Someone Hit my rear bumper and tries to get away Options

[MaxCC]

Hi Guys

Would you please shed some light on this. Basically I was travelling 25 m/h on a 30's road, in a residential area, a few cars on the road about 5 meters distance to each other. Then we stopped at a pelican crossing, i was 4th on the queue. The guys, quite young behind me in his 20s, didn't stop in time and hit my bumper. While I stopped I checked in the mirror, did notice the car just got close and no sign of braking, I could tell he was like looking straight yet distracted, not paying attention to the road. Until the last minute he tried to stop yet too late, the collision was a bit loud.

My rear bumper has got couple dents yet not too serious. The guy did get out and check my damage, he said all the nice thing about paying the damage etc and gave me name/contact number/reg/address. We agreed the damage wasn't massive so wanted to settle this privately and not go through insurance. And now he blocks my number after few texts saying he would meet me up and compensate 50 quid etc.

I wouldn't care about compensation, yet don't want this dishonest guy just walks away like nothing happened. Are there any suggestions to handle this? A way I could mark this to his insurer without impacting mine?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Many thanks
Max.

This post has been edited by MaxCC: Sat, 4 Aug 2018 - 08:42

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[The Rookie]

Go report it to the Police, get his insurance details.....but yes you'd have to declare it (erm just like you should declare it anyway even if settled privately).

You say you have his address, got any big mates?

[kiethton]

Message him from a different phone saying:

Don't block my contact when trying to sort it out
Give a fixed timeline, BACS transfer me £x by date else it'll be taken to the insurance company and police

Depending on the response, level of damage and costs of going to insurance I'd then consider following-through. If the bumpers been dented I wouldn't be surprised if the crash bar is bent too

[cp8759]

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance. It'll cost him one heck of a lot more than £50 in increased premiums.

[notmeatloaf]

You could let your insurance company know about the accident but explain it is for information only. Then get his insurance details from AskMID and contact them directly.

For a £50 claim if they are difficult I would imagine the phrase "in that case I feel I am forced to go to an accident management company" might expedite matters.

It is live and learn, I would never accept cash from a younger driver. I got screwed over exactly the same as you, some kid smashed into the back of me in a queue. Offered to pay for it, which I thought fair enough, didn't want to punish the kid with a huge hike in premiums for one mistake.

I got a quote from a cheap garage for £300 to repair the damage. Suddenly it was "oh my mate can do it cheaper for you". When I said I wanted a garage to do it he moaned no end. Eventually after saying pay or give me your insurance details he paid £250 but it left a bad taste in my mouth when I was trying to help him.

This post has been edited by notmeatloaf: Sat, 4 Aug 2018 - 14:07

[peterguk]

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance.

+1.

[666]

Police and insurance. £50 is not going to fix your bumper unless you have access to a time machine.

[southpaw82]

I’m wondering what the police will do. There seems to be no suggestion of failing to stop and details were exchanged. The only relevant offence seems to be careless driving. I don’t see why the OP doesn’t give the details to his insurance company and lets them sort it out. He will have to disclose the accident at next renewal anyway, unless he intends to commit fraud.

[cp8759]

I’m wondering what the police will do. There seems to be no suggestion of failing to stop and details were exchanged. The only relevant offence seems to be careless driving. I don’t see why the OP doesn’t give the details to his insurance company and lets them sort it out. He will have to disclose the accident at next renewal anyway, unless he intends to commit fraud.

Normally they'd just ensure insurance details are exchanged and lease it at that, the OP has at least implied that personal details were exchange but insurance policy details were not.

[southpaw82]

I’m wondering what the police will do. There seems to be no suggestion of failing to stop and details were exchanged. The only relevant offence seems to be careless driving. I don’t see why the OP doesn’t give the details to his insurance company and lets them sort it out. He will have to disclose the accident at next renewal anyway, unless he intends to commit fraud.

Normally they'd just ensure insurance details are exchanged and lease it at that, the OP has at least implied that personal details were exchange but insurance policy details were not.

Giving the registration number of the other car to his insurers should be sufficient.

[cp8759]

I’m wondering what the police will do. There seems to be no suggestion of failing to stop and details were exchanged. The only relevant offence seems to be careless driving. I don’t see why the OP doesn’t give the details to his insurance company and lets them sort it out. He will have to disclose the accident at next renewal anyway, unless he intends to commit fraud.

Normally they'd just ensure insurance details are exchanged and lease it at that, the OP has at least implied that personal details were exchange but insurance policy details were not.

Giving the registration number of the other car to his insurers should be sufficient.

Last time I tried that they tried to sign me up to their own claims management company, had to be very insistent that I was very capable of managing the claim myself and I didn't need to their "services" (or 30% commission) and I just claimed directly from the other party's insurer. Still how you go about getting the name of the insurer is much of a muchness.

[notmeatloaf]

Still how you go about getting the name of the insurer is much of a muchness.

AskMID. £4.

[MaxCC]

Go report it to the Police, get his insurance details.....but yes you'd have to declare it (erm just like you should declare it anyway even if settled privately).

You say you have his address, got any big mates?

Haha, no. wouldn't go for anything stupid..

[MaxCC]

You could let your insurance company know about the accident but explain it is for information only. Then get his insurance details from AskMID and contact them directly.

For a £50 claim if they are difficult I would imagine the phrase "in that case I feel I am forced to go to an accident management company" might expedite matters.

It is live and learn, I would never accept cash from a younger driver. I got screwed over exactly the same as you, some kid smashed into the back of me in a queue. Offered to pay for it, which I thought fair enough, didn't want to punish the kid with a huge hike in premiums for one mistake.

I got a quote from a cheap garage for £300 to repair the damage. Suddenly it was "oh my mate can do it cheaper for you". When I said I wanted a garage to do it he moaned no end. Eventually after saying pay or give me your insurance details he paid £250 but it left a bad taste in my mouth when I was trying to help him.

Sorry about it mate, kinda feel the annoyance to go through this, it's difficult to deal with someone who doesn't appreciate the kindness from others. I agreed 50 in the end, was considering my car's price would drop while I sell it, and 50 quids is just not enough to compensate it, the dents are not serious but quite noticeable, if go through a body work would still easily cost several hundreds. His attitude was nice, didn't want to make it hard for him or hassle to both.

[peterguk]

His attitude was nice

Is that what you call nice?

now he blocks my number

[MaxCC]

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance. It'll cost him one heck of a lot more than £50 in increased premiums.

I'm afraid to leave a record and impact mine..

Police and insurance. £50 is not going to fix your bumper unless you have access to a time machine.

I know.. was trying to go easy on him somehow..

[cp8759]

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance. It'll cost him one heck of a lot more than £50 in increased premiums.

I'm afraid to leave a record and impact mine..

You need to tell your insurance anyway when you renew your policy (it would be a "no fault" incident so shouldn't impact your premiums), failure to do so would be insurance fraud.

[southpaw82]

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance. It'll cost him one heck of a lot more than £50 in increased premiums.

I'm afraid to leave a record and impact mine..

Tough, I’m afraid. When you’re asked at renewal you’re obliged to disclose it (or commit an offence).

[MaxCC]

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance. It'll cost him one heck of a lot more than £50 in increased premiums.

I'm afraid to leave a record and impact mine..

You need to tell your insurance anyway when you renew your policy (it would be a "no fault" incident so shouldn't impact your premiums), failure to do so would be insurance fraud.

thanks for the advice, didn't think of this before..

Given he's at fault I would just go to the police, get his insurance details, then claim off his insurance. It'll cost him one heck of a lot more than £50 in increased premiums.

I'm afraid to leave a record and impact mine..

Tough, I’m afraid. When you’re asked at renewal you’re obliged to disclose it (or commit an offence).

That's a good point. guess I'll have to tell my current insurer then.. It has been two weeks now, is this too late? Thanks.

[southpaw82]

thanks for the advice, didn't think of this before..

I mentioned it in post #8 yesterday.

That's a good point. guess I'll have to tell my current insurer then.. It has been two weeks now, is this too late? Thanks.

Probably not.