Wing mirror of van is now hanging off. Note through my door with a reg and description of vehicle that did it. Witnesses mobile number on note.

Have text them to ask if they are happy for me to pass details to police.

Anyone know what’s likely to happen? Don’t imagine police doing loads about this some how. Any way to recover costs through civil means. Realise insurance could do something but likely to lead to increased premiums…

Same thing happened to someone in our village, chap got done for leaving the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident and driving without due care and attention. I think he ended up with more than six points and a decent fine.

Realise insurance could do something but likely to lead to increased premiums…

You will be contractually obliged to report it to your insurer. It will probably cause your premiums to go up – this is recoverable from the third party as a loss. Statistically, someone who has suffered loss/damage is more likely to claim in the future (regardless of whether or not the initial incident led to a claim).

If you don’t report it and get found out then you could end up with your insurance being cancelled which is nasty. Unlikely for minor damage and a first ‘offence’, but still possible.

If the witness is prepared to make a statement the police might be interested, it would also help with any insurance claim.
Another angle, how much would it cost you to repair it yourself ?
If it was an older van and S/H parts were available I’d fix it myself. I’ve had bad experience with insurance claims that aren’t my fault. Somehow you allways end up getting shafted 😥

You will be contractually obliged to report it to your insurer. It will probably cause your premiums to go up – this is recoverable from the third party as a loss. Statistically, someone who has suffered loss/damage is more likely to claim in the future (regardless of whether or not the initial incident led to a claim).

If you don’t report it and get found out then you could end up with your insurance being cancelled which is nasty. Unlikely for minor damage and a first ‘offence’, but still possible.

Do you work for an insurance company? Load of toss.

We’ve claimed against our protectedno claims policy and on renewal the premium has gone down

I’d fix it myself

This. Life’s too short. Especially for a wing mirror. I keep a couple as spares they get knocked off so often. I see it as inevitable really: if you leave your possessions out on the street they’re gonna get bashed about a bit. Especially if – unlike most people: you actually park on the road rather than the pavement.

Police would investigate it. Leaving the scene of an accident is considered serious. 5-10 points or discretionary ban. It also carries up to 6 months in prison. One of the reasons being the suspicion that you may have been drink driving which is why you didn’t stop It is a defence to say I didn’t know I’d been in an accident. Of course he may just admit it and pay up.

My solution, depending on the van and the mirror would be to get yourself on eBay or to a scrap yard and repair it.

I was accused of doing the same a few years ago.
Witnesses say my van had knocked off the wing mirror of a car in a small town in Wales.
I received a NIP which included

leaving the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident and driving without due care and attention.

I could honestly not remember the collision, but I was in the place on the day and time that witnesses said I was. I fought my corner, got a report from a garage to say that my van didn’t look like it had been involved in a collision and it FINALLY went away after a couple of months – the police dropped the case.

So, some police do take it seriously and will follow it up, even if the incident happened in west Wales, and you live in northern Scotland 😐

Thanks for the replies.

It’s an 03 plate but has electric mirrors so not super cheap to replace. Agree that it would be easier to just sort it myself. But actually it dismays me that a person can knowingly damage property and just carry on. So I reported it via 101. Was taken seriously.

If people choose to act like dicks then I will go after them. May be a hassle but he (I presume!) can have the points and can give me the money to fix the damage. May take a while but that’s fine.

Irritating as van is always on the drive. Only on the road as we are having building work done and there was scaffolding up today.

I keep a couple as spares they get knocked off so often.

Really? Where the hell do you live?

whats that based on fourbanger?

Report it to insurers as “notification only” and that you don’t want them to take any further action and pursue via Police and witness, Police should at least be able to give you the third party insurers from the registration plate, if not i will if you email me.

I posted on here a few months ago about someone dinging my car in a tesco car park. A witness stopped me as I returned to the car and I asked a question on here about reporting. I did and the police did follow up, went to visit him at home which gave him a fright. ‘Reminded’ of his repsonsibility to stop (witness said he had got out, had a cursory look and buggered off).

Driver agreed to settle it direct but wanted to view damage. He then denied everything again – said he hit another part of the car. I let it go in the end but regret that as he was just a fibbing old git. AT least he had to squirm a little with the police turning up at his door!

Don’t phone the police. Don’t phone your insurer.

My car was parked outside my office. I get a phone call from reception saying I have a visitor. go down and there’s a man who tells me someone just reversed into my front wing and caved it in. He has the registration number, description of the car (colour and body style) and a description of the driver.

I phone the police, they visit me, they trace the driver via the reg number, they go and visit him.

They come back to me and tell me the information from the witness all checks out and the car in question has damage plus red paint marks which match my car, but the driver denies everything.

the police claim that despite all the information the witness had, because he did not get the make and model of the car, there’s nothing they can do.

Waste
of
time

DaveyBoyWonder – Member
I keep a couple as spares they get knocked off so often.
Really? Where the hell do you live?

I live on a wide road in a city. It’s a bit like the primary position/cycling in the gutter thing: If people park on the road and not on the pavement like dicks then the traffic has to come through one way at a time. As it is, we’ve got two lanes squeezing through at 30mph.

Last time it happened I was actually looking out of an upstairs window looking out for the postie at the time 🙂 Heard a bang, car never even slowed, then saw my wing mirror sitting in the middle of the road… only to get squashed by a van two minutes later.

+1 for repairing it and not telling police or insurers.

It’ll be a lot less hassle, and probably end up being cheaper too.

If it’s expensive it might be worth getting a dashcam with parking protection so you’ve got video evidence next time?

Tell the police and get them to do some work.

Fix it as if you were paying yourself.

Ask the person nicely if they will pay the costs. Worth a try – if they don’t, you are too out of pocket.