Car hit while parked

leonidas83

hey guys,

arrived back to my car down by a shopping centre today to find a note left on the bonnet by another driver saying he/she had seen another car hit my car and then drive off, they left the registration details of the car that hit me but thats it.

After checking the car I notice my front light on the lhs is really loose and about to fall out. Anyone have any recommendations on what to do next?

I'm debating whether to check his/her details out online and give them a call, call my insurance company and give them the details or call the gards

Any help is appreciated

swhyte027

Call the guards first they will trace the owners name and address with the reg and take it from there.then id give the reg to ur insurance company.

dan hibiki

guards. no question. if they didnt have the decency to wait for you or leave a note themselves they deserve it. any cameras that might have caught it?

leonidas83

dan hibiki wrote: »

guards. no question. if they didnt have the decency to wait for you or leave a note themselves they deserve it. any cameras that might have caught it?

there's cameras not too far away from it so i could try and check those, but I dont think there pointing in the right direction. The only thing is my tax is out by a month and I planned on renewing it at the beginning of January, will this make a difference if I contact the gards

barura

leonidas83 wrote: »

there's cameras not too far away from it so i could try and check those, but I dont think there pointing in the right direction. The only thing is my tax is out by a month and I planned on renewing it at the beginning of January, will this make a difference if I contact the gards

Not if you pay the arrears, which is what you are going to do, I hope!

zenno

I'd call the gardai and do that person straight away. you were lucky. the same thing happened me not too long ago and no one left a note or anything and i had a large bill to pay for the damage. one day I will catch a person drive off after something like this and i'll do them for everything they have.

give the reg number to the cops and let them sort it out fast. fair play to the other driver for taking the reg number and leaving it on your car, it just shows you there are good decent sound people out there.

leonidas83

Was just speaking to my insurance company there and they informed me that there is no point calling the gards unless someone has been injured as they will do feck all about it.

He reckons I should contact his insurance company of which we know now and see if the CCTV picked up anything also.

The chances aint great though but apparently if we can get CCTV of that car even coming into the park, it improves my chances immensely of getting somewhere

Cicero

leonidas83 wrote: »

Was just speaking to my insurance company there and they informed me that there is no point calling the gards unless someone has been injured as they will do feck all about it.

I would still let the guards know...there could be any number of reasons why that person left the scene of an accident..

tayto lover

leonidas83 wrote: »

Was just speaking to my insurance company there and they informed me that there is no point calling the gards unless someone has been injured as they will do feck all about it.

He reckons I should contact his insurance company of which we know now and see if the CCTV picked up anything also.

The chances aint great though but apparently if we can get CCTV of that car even coming into the park, it improves my chances immensely of getting somewhere

I don't think your insurance company was correct to tell you that as it was the same as a hit and run imo. The garda should take action but what happens if the other driver denies it and there is no damage to his car? Hard to prove i'd say.

Drummerboy08

The Gardai would have to act on a report like this IMO, surely the other driver could be charged with leaving the scene of an accident?

mathepac

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

... surely the other driver could be charged with leaving the scene of an accident?

The difficulty seems to establishing that there was an accident involving the other driver in the first place.

OP did your witness leave his/her details on the piece of paper? If not and the suspect driver denies all knowledge of the accident, your snookered.

alexlyons

caught a guy who took the wing mirror of my OH's car on our road, chased the car down the road where he left it in a library car park. called the guards, mentioned i was related to a lad in a near by station who they knew.
they had the tow truck there in 15 min and pulled it at right angles out of the space, low and behold he turned up.
guard charged him for the tow and a nights impound as he didn't have to let it go, as well as him having to pay for the new wing mirror. got the mirror completely redone by main dealer, including replacement car etc, lad got properly stung with what he deserved.

always get details for others and do what ever you can to do people fleeing a scene

fatbhoy

alexlyons wrote: »

caught a guy who took the wing mirror of my OH's car on our road, chased the car down the road where he left it in a library car park. called the guards, mentioned i was related to a lad in a near by station who they knew.
they had the tow truck there in 15 min and pulled it at right angles out of the space, low and behold he turned up.
guard charged him for the tow and a nights impound as he didn't have to let it go, as well as him having to pay for the new wing mirror. got the mirror completely redone by main dealer, including replacement car etc, lad got properly stung with what he deserved.

always get details for others and do what ever you can to do people fleeing a scene

Isn't it a shame that people have to, or feel they have to, do this in order to get others to do their job [properly], or to get a favourable result.

greendom

fatbhoy wrote: »

Isn't it a shame that people have to, or feel they have to, do this in order to get others to do their job [properly], or to get a favourable result.

Sums up an awful lot about what is wrong with Ireland atm

alexlyons

fatbhoy wrote: »

Isn't it a shame that people have to, or feel they have to, do this in order to get others to do their job [properly], or to get a favourable result.

ye it is a shame the guards don't react the way they should unless you give them a good reason. this should be the reaction to any "hit and run" as they call it.

leonidas83

mathepac wrote: »

The difficulty seems to establishing that there was an accident involving the other driver in the first place.

OP did your witness leave his/her details on the piece of paper? If not and the suspect driver denies all knowledge of the accident, your snookered.

No he/she didnt, I know its a long shot but I have to try anyways, Ive nothing to lose by contacting his insurance company, putting the ****s up him and maybe settling it privately.

Ive no doubt he will be surprised to be even getting a call since the ****er probably thinks he has got away with it

tayto lover

fatbhoy wrote: »

Isn't it a shame that people have to, or feel they have to, do this in order to get others to do their job [properly], or to get a favourable result.

A bit of jumping to conclusions here. How do you know for certain that this is the reason they acted. I would like to think they would have done the same thing anyway. 99% of the times i asked for their assistance when i ran a business which was fairly isolated i got a great response. Only had to have words with one in over 35 years.

greendom

tayto lover wrote: »

A bit of jumping to conclusions here. How do you know for certain that this is the reason they acted. I would like to think they would have done the same thing anyway. 99% of the times i asked for their assistance when i ran a business which was fairly isolated i got a great response. Only had to have words with one in over 35 years.

The key thing is though that the poster thought it might help

alexlyons

no I didn't. It was more a point to note in the story. I felt it necessary for people to know that if they have had loads of similar encounters and not had such a response then this could be the reason.

I should have included the fact that a full minute into the conversation with the station they didn't seem to interested until I told them about my relative and then they came at it all guns blazing

tayto lover

Well I always got a good response but then again i am not from Dublin and live in a border area. I can't say anything bad about the garda around here in fairness.

alexlyons

ye i have nothing bad either, they were pleasant and were happy to deal with it and would be down to look at the damage and get the photos I had taken of the other car. their response just changed when i mention him. very pleasant bunch

mickdw

alexlyons wrote: »

ye i have nothing bad either, they were pleasant and were happy to deal with it and would be down to look at the damage and get the photos I had taken of the other car. their response just changed when i mention him. very pleasant bunch

Surely its a job for gardai. Firstly they can trace the owner, perhaps find damage on the car too that might be consist ant with the damage on the ops car

Bigcheeze

Do call the guards. They'll call around to the owner and ask them to produce insurance and license.

Marcusm

There should also be a question of whether it's criminal damage which is a serious non motoring specific offence. If the person who caused the damage acted wilfully or through recklessness, this would be the case. In such circumstances as these, the OP can not lose out by not calling the Gardai.

leonidas83

Have just been speaking to his insurance company there and they told me he's from and is living in mainland UK, that its unlikely that he would be over here because he has a really foreign sounding name so its unlikely he's Irish. Their going to send him a letter about the incident and in the meantime Im going to try and get some CCTV, it sounds like its my only possible hope now

Marcusm

leonidas83 wrote: »

Have just been speaking to his insurance company there and they told me he's from and is living in mainland UK, that its unlikely that he would be over here because he has a really foreign sounding name so its unlikely he's Irish. Their going to send him a letter about the incident and in the meantime Im going to try and get some CCTV, it sounds like its my only possible hope now

Was the reg plate UK or what? This wasn't mentioned in your original post.

bizguy

Even knowing a guard doesnt always help. Me ma's car got a slap in Tesco, fella saw it, said it was a blue Mitsubishi jeep and took the reg...what could go wrong?!

Me ma went to the guards, who then took their time going to the jeep owners house a month later (as it wasn't priority). Even with the jeep (matching the description) outside, the woman owner denied hitting the car and asked for proof.

The witness then got spooked and said for health reasons, he didnt want to get involved in a court appearance so me ma was 800 notes out of pocket. :mad:

leonidas83

Marcusm wrote: »

Was the reg plate UK or what? This wasn't mentioned in your original post.

Dont be getting smart with me bucko do ya hear and its a UK reg car but there's plenty of them in the republic

TestTransmission

leonidas83 wrote: »

Dont be getting smart with me bucko do ya hear

Relax will ya, it was a civil question

Marcusm

leonidas83 wrote: »

Dont be getting smart with me bucko do ya hear and its a UK reg car but there's plenty of them in the republic

Not only a civil question but a relevant one. If it's a UK reg you may have more luck obtaining the address of the registered keeper. I'm perfectly aware that there are plenty of UK reg'd cars in Ireland; in act my own regularly spend a fortnight or more there. It is relevant to how this would be taken forward. It also makes it significantly more complex unless the person is in Ireland regularly.

It is still best to report it to the Gardai and make a formal complaint as they will be required to register it and if the owner comes to their attention in future, this will be of benefit to you.

I do not know how the insurance company has provided information to you as to whether the owner was or was not in Ireland as they would not usually have this information and if they did have it, they would be precluded from providing it to you.

ABajaninCork

Mine was hit whilst parked. Managed to catch the guy who did it (a Swiss national). Called the Gards who to be fair, were there sharpish.

Whole thing was easily dealt with. Got the TP's details together with the names & nos. of the Gards who dealt, and I was on my way.

veryhappy1

fair play to that person for leaving the note!