I'm Stuffed, any advice?

[pugsport]

Back in April some w**ker ran into the back of me and drove off! I got his reg and informed police and notified my insurance, I told the insurance for the time being not to process a claim as in the long term I may be better off paying the £600 repair bill myself when taking into account my excess and loss of no claims and that I will await the out come of the insurance decision. The "dead man walking" (other party) is still denying any involvement! The police as yet have not interviewed him (2 months on, they have other priorities!), there where no witnesses and the insurance are still bickering,
in the mean time I have just had my renewal come through and because of the pending claim the cost has shot up by £130!!
even though at the moment I am deemed "non-fault", if I pay my increased premium and then the decision goes my way and my 15yr no claims is re-instated I will not be refunded the extra premium, the legal cover I have will not yet get involved as I am not yet out of pocket, they will only help out to claim uninsured losses! Worse still I have had 2 quotes locally, both said that the insurance might write off the car, where is the reasoning? my insurance company when I queried this said yes that might happen, if their engineer deemed it so! Where is the logic, with all the modifications I have an agreed value of £5500, compare that to a £600 repair bill. There is one way I can prove my case, the other car lost some paint, I have it on my rear bumper, I have already spoke to the police, they will not go to such lengths to get the paint on my bumper matched to his car I am however free to employee a forensics guy to do this on my behalf, I would also have to employee a solicitor who would need to obtain a court order for the forensic guy to take a sample of paint from the offending car, the upside is when it is proved there is a match I can claim all my costs back, and sue his f*cking arse .......
What a load of bollocks this is turning out to be! In my opinion I am a victim of a crime, why the hell should I have to do the job that the police should be doing, its not about the money or the hassle I have been put through, it's the principle...
why should offenders be allowed to "get away with it"!!! Especially when there is evidence available that would prove his guilt!

[steve_earwig]

I'm not really sure, you could take legal advice, I know that costs but maybe worth it. Try the CAB first, if you can find someone with a brain...

Did your insurance know about the modifications? It could be a problem if you didn't.

I wonder if the walking dead actually had any insurance, there's a link on the DVLA's website to check for registration.

You need to find a more sympathetic engineer, one who'll agree with you on the value of your car - I did this on an Ashtray, it wasn't much of a car but had done very little mileage and was immaculate, they still wrote it off but I got much more cash for it.

[V6Exec]

Speak to the CAB, get the solicitor's workshop dates, get a letter to the police from a solicitor and involve your MP.

What was the slogan, tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime!

[Gizmo]

Back in April some w**ker ran into the back of me and drove off! I got his reg and informed police and notified my insurance, I told the insurance for the time being not to process a claim as in the long term I may be better off paying the £600 repair bill myself when taking into account my excess and loss of no claims and that I will await the out come of the insurance decision. The "dead man walking" (other party) is still denying any involvement! The police as yet have not interviewed him (2 months on, they have other priorities!), there where no witnesses and the insurance are still bickering,
in the mean time I have just had my renewal come through and because of the pending claim the cost has shot up by £130!!
even though at the moment I am deemed "non-fault", if I pay my increased premium and then the decision goes my way and my 15yr no claims is re-instated I will not be refunded the extra premium, the legal cover I have will not yet get involved as I am not yet out of pocket, they will only help out to claim uninsured losses! Worse still I have had 2 quotes locally, both said that the insurance might write off the car, where is the reasoning? my insurance company when I queried this said yes that might happen, if their engineer deemed it so! Where is the logic, with all the modifications I have an agreed value of £5500, compare that to a £600 repair bill. There is one way I can prove my case, the other car lost some paint, I have it on my rear bumper, I have already spoke to the police, they will not go to such lengths to get the paint on my bumper matched to his car I am however free to employee a forensics guy to do this on my behalf, I would also have to employee a solicitor who would need to obtain a court order for the forensic guy to take a sample of paint from the offending car, the upside is when it is proved there is a match I can claim all my costs back, and sue his f*cking arse .......
What a load of bollocks this is turning out to be! In my opinion I am a victim of a crime, why the hell should I have to do the job that the police should be doing, its not about the money or the hassle I have been put through, it's the principle...
why should offenders be allowed to "get away with it"!!! Especially when there is evidence available that would prove his guilt!

I am sorry for what you have gone through, but I feel this warrants a complaint to the IPCC. Not only has the guy left the scene of an accident, it has also shortened the odds of any conviction. The police must bring the case to the CPS within 6 months of the offence, if I am correct, and the neglect of duty they seem to be showing will leave you out of pocket, and more importantly, will be a failure to enforce the law.

If I was you, I would ask for the telephone number of the IPCC or a means of contacting the IPCC when you next contact them. It will be in their best interests to co-operate with you. If they fail to do so then ask to speak to an Inspector and lodge a complaint. Complaints don't go done well with the figures at the Home Office and you will soon find a member of HM's constabulary bending over backwards to help you sooner than you may think.


Neglect of Duty = Biggest complaints.

[V6Exec]

Not much faith in the IPCC personally but your mileage may vary http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/

[pugsport]

I am well and truly shafted, by the time the cops got round to looking at the other guys car, there was no damage...no surprise there. They still refused to match the paint sample he left on my bumper...too costly!!! well f*ck me, if they did the test they would have found a match and could have claimed the cost back off the w**ker! Sods law, during my pending claim my premium went up on renewal. BITCH!
After doing the maths I canceled my claim and gonna get the repairs done at my own cost, cheaper in the long run for me.

I ain't one for holding a grudge but will make an exception on this occasion...little sh*t!!!

[teamster1975]

Really sorry to hear that pugsport
The little sh1t needs a lesson

[mjb]

I am well and truly shafted, by the time the cops got round to looking at the other guys car, there was no damage

Find him and put the damage back, preferably with him in the car at the time

[Welly]

Find him and put the damage back, preferably with him in the car at the time

You know what, you could bet that if any of us decent folk threw a wobbly and carried that out then the whole thing would happen to be witnessed by 2 Police, 2 Doctors and a Solicitor! we'd be dragged through the courts and made an example of and procecuted for all sorts

[DaiRees]

Find him and put the damage back, preferably with him in the car at the time

You know what, you could bet that if any of us decent folk threw a wobbly and carried that out then the whole thing would happen to be witnessed by 2 Police, 2 Doctors and a Solicitor! we'd be dragged through the courts and made an example of and procecuted for all sorts

Agreed, that's why you pay some local scroat to do it

[bangernom1cs]

HI ,
Many years ago I had a similar problem when a bread van side-swiped me.
The further problem was that I was on my way to my insurance brokers to insure a high performance car and it didnt go down to well when I turned up for two things! Hmmm this looks good they said.
Anyway, the plonker who hit me denied all knowledge and it dragged on & on & on.........
Spoke to a lawyer and they recommended the small claims court as the value of claim was below the then limit.
Guess what? Even if they dont turn up to deny/defend...the court finds for you and then the bailiffs eventually get involved.
I believe this sevice can be done online if you want to defend youself.
It WORKED for me.
Mant people are caught out this way by insurance companies who say Ohhh! No no no no , as there isn't a profit in the claim.
Cheaper for them to pay you out, make YOU claim then get it back from you and me over the next few years of no claims losses.

For the future in case of accidents,

1. Call the police anyway.. they have a legal duty to attend if you or anyone 'feels' injured..if u catch my drift.
Then get yourself checked out at A&E. Just to be sure as its another avenue to recover cash.
2. Try and get some pix of the scene, and them, on these new fangled mobile phones which do every thing in case they do one or try to injury claim for 6 people and their granny in the boot which is one of the deliberate accident scams.
3. If you do get as much info as poss and get nowhere then get the scroats involved!
4. Dont forget the system will play you as you are the honest party. Fight back and use it for yourself.

[Longintooth]

Hi
Nothing to do with car claims but if I were in your position I would swallow hard and just get it repaired without insurance claim. Don't even think about suing or involving solicitors - it will get protracted and lengthy. As far as the police are concerned think about this - we were were working on site when a couple of traveller kids came down the drive and when we were not looking lifted a stilh saw worth £500 and made off with us in pursuit. We had CCTV excellent images of the whole event and followed them to where they were camped. Called the police whilst they were unloading their many items from their days work. The police said categorically that they would not come out for such a theft and that they would need at least 5 officers if they did of which they did not have. They gave me a crime number and suggested I go home and claim on my insurance.

[Doggy]

It's worth looking into Steve's suggestion & see if the guy is insured. If he isn't it could well work in your favour. My daughter had a minor accident with an uninsured driver and (eventually) got a settlement via a compensation scheme all car insurers pay into, to cover claims against uninsured drivers. It took a couple of years, but she received about £2k for write off of aged Fiesta, (worth about £500), minor injuries, inconvenience, stress etc. Her premiums were adversely affected until settlement.
It surprised me - I thought she was wasting her time & risking higher insurance costs for no gain, (third party only cover), but I was wrong.
The point to consider here is that if he's uninsured, he's automatically in the wrong, you've got the moral high ground, so use it!
If your interested in trying this approach let me know & I'll get more details for you.

Hate to see them get away with it

Eric

[turbolag]

Matey, thats a bad situation. Still, much as I can understand your ire, there's nothing the police can do with no witnesses (and presumably no other corroboration, such as CCTV etc?). They're coppers, not magicians. And even if they had some evidence, in a non injury RTA the police don't apportion blame - that's still for the insurers to bicker over, and if the guy denies it the thing could drag on for years, irrespective of who's at fault, so in terms of getting some recompense for your loss you'd still be where you are today.

They won't do SOCO call outs for anything other than burglary or (somtimes, where there is a fair chance of evidence being retrieved) autocrime - these get atention because they are government priority targets. Other than that SOCO'll only do stuff like serious assaults and murders etc.

the reason? Depending on the work done, much of which has to be sent to the Forensic science service in Brum, can cost from £2000 to £10,000, and the farces would be bancrupt pretty quick if they didn't draw the line somewhere. Alas, because of the cost considerations, the line gets drawn higher than most would like.

Just out of interest, how do you 'know' this guy is the culprit?