the corner of one of the rows behind some building or other. There's loads of room for people turning the corner, so I thought I'd be ok.

But, whether I was tempting fate here or not, I jokingly said to my GF, "I bet someone scuffs my bumper today" and guess what, they did

I returned later to find a scuff where I predicted and this note left under my wiper by a witness.



So, I was just wondering whether it was worth attempting making a claim against this woman, given I've no contact for the witness and therefore little to back up my claim apart from this note?

As for the scuff, I don't think it's all that bad, but am going to investigate it further when I wash my car this afternoon

Any help is appreciated.

Oh and btw, if you want to carry on with the pretense that Scirocco's are slightly rare, then don't go to Leeds, as I saw at least 10 in the 2 hours I was there.......

[SeventySix]

Hello

I think you should get a repair quote and take it from there. If it's going to cost a lot of money to repair, maybe you should try the insurance company and see what they say. If the repair costs are high enough, it may be in the interests of your insurance company to investigate the allegation. Maybe the police can help by tracking down the car to see if it has corresponding damage or check for nearby CCTV.

I parked a 1-year-old MX-5 in a council car park in Coventry, in a similar type of space to where you parked your Roc. When we got back, we noticed a football-sized dent in the nearside rear bumper - no note on the windscreen. In the end I had to buy a new bumper, get it resprayed and fitted at a cost of nearly £500.

I have to say that the local police were very helpful and quickly checked the car park's CCTV but unfortunately found that the spot I parked in was not covered by the camera so I had nowhere to go. So in the end I took the hit myself because my excess was already £300 (not any more!!) and I didn't want to have to register a claim against myself.

Let us know how you get on!

76

[stuaz]

It was nice of the witness to leave that note, shame like you said he didn't leave his contact details though. Personally if it was me, I would see how much it would cost to repair, if it loads (and depending on your excess) it may be worth claiming. If of course the scuff comes out with a bit of polish, then good

No need to raise your Insurance Policy price over little things! If you do choose to pursue a claim, then like SeventySix said - try the CCTV cameras.

[kianok]

If you write to the DVLA, for a small fee (couple of quid is all) they will send you the details of the registered keeper, so long as you have good reason for requesting it (They ask why you want it).

You can download the form from the DVLA site if i remember rightly.

If it's going to cost to get it repaired it may be better to go down that route to get your costs back directly from the owner rather than involving your insurance.

May be of help (see "reasonable cause")
http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/search.aspx? ... red+keeper" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[robmx]

Well, i'll see how well the scuff cleans up this afternoon, then go see my bodywork guy if it's not something I can remedy myself.

I'd rather not go through the hassle of claiming etc, but if I'm going to need paint etc, i'd rather not pay for it myself.

Thanks for all your help so far

[lancs_lad]

Hi

Hope I can be of assistance here as I deal with this sort of thing on a daily basis.

1st thing to do is report the matter at your local police station. The damage has occurred in a public place and as details weren't exchanged between the concerned parties it is defined as a reportable RTC under the terms of the road traffic act. West Yorks Police will (or should) investigate by first of all checking PNC to see if the vehicle details on your paper are correct (you'd be surprised at the number of incorrect details provided at times). If the details are correct the Police will then (again should) send a NIP and RT 172 form to the keeper of the offending vehicle who should then reply with the driver details at the time. It is possible they weren't aware of clipping your vehicle which absolves them of responsibility for stopping at the scene. The police should also check with the council to see if there is any CCTV but in my experience council car park cctv is usually rubbish, if it exists at all, unless the camera is pointing directly at your car and even then its unlikely they can obtain a vrm.

The fact that your witness didn't leave any personal details tends to weaken your case but if the offending vehicles owner admits to being at that location at the time in question then it may be that on balance of probability their insurers may pay out.

Investigating the matter yourself is less likely to be fruitful as even if you find out their name and address they will have no obligation to speak with you.

If you need any more advice please feel free to pm me.

[robmx]

Cheers for that, massively useful.

I've had a go at the scuff with some polish today and have got the majority of it off. All I'm left with is a deepish, semi visible scratch, so I'm in two minds whether to pursue this any further, as what I'm left with doesn't seem worth the effort, both for me, the police, the insurance companies etc.

[ONtheROCs]

Report it. Someone hit my car at a petrol station once and drove off. I sped off and caught up with them purely out of luck 6 miles away as all I knew was the colour of the car. Suffice to say, the guy absolutely sh1t himself and protested his innocence, kind of said he was sorry, gave me 101 excuses why he had no time and drove off and told me it was "just a couple of scratches" and that I was "over reacting" and it was "just a car". This obviously didn't go down well with me as I had probably spent more on mods than he had on furniture. He was driving an absolute banger. He refused to give me his home details but I got his work address and telephone number as apparently he thought I was some sort of madman that was going to go to his house and eat his kids. I wouldn't let him drive off until I was satisfied I had enough details to take to the police/insurance if he did start playing funny with me. The petrol station had CCTV and offered to save the footage for me should anything go wrong. Anyway, he reported me to the police for agressive behaviour, yada yada yada but I had already advised the police and when he rang he was surprised to be told by the person he spoke at the station that he would have chased after me too and that he had also committed an offence. The night it happened he was obviously trying to build his case by sending me wind up text messages, trying to provoke some agressive reponse which he could have used. Had I been younger, I would have probably reacted to them but just told him that I would be in touch after getting a quote etc. This obviously didn't go down well as he still reported me. I got the damage repaired by the body shop of my choice. I didn't pursue the case with the police but sometimes I wish I had as he was a complete tosser for the way he behaved but in the end, he paid for the damage in cash to the bodyshop.

In your case though I would report it anyway. Let them argue their case with the police and at least this way they might stump up the cash to pay for the damage as take it from me, dealing with insurance companies is a right, royal pain. It's better to come out of their pocket than yours and it serves them right for driving off.

[robmx]

I guess it might be worth reporting it, just to teach them a lesson.

I'll give the police a ring today and see what they can do. I guess even if it is just returning the forms lancs_lad mentioned above, it means they'll have had to put some effort in and make them responsible for their actions.

Cheers.

[kianok]

I guess it might be worth reporting it, just to teach them a lesson..

Absolutely.

Wish someone had left me the details of the tool who bumped mine.

[maisbitt]

If it was obvious to the witness that your car had been scraped, I suspect that it was obvious to the driver of the car also - I hope you took pictures of the scuff before you attempted to remove it. If you were ever intending to pursue this via the police to put a claim in against the insurance company then you should've left the damage untouched for inspection.

I'd still pursue this with the police, if only to send the message to the culprits that you can't always scarper and not get caught.

[robmx]

Well, I've rung West Yorks Police and filed a report, I've just got to go and produce my insurance and driving license at a local Police Station before things go any further.

The only problem is that my license is away for renewal at the moment. So whether my motivation to go through with this holds up whilst the DVLA take their time with my license remains to be seen.

I have got a photo of the scuff btw. I guess it was hasty of me to polish it out asap, but I didn't really fancy driving about in a ratty looking Scirocco