Advice on fender-bender

tech77

Hi.
Some clown backed into me while I was parked outside a McDonalds last night.

No major damage done as far as I could see but i'm sure he probably loosened the back bumper and scraped the paintwork.

I got his name, number, car reg, insurance details etc and he admitted full liability (obviously).

But since nobody was injured I didn't actually call the Gardai so there's no official record of it happening.

Also there were no real witnesses to it (a couple of drunken skangers were in the vicinity at the time who MAY have seen it but I didn't want to draw them into it and make things worse TBH).

So if I get any damage repaired and want to make a claim against this guy but he changes his story do I have a leg to stand on without garda input and witnesses.

As I say I think it's fairly minor damage but it could still cost me 50-100 quid.

Any advice appreciated.

DonalN

I'd ring your insurance first thing and let them know what happened (just to have it on record)
I'd then get a quote for any repairs needs. Ring yer man that hit ya and if he's willing to pay up without involving insurance, fair play. If he's acting the gimp about it, I'd call his insurance company and let them know the story.

Did you take any pictures of the damage? Pics with his car against yours etc??

oleras

tech77 wrote: »

Hi.
Some clown backed into me while I was parked outside a McDonalds last night.

No major damage done as far as I could see but i'm sure he probably loosened the back bumper and scraped the paintwork.

I got his name, number, car reg, insurance details etc and he admitted full liability (obviously).

But since nobody was injured I didn't actually call the Gardai so there's no official record of it happening.

Also there were no real witnesses to it (a couple of drunken skangers were in the vicinity at the time who MAY have seen it but I didn't want to draw them into it and make things worse TBH).

So if I get any damage repaired and want to make a claim against this guy but he changes his story do I have a leg to stand on without garda input and witnesses.

As I say I think it's fairly minor damage but it could still cost me 50-100 quid.

Any advice appreciated.

Best of luck OP ! Without the Gardai, no record and your word against his.

Something like this happened me last year in Australia on holidays, i was parked and stationary and some guy "attempted" to pull into the space in front of me, took off my driver side wing and busted his rear passanger door, he gave me his name and address and i called the hire company to let them know, 2 hours later his insurance company called me and asked for a statement on how "I" drove into him as he was pulling into the space....Since it was a hire car i told them where to shove it, but shows that sometimes people are dishonest ! (Lost the excess of $200Au)

Moral: Allways call the cops.

tech77

DonalN wrote: »

I'd ring your insurance first thing and let them know what happened (just to have it on record) I'd then get a quote for any repairs needs. Ring yer man that hit ya and if he's willing to pay up without involving insurance, fair play. If he's acting the gimp about it, I'd call his insurance company and let them know the story. Did you take any pictures of the damage? Pics with his car against yours etc??

Thanks.
I didn't take pictures of his car against mine because, get this, the guy immediately pulled off a bit after hitting me and
looked like he was ready to leave the scene when I had to call him back..

Oddly enough though he did mutter something about giving me money there and then for the damage but TBH i'm not in the habit of taking money off strangers late at night- just didn't feel right.
And anyway i'd no idea what the damage (if anything) might cost yet.

So I refused and said i'd prefer to do it the proper way.. ie getting estimate etc

Yeah i'll get back to him as soon as I get an estimate for it.

Don't really want to involve MY insurance at all TBH though (even though I was in no way liable).. why would I have to do that?

Wouldn't it be either him or his insurance i'd be dealing with, no?

tech77

oleras wrote: »

Best of luck OP ! Without the Gardai, no record and your word against his. Something like this happened me last year in Australia on holidays, i was parked and stationary and some guy "attempted" to pull into the space in front of me, took off my driver side wing and busted his rear passanger door, he gave me his name and address and i called the hire company to let them know, 2 hours later his insurance company called me and asked for a statement on how "I" drove into him as he was pulling into the space....Since it was a hire car i told them where to shove it, but shows that sometimes people are dishonest ! (Lost the excess of $200Au) Moral: Allways call the cops.

Always thought cops should only be called in case of injury but TBH you're probably right.
I'll do it in future.

mikemac

tech77 wrote: »

Always thought cops should only be called in case of injury but TBH you're probably right.
I'll do it in future.

In theory, they are supposed to attend any accident, but that's not going to happen as they'd never get any other work done.
Just call into the local station and make a statement, it'll only take 5 minutes.

But in a serious accident and if someone is injured then no question, get the gardai to attend the scence

oleras

tech77 wrote: »

Don't really want to involve MY insurance at all TBH though (even though I was in no way liable).. why would I have to do that?

Wouldn't it be either him or his insurance i'd be dealing with, no?

You should advise your insurance for my reasons above, in case he decides to say it was your fault. Just by advising, which is also a clause in your policy you are not doing anything wrong.