Long story short this guy swerved into my lane and subsequently me as I was coming out into the lane from parked (car in the lane was waiting for me to come out as I was indicating)
So this is my first car accident I’ve been in and I was slightly panicked, didn’t really know what to do and only got the guys name and number (I know that was a mistake now). Called him up and he said he would get his registration and insurance details to me later since they were his brothers and he was at work. Called him up again the next day and he started denying it and said he’s never been to where he hit me. Then said if he’s not willing to give me his insurance details etc we would have to go to the police to sort it out and potentially get some cctv from nearby, he started getting defensive and aggressive and pretty much said he had been to the area and whatnot.
So what can I do? Get the police involved? My cars badly damaged (most likely a write off) and I can’t claim this without his details and I can’t afford to pay for the damage, it’s also illegal to drive it. Any help appreciated
22 comments
Report it to the police.
So call the police and your insurer.
You mean the crasher was overtaking the stationary car, and pulled back in to the left hand lane and didn’t clock you, causing him to crash into you?
Or was he oncoming traffic?
You should have called the police there and then, and your insurance company shortly afterward. I’d suggest you do both now, 101 for the police and then your insurance company.
For now report to the police and your insurer. Give the guys details, name etc and take it from there.
Going forward, get a Dashcam which will make all of this a hell of a lot easier – it’s an investment worth every penny.
Get your phone out, record everything – take photos of your car, their car, different angles of each and the location so it can accurately be determined later down the line if someone starts telling porkies.
20/20 hindsight is always perfect, but for now it’s a shocking and scary experience to go through for the first time and honestly, you’ve got his name and number: that’s enough for Police/Insurers to do the heavy lifting from now, but if you can do the above in future, it’ll be open/shut and nigh impossible to contest.
You have to report any collision to the police within 24 hours. If they drove off without giving their insurance details, and now withholds them, that is also an offence. Just make the police report and contact your insurer.
Next time, take a picture of the scene, including their number plate. If they are aggressive, note the number plate and leave. You can report online to the police website, and tell them you left because of fear to your safety.
If possible, try to gather as much evidence as you can from the scene of the accident. This could include taking photos of the damage, the location, any skid marks, and the position of the vehicles. This evidence can help establish what happened.
As long as you have their real details, pass them on to the Police and explain the situation.
You go to your insurance. You give them his name and number. They deal with it.
Its probably a bit late now for this particular incident, but in a future a dash cam will help in situations like this.
Report it to the police, report it to your insurer, try to recall the vehicle details, registration number of the vehicle if you can. Take photos of the scene of the accident, take photos of the damage to your car. If the guy has given you accurate details give these to the police, get a crime reference number, and then let your insurers argue it out.
He’s just trying it on, good luck OP.
As you don’t have a reg, you’ll probably end up at a lose end.
The UK police are next to useless and even if you handed them a signed confession they would still fail to do their job.
You’ll likely have to mark this one up to a learning curve and make sure you get all the right details. I’d also suggest getting a front and rear facing dash cam, quite cheap and gives you a huge amount of protection.
Did you take any photos of damage to his car and of his registration? Unless he was missing his plates I don’t see how you don’t have his reg plate. I always take photos of the damage to the other person’s vehicle first, you can photograph your own later on.
One of the conditions of your insurance is to inform them of accidents immediately. You need to do that if you are convinced this was the other party’s fault. I’m assuming you have third party insurance only, which is why you won’t get anything.
The question is, who was actually at fault? Insurers will determine that, but they need details of the other car.
This is where the police come in. The name and number is all you have and this person is denying it ever happened. But what if the police do nothing?
That’s where a Private Investigator comes in. They will find the Twitter, Facebook accounts and others based on the info you have, and possibly photos of the car and its reg. but it will cost you. And you may end up deemed at fault anyway.
You can do the sleuthing yourself with some research into how
Call your insurer and make a claim. This will result in your insurer contacting the other drivers insurance (if he’s insured) and they will then contact their driver for his version of events. However I hate to break it to you but without independent evidence, if you claim it will likely go down as a split as there’s no way to prove who swerved in to who’s lane (assuming the other driver doesn’t admit fault). Meaning youl need to pay 50% of your excess and it will be logged as a fault claim on both drivers policies.
I work in motor insurance and I just bored myself typing that but thought it could be useful. Good luck
Call your insurance; if you have his name number and reg they’ll be able to find him, contact his insurers and they will get it out of him and you can proceed with a claim regardless. Unfortunately if he is denying or saying something else happened, unless there are witnesses or video evidence of it happening it’s basically your word against his and you won’t be able to claim off his policy; the liability will have to be split unless there’s evidence.
If your car is a write off, if you claim they will give you the cost of the car minus your excess iirc. I believe the remaining cost of your policy also deducted from the payout.
E.g car value = 5k, excess = 250 and 500 left to pay on the policy, you get 4250. If the guy admits liability you will be able to claim back your excess, how much depends on how liability is decided. This will also be true for any costs and out of pocket expenses you are liable as a result of the incident, e.g if you had to get a taxi home. So make sure you keep any proof of things like that! Lost earnings can also be claimed if applicable.
If the vehicle isnt a write off it’s much simpler; get it repaired either via an approved garage or one of your own choice. If you’re able to get him to admit liability his insurance covers it, no excess paid, or, what seems more likely, is that you will pay your excess and he will try to deny what happened, so some or all will be recovered at a later date, depending on the liability decision.
There’s also a risk he doesn’t have insurance and that’s why he’s acting this way. Unfortunately that makes things a ballache for you and your insurance company, you’d have to go through the MIB for compensation. They will talk you through that if it comes to it.
I used to work in car insurance; i may be misremembering some of it but broadly speaking those are your options. You can call the police, it’s unlikely they can do much if he does have insurance but they may pressure him into not being a dick.
It could be a case of he’s trying to just make this difficult for you – either way he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. Call your insurance and its up to you whether or not to call the police
You need to write out your exact count of events immediately and hold on to it, call the Police, and the Insurance company. You can call the council for the CCTV footage.
If you pass on his details quickly he won’t have the car repaired. So the Police will be able to confirm and get the details and confirm the car data.
You need to explain to the police the whole story and as you don’t have the registration he is now claiming he was never there, they will have to act faster as we know what U.K. Police are like.
If in future anything like this happens, you take pictures of your car, their car, the site of the incident and even a picture of the driver of the other vehicle as well as their contact details.
Good Luck – if you need any further assistance let me know.
Report to the police and your insurance. And if this ever happens again, tell both straight away!
Report the claim to your insurer, give them all the details you have, you will most likely have to fill in a form or two and it might take longer than a regular claim with all the details already established but it will get done for sure
Always remember to take pictures of an accident no matter how minor it seems
contact the police, reads like he borrowed his brothers car and might not be insured and has just realised the implications, be honest with the police and admit you messed up getting the details.
do tell insurance company, and hope you are fully comp and not just third party
Also, bit of a long shot, but seems to be increasingly common… Depending on the road, it’s not impossible
that someone has cctv or a ring doorbell which *might* have caught something.
But police and Council CCTV (I think the police will do part 2 as you surely can’t have random members of public asking for cctv, I can’t imagine what that might turn into and the spiralling time costs for not especially good reason some folks might ask for footage). I’m sure the police will give the best guidance on the matter…
What an arse he is…
Your insurer should be in charge with this. They’ll tell you if they need a police report and or whether it’s worth pursuing. If they decide not, that would be them paying for the damage (minus any excess).