What are my options?

Ohoopee

I grew up in America and learned to drive there, a place where if someone hits your car, it does not effect the price of your insurance because you were not at fault but I'm still not exactly sure how things work here.



Last month, I bought myself my dream car, a very nice, almost new Lexus. 48 hours after buying it, a eastern european (polish fella) according to eye witnesses, was letting his son push the shopping trolley, his son pushed it right into the side of my car, slighly denting the rear fender. He then grabbed his kid, threw him in the car and drove away. All this according to witnesses.


Then two days later, I live near a GAA Pitch and there were having a match so I had to park abut a five minute walk from my house...when I went back to collect my car, someone had clipped it,chipping some paint off of the same rear fender...I was able to fix this with touchup paint.


Then this afternoon, I come out of my house to go to work this morning and someone else has hit my car again...this time it is pretty bad. I still don't understand how this idiot did it...he clipped my car above the rear fender, scratching it and rubbing his gray paint on it for almost the whole length of the panel before coming to the passenger door...he did no damage at all to the rear or front doors other than slightly scratching the rear door handle. He then somehow missed my side wing mirror which I Had in but still sticks out a good three inches from teh car....he then managed to clip the front of the car, just above the front fender. It is bizaar and I refuse to believe they didn't notice they had hit someone. Is there anyway I can get my insurance to pay for this without losing my no claims discount?

mikeecho

do what I do.
park like an add hole down the back of the car park, and take up two spaces.

now... be prepared to get some passive aggressive notes left under your windshield wiper.

but, don't worry, you can recycle these notes.
what i do is, I keep these notes and attach them to various cars that are parked completely legally and considerately.

Ohoopee

LOL...I am just about getting to that point...people just don't give a ****.

Ohoopee

It wouldn't be a big deal if I could just get my insurance company to fix it..like in America...this wasn't my fault, the car wasn't even moving and I wasn't even in it so in America, the insurance would pay for it and the cost of my insurance wouldn't go up...because I wasn't at fault...but I have been told it doesn't work that way here...I have been told if I even mention that this happened to my insurance company, I could lose my no claims discount and then I wouldn't be able to afford to drive the car anyway.

mikeecho

Ohoopee wrote: »

LOL...I am just about getting to that point...people just don't give a ****.

ppl don't give a sh it.
if you shop in the same supermarket, you'll soon learn what cars are always there.. park next you them, it's probably staff.

those cars won't be moving anytime soon.

In a multi story.. go to the second from the top floor, or level 2a, 3a etc
the top floor will be staff., and every other lazy driver will be looking for space on level 1, they won't want 1a or 2a etc, cos this will include extra walking.

that higher level will have less traffic.
park the furthest point from the elevator.

drunkmonkey

You can insure your no claims bonus for little money wait for something to happen again and find a sympathetic paint shop.

Ohoopee

mikeecho wrote: »

ppl don't give a sh it.
if you shop in the same supermarket, you'll soon learn what cars are always there.. park next you them, it's probably staff.

those cars won't be moving anytime soon.

In a multi story.. go to the second from the top floor, or level 2a, 3a etc
the top floor will be staff., and every other lazy driver will be looking for space on level 1, they won't want 1a or 2a etc, cos this will include extra walking.

that higher level will have less traffic.
park the furthest point from the elevator.

I am sorry to say that this happened at home, with the car parke don the street right inf ront of my house...my house doens't have drive way or a car park area....so not much I can do about that...you better believe I am going to keep my eye out for a vehicle with damage that looks like they might have done this.

kyote00

Check your insurance policy, you may have no claims bonus protection, if so happy days....otherwise try carcraft.ie for a quote..... I used them recently and found them to be excellent.

PS>> No claims bonus protection is also a very weird concept - its really insurance for your insurance -> that is unique to the Irish insurers.....

Ohoopee wrote: »

It wouldn't be a big deal if I could just get my insurance company to fix it..like in America...this wasn't my fault, the car wasn't even moving and I wasn't even in it so in America, the insurance would pay for it and the cost of my insurance wouldn't go up...because I wasn't at fault...but I have been told it doesn't work that way here...I have been told if I even mention that this happened to my insurance company, I could lose my no claims discount and then I wouldn't be able to afford to drive the car anyway.

josip

Can only empathise OP.
20 years ago in Sweden I came back to my brand new Irish car to find £600 of damage to the bumper and wing. No note.
The Swedes explained that because the insurance there is the same as you describe it the driver didn't see the need to leave a note.

Roll on 3 months and back in Dublin, I returned to the car one night to find someone had managed to do £1,800 of damage to the front of it.
A 'helpful' local bloke said he saw the guy who did it and said he'd left a note on the windscreen.
There was no note there now but 'helpful' bloke said he'd been 'minding' it.
So I gave him £10 for his 'troubles'.
The guy who left the note was an American who'd gotten his gears mixed up.
Although he came from your insurance system, he still had the decency to leave his details.

US Bloke 1
Swedish Cnut 0
'Helpful' Irish Bollix 0

Eggs For Dinner

3 incidents, 3 claims, 3 policy excesses to pay. Many people get caught for fraud trying to get a garage to put them on the one invoice

Ohoopee

Turns out, my neighbor saw it happen, it was a boy on a bicycle. He was caring something, the neighbor recons pitch and put clubs and lost control of his bike, fell on my car. The grey color you see is rubber from his handlebars...luckily it wipes right off. The scratch though is a different matter. I am going to hit it was some scratch remover tomorrow and see how it goes....if it doesn't go well, the boys' parents will be paying for it whether they like it or not.

josip

Ohoopee wrote: »

Turns out, my neighbor saw it happen, it was a boy on a bicycle. He was caring something, the neighbor recons pitch and put clubs and lost control of his bike, fell on my car. The grey color you see is rubber from his handlebars...luckily it wipes right off. The scratch though is a different matter. I am going to hit it was some scratch remover tomorrow and see how it goes....if it doesn't go well, the boys' parents will be paying for it whether they like it or not.

As long as you broach the subject politely and cautiously I'd be surprised if they wouldn't pay.
If you land on the doorstep saying he hit the car and they have to pay, they'll probably go defensive straight away and will become entrenched.
Explain that your car got damaged, someone saw it happening and the description fitted their son.
Would they mind having a chat with their son to get his side and find out what happened and let you know?

Ohoopee

You won't believe this, but someone else hit my car yesterday. They were trying to parallel park behind me and hit their trailer hitch against my rear bumper, made a big circular dent. I didn't notice it at first. I went outside and saw that the guy parked right on top of me. He was parked so close that I had a bag that I was trying to put into my boot..>I could get my boot open but I was having to try to put my bag inside from the side of the car. It was a most dark...I checked the car briefly and didn't see any damage but again it was hard to see because of the light and the fact that he was parked so close. So I drove to visit a friend of mine, which is where I was heading anyway...when I got there I gave the car a good investigation and that is when I saw the big circular dent on the underside of my rear bumper. I rang the guards straight away told them what happened and asked if they had any CCTV cameras on the street that might show exactly what happened. I was told they did not so I left it at that. The guy is a neighbor of mine. I didn't know him but I had seen him talking to another group of people across the street a lot... I saw they were at home today so I stopped to ask about the guy. Turns out, these people were his parents...they were nice and relatively courteous to me although they wouldn't tell me much...just that I had to talk to their son. No sooner had I left their door, both the mother and father got in their car and drove away...were gone about an hour before coming back. At some point, while they were gone, they rang their son and told him about me. When I noticed that the car was now there...I went knocking on doors until I found them...the guy got defensive straight away. He admitting to parking very close to me but said his wife watched him park (yeah right), and that it wasn't him and then suggested that maybe I had backed into him. My car has a reverse camera and parking assist so if you come close to another car, it beeps... no way I would have done that without knowing. My parking assist started beeping as soon as I started my car...that is how close he was. He then informed me that I should be parking inf front of his house anyway, that he had a baby and I should show a little respect. I informed him that in fact, it was a public street that I was parked on and therefore I could park anywhere I wanted...he then starts going on about how he guaranteed that he was still going to park right there where he was every day. LOL...I told him I didn't care where he parked that this had nothing to do with any of that. At no point did I yell or even raise my voice to him. He never threatened me but his posture and the way he would say things made it clear he was ready to fight....so I just said. "Look, you said you didn't do it but I have to protect myself...I have to file a report with the guards". This just enraged him even more...told me to go ahead and ring the guards...so I did. I took down his reg number and gave that to the guards. I told the guards that I am sure nothing will come out of this because he was claiming his wife saw him park and she was going to back him up...I also told the guards that his parents lived directed across the street from him...so they would probably take his side as well...I have no witnesses other than my car being damaged...but I told the guards that I wanted this report on file just in case there was any retaliation, such as my car suddenly end up being key. The guards asked if I was willing to submit my vehicle for analysis...I told him yes...no problem...he was going to ask the guy if he would submit his vehicle for analysis....he is supposed to let me know Wend.

At this point, I don't think I am going to get my car repaired...I have had that car less than two months and this is the fourth time some dip sh-it has hit it...twice in the last week. There is no need to get it repaired until I can find a new place to live, one with more secure parking. I have a feeling nothing good is going to come from me going to the guards....I did it to protect myself, like I said so that I have the insident on file, but I have a feeling now that these idiots are going to take it personal....I probably haven't heard the last of this.

Henry Ford III

I wouldn't bother playing the lotto this week OP.

Ohoopee

Henry Ford III wrote: »

I wouldn't bother playing the lotto this week OP.

LOL, I know. The way it is going for me right now, I could probably buy a lottery ticket and end up owing the Government money. I love this car but if someone would offer me 1000 less than I paid for it today, I would sell it and use the money to buy some cheap POS car, that way I wouldn't care if someone damaged it...one like your man was driving.