Someone crashed into my car and left a note

TheDanJlo

Hello,

Someone crashed into the back of my car and damaged the back pretty badly. One of the neighbours witnessed what happened. He said that an elderly man hit the my car, then hit the pavement and tried to flee the scene, however the neighbour's son chased him, blocked his path and made him go back. He called gardai, however they didnt arrive within the first hour and the person who crashed into my car left. I came not too long after that and called the gardai myself, who arrived after 3 hours. There was a note left on the windshield - " call me i hit your car - phone number and reg number". The gardai officer said that they will go to the person's home and give me a call back today. The neighbour also mentioned that he did not see a insurance sticker on the person's car. This is the first time i have been in a car accident. Could someone please advise what are the advantages of settling the claim without using the insurance companies, and how to go about settling the whole situation. Thank you in advance.

Dan Jlo

costacorta

I presume it all depends on cost to fix your car ? If not a big job he might just say take it to garage and he will pay bill but he will need to know amount before he makes a decision to involve insurance company or not that is if he was insured.

If he wasn’t insured that’s a Garda matter and really all that you should be interested in is getting him to say I’ll pay the damage .

sam t smith

If his car wasn’t insured then hopefully it will be confiscated and crushed. This guys licence should probably be revoked also.

mickdw

Your neighbour did you a massive favour otherwise you were left to sort the damage yourself.

I don't see any benefit in messing with cash settlement. Get his insurance details and get it fixed in an approved workshop of your choice

Claim for car hire and if possible depreciation of your car also.

.

TheDanJlo

This is the damage, how to proceed?

Akrasia

First of all, drop over a big bottle of Red Breast whiskey to your neighbour for preventing the hit and run.

There is potentially several thousand euros of damage there

raxy

I would definitely go through insurance if this was me. He tried to run after doing it & had to be forced back, have you heard back from the guards? was his number & reg correct? I had someone damage my car not too long ago in a car park. They parked so close they couldn't get out of their car without damaging mine. I took their insurance details & waited. It was an old lady, very apologetic & offered to send someone to repair my car. Someone came out & said to fix it the whole side of the car would need to be re-sprayed. I never heard from her or the guy who called out again. Also turned out her insurance disc was out of date & she was not with them. Her phone was switched off for the next week, when I finally got through to her she denied doing any damage & accused me of staging the damage & trying to screw her. I went to the guards who did nothing, I probably should have chased them to follow up on it.

From now on if anything happens I will go through insurance every time. The other person can settle privately with your insurer & not use their insurance if they want but I'm not taking the risk anymore.

AmberGold

That’s an insurance job for certain, looks at a minimum over 5k Nobody in their right mind with insurance would pay that themselves.

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996596#Comment_118996596

Assuming the details are correct the driver took appropriate action in my view as there was no-one there so they left details which for me is not leaving the scene of the accident... that's not hit-and-run and i expect if the neighbor had approached earlier they could have called the OP...

Still i would give a bottle of Crested Ten...

sam t smith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996616#Comment_118996616

The driver was leaving the scene without leaving details. The neighbour prevented him leaving the scene….

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996629#Comment_118996629

The OP is confusing if the guy chased him why was the note left on the windscreen as i would have expected the person who chased would have requested the insurance details and kept same safely other than leaving under the wiper...

OP will likely confirm...

sam t smith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996731#Comment_118996731

Yeah, could be either.

Jequ0n

That’s some serious damage considering your car had been stationary. Definitely go via insurance and police.

mickdw

It reads clearly enough for me. Drivers was leaving scene until forced back and then left contact details and reg.

Go through his insurance only assuming you can get details. There could be little damage beyond bumper or you could have a whole pile of stuff to fix including rear suspension if the wheel got a knock.

Seth Brundle

Good call on the bottle of Redbreast for your neighbour!

If the driver was uninsured then you should claim against MIBI. Don't bother engaging with the driver given what they tried to do before your neighbour intervened.

https://www.mibi.ie/

maestroamado

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118996791#Comment_118996791

So the car had no insurance?? I think the OP needs to be confirm this... person intervenes and decides to leave driver details on note on windscreen a bit dodgy for me...

It be interesting to have clarity... For me innocent until explained...

Henry Ford III

Contact your own insurer OP. You're obliged to report any accident.

They'll handle everything.