Someone hit my parked car...

[6RPotentialBuyer]

I know these topics are asked very frequently but I've never made an insurance claim so I thought I'd gather as much information from other people as possible.

So, I parked my car at the local shop's car park. I was only gone for about 15/20 minutes. I came back and saw a dent in the side of the car alongside a load of scratches. A man approached me apologising for the damage and gave me his business card. I thanked him for his honesty and told him that my dad knows a bodyshop.

Here are some pics of the damage.












The damage doesn't affect the car massively, it's aesthetic damage and doesn't affect the driving. I do not think it will be a cheap repair so I'm fearing it is going to have to go through insurance. As I said my dad is very good friends with a bodyshop but I still think it will be uneconomical to repair outside of insurance, because the panel has to have the dent removed and resprayed. It annoys me because I was just coming up to building up my first year no claims discount so I'm not sure if this will affect it. I am not at fault and the other driver has accepted that. I am insured with DirectLine. If anyone has any advice that would be great, I've never made a claim with insurance so I don't wanna mess it up haha.
Thanks

[iichel]

Don't worry about insurance stuff, it won't affect you.
If the guy that hit you is insured (as one may hope), his insurance will pay for it. If he's not, he has some bigger issues, but then he probably has to pay himself.

If you're lucky, the body shop will do the insurance stuff for you.

[RUM4MO]

Sorry but any claim will have an affect on you in the eyes of an insurance company, by being/ending up in a position where you now have suffered damage to your insured property, you have become more of an insurance risk - stupid/crazy but that is the way things go, if you had had quite a few years of clean motoring behind you the effect on next year's policy would be minimal, but still there would be some increase due to that claim even if the third party pay for that repair.

One other thing, though you have not made it clear, the third party might think that this repair will cost peanuts and that he might even be happy initially to pay out of his own pocket without talking to his insurance company, this is seen as fraud, if you do not inform your insurance company you are also being committing fraud in as much as you are not being honest with them. When he finds out the final cost he might just walk away. My advice is tell your insurance company and in doing so protect yourself from anything bad happening - oh and get the third party's insurance details, it is the law, when required to you must hand over or exchange these details, a shopping car park is just like the open road, it is a place that the public use as the same rules apply.

Edit:- remember if you prefer, and maybe with a "young" car you should, demand that this work is completed in a VW certified bodyshop using only VW parts, as the third party should be paying it is up to them to organise a loaner car while this one is being repaired.

[Gee40]

RUM4MO is pretty much spot on with the answer except the good news is that not all insurers will load your premium if you have to claim and its not your fault.

I've been a senior manager for a large motor insurer for 20 years and come across many situations like yours where the guilty party does even bother to leave their details so it would be very unusual for him to leave his details and not be insured. RUM4MO is also right in that at renewal your insurer will ask you if you have had any claims, accidents or losses regardless of blame, so you do take a chance if you don't go through your insurance and then not declare It.

Looking at the damage I'd suggest it will cost comfortably over £1000 so would be surprised if it doesn't end up going through insurance.

If you contact Direct Line they will be able to check the MID database and tell you on the call whether he is insured or not

Hope you get it sorted

[6RPotentialBuyer]

Hey guys,

I should have said in the original post but the other driver is insured. I spoke to my dad and he said that I should take the car to the bodyshop on Monday so that they can assess the damage and give me a quote. £1000 is crazy! I'm not an expert in anyway but I thought £500 max. I have sent an email to the other driver and he is happy for me to get a quote from the bodyshop if it is cheaper to repair, his excess is £200 so I'm guessing this is going to have to go through insurance. The other driver is a credible local business owner so I'm quite lucky there, as you said, a lot of people wouldn't have left their details. I'll speak to the bodyshop on Monday and take it from there. I really hope DirectLine don't penalise me for this. I'm 4 weeks away from my first years no claims and I've been driving so cautiously with my telematicsbox/blackbox. A crappy situation but I suppose these things happen and it's only an accident. Thanks for the advice

[RUM4MO]

Just one other thing, it would be handy if not essential to know the reg and model etc of the car that caused that damage, really to tie things up early on just in case you need to submit a claim to your insurer.

[Bevii3]

dont worry you'll get your no claims still, I didnt lose mine when I had a non fault accident

[PeterWestSussex]

According to an article in the motoring press in the past 6 months, even no-fault claims MAY / WILL affect your renewal premium. The reason cited was that the insurance co. when assessing you as a risk can argue that you might have parked yourself in a 'vulnerable' position.
Our up! was written off 10 weeks ago in a hit-and-run. Police have confirmed from DashCam footage my wife was not in any way at fault. LV= has been very good in handling and processing our claim; they've refunded our voluntary excess which they initially withheld (understandably) and have now confirmed no-claims discount is intact. BUT what will renewal premium be next January?

[RUM4MO]

Now that the question of "what will next year's renewal cost" has been mentioned above, not meant as an "off topic" posting, but just something to muddy the waters:- my daughter has insured her car with Hastings for maybe the past 6 or 7 years (late 2009 SEAT Ibiza 1.4 16V 86PS SC) and has been happy enough with the premiums being charged year on year, she has never made a claim or been involved with any road traffic offences, last year's premium cost £273 - this years proposed renewal premium £478, so not being a mug, she did some research on what was on offer elsewhere, then phoned up Hastings, she asked if the renewal premium was correct and if they could either justify it or offer her a better price, their answer was "£497 seems a fair price and I have run checks and that is what it is!" so they could not even get their mailed out to her quoted price right! So she just requested that the cover was not renewed as she would take her business elsewhere - which they seemed quite happy with. So, beware, it does seem that some players in the car insurance industry are being very unclear as to what your next year's premium might be even when nothing has changed on your side of the deal!

[alexperkins]

I agree with the above. Even so much as a phonecall to enquire about an insurance claim, next year, your premium will increase

Insurance is such a lucrative and dirty game.

[jammydodger]

Hey guys,

I should have said in the original post but the other driver is insured. I spoke to my dad and he said that I should take the car to the bodyshop on Monday so that they can assess the damage and give me a quote. £1000 is crazy! I'm not an expert in anyway but I thought £500 max. I have sent an email to the other driver and he is happy for me to get a quote from the bodyshop if it is cheaper to repair, his excess is £200 so I'm guessing this is going to have to go through insurance. The other driver is a credible local business owner so I'm quite lucky there, as you said, a lot of people wouldn't have left their details. I'll speak to the bodyshop on Monday and take it from there. I really hope DirectLine don't penalise me for this. I'm 4 weeks away from my first years no claims and I've been driving so cautiously with my telematicsbox/blackbox. A crappy situation but I suppose these things happen and it's only an accident. Thanks for the advice

I've got very similar damage on my car, its currently in the Inchcape VW bodyshop and they are charging £450 incl. VAT to pull the dent and spray the whole rear quarter and blend into door as it's Silver...

[RUM4MO]

Either your damage is less, or that must be the bargain of the year, and especially so when it is a VW main dealer that is doing the work!

I had a few marks along one panel and door on my 2011 S4, and that cost almost £1800 when done at a VW body shop that held Audi approval - Audi wanted over £2500 to do the same job!

[jammydodger]

Either your damage is less, or that must be the bargain of the year, and especially so when it is a VW main dealer that is doing the work!

I had a few marks along one panel and door on my 2011 S4, and that cost almost £1800 when done at a VW body shop that held Audi approval - Audi wanted over £2500 to do the same job!

My damage is just on the bottom crease, you’ve made me slightly happier with that RUM4MO. I was cringing at £450! It’s Inchcape in Audenshaw if anyone wants cheap work doing!

[6RPotentialBuyer]

Just a quick update, I've been quoted £930 for the repair and it is now being processed through the insurance company.