Tiny car bump, other driver trying it on, advice needed.

Hi,
Basically my situation is as follows. Whilst queueing at a set of traffic lights I leant over to look for something in the footwell of the passanger side of the car, and without realising it took enough pressure off the brake for my car to roll, very slowly, about a meter into the car in front.As you can imagine, there was literally no damage to either car. The driver of the other car was initially quite angry considering the scale of the event, but soon seemed to calm down, but was still rushing. We exchanged details, and he said that he’d have to show it to his boss as it was a company car (Prius taxi). I had bad feelings about this, but he was rushing everything and I didn’t get photos of the car (although I did have a passenger witness).

So this evening, two days after the event, I get a voice mail from the other driver saying that the bumper will need replaceing as it’s structurally damaged (my arse), and he’ll ring the police if I don’t ring him back. Basically he’s trying it on and wants a load of free cash. So my question is, where do I stand in all this? He’s obviously going to ask for me to give him a lot of money tomorrow, but what if I just refuse to pay? What can/will the police do about it if they get involved?

Thanks in advance!

Find out who he works for and give them the money?

Tell him you want to do it through the insurance, he might not like that because he might not have told his boss anything.

Police wont get involved if you say you want to do it through insurance co.

Report it to the police, then at least you are covered and it’s recorded.

Ask for an assessment of the damage and take it from there, probably best to get on to your insurance company and make them aware of what has happened. However it’s not the best look for you, guilty as charged for any damage really.

You are probably best informing your insurance and hopefully you clicked the legal protection box.

Then I would pre-empt him and contact the police yourself and tell them your concerns. They probably won’t do anything but it get it on record anyway.

Tell him it’s going through insurance and see what he says.

Seems as it’s a company car, what the chuff has it to do with him? Call his bluff and ask him to speak to his employer, once you’ve contacted your insurance and the police as stated.

If accident did happen it has to be reported to police within 24 hours.

There could be slightly different procedures if it was company car but still the same 24 hour rule applies. Now, driver has nothing to do with insurance as thats company matters.

In OP case, it was minicab … now here its completely different story. Driver hires car, pays insurance, hire coverage etc etc … most probably his contract written in such a way that should any damage happen he would have to pay excess. If he manages to prove it wasnt his fault, then company will claim excess from liable party and refund that driver afterwards.

Seems a bit fishy for himself to milk money, he clearly didnt sort out priorities right.

Oh, and for damage thing … someone scratched my then car front bumper, it didnt look that bad at all, just a wipe accross. Person who did it, tried to shake it off so i took him to local garage for a quote. It turned out it would cost £300+ just to repaint bumper. Lucky me had Cctv of him. He paid instantly £200 to avoid insurance hassle.

So i say, OP you will pay out anyway … its your choice, insurance or your own pocket.

If accident did happen it has to be reported to police within 24 hours.

No it doesn’t – not if there’s no injury.

Very true, but looking at what he is asking/threatening reporting to the police will close down that avenue and keep you above board. Make sure you stay in the right and have everything lined up your side.

If accident did happen it has to be reported to police within 24 hours.

No it doesn’t. If both drivers stop and exchange details there is no requirement to report it to the police. Even if there is injuries it still isn’t a requirement to report as long as insurance details are also supllied.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/consumer_cars_and_other_vehicles_e/consumer_driving_and_parking_e/consumer_driving_e/traffic_accidents.htm#what_must_a_driver_do

Whilst queueing at a set of traffic lights I leant over to look for something in the footwell of the passanger side of the car, and without realising it took enough pressure off the brake for my car to roll, very slowly, about a meter into the car in front.

Was your handbrake broken?

Couldn’t your passenger have reached into their own footwell?

It turned out it would cost £300+ just to repaint bumper.

He he. Body shop owner had obviously just booked an expensive holiday that needed paying for !!

Erm – that’s what the handbrake is for…

So this evening, two days after the event, I get a voice mail from the other driver saying that the bumper will need replacing as it’s structurally damaged (my arse),

Unfortunately, it may well be structurally damaged. We were on the receiving end of a similar incident about 10 years ago. The bumper was marked, but nothing serious. When we took it to get the bumper sprayed, the chap had a quick look and asked if we were aware the bumper had been deformed on the inside – probably during an impact.

It turns out that it was structurally damaged. It was explained to me that it’s like a motorcycle helmet. It does its job once then needs replacing.

A witness ‘in your car’ is not a valid witness in such cases.

Does he has a witness? You say he was rushing, so presumably he didn’t ask anyone roadside or in the cars around to see if they saw what happened and would be willing to be a witness in the case.

Unless you have a huge sense of guilt and wish to be financially raped, tell him to jog on!!!

If he wants to go insurance route then he still has to prove the damage was caused by you unless you are willing to accept blame. Proving it was you without a credible witness is a hard game, been there done that and it doesn’t matter.
Deny deny deny….or contact the Minicab company and get your own assessment of the damage done at a third party garage.

As a side note, modern day cars rarely rely on the outer skin of a bumper to be the actual protection. There is usually a decent size bit of steel behind them that will take the force, the bumper is just cosmetic and made of easily deformed/marked plastic/abs/etc

* adds reaching into the footwell to the list of euphemisms

Tell him to jog on. He can claim through his insurance or piss off out if it. Simples.

Report it to your insurance company, hopefully you have protected no claims discount.

FWIW This is why old sods like me out the handbrake on. My kids (in their 20’s) always ask why I do it.

Report it to insurance co and let them deal with it, thankfully a child or adult wasnt crossing in font of you when you rolled forward, quite a few people have been killed or seriously injured by trhis antic of not using the handbrake and leaving car in gear.

Your insurance will go up as soon as you make a claim no matter what

He’s right you know

Tell your insurance what happened, or pay what he wants.

Don’t deny it, that’s a rubbish thing to do!

Tell him you’ve already contacted police + insurance, whether you have or not, and see if the amount he’s after suddenly drops. If it does, you may take the decision that it’s easier to bung him £100 to go away, rather than have this on your insurance record (because it will stay on there whether you make a claim or not). If he does settle for cash, get him to sign something agreeing this is full and final settlement.
If the amount doesn’t drop, contact plod + insurance then, and let them sort it out.
Your passenger could be used as a witness if it went to court (which it almost certainly won’t).

bumper design depends on the car, some are a thin plastic shell with a good few inches gap to a sacrificial steel beam, others are filled with foam to absorb the impact. if its the latter a small bump could conceivably require a new bumper.

At the end of the day you are at fault so you can either…

• Pay an agreed amount of cash (but he may come back for more).
• Or go through your insurance (which is what I would do).

It turned out it would cost £300+ just to repaint bumper. Lucky me had Cctv of him. He paid instantly £200 to avoid insurance hassle.

Eh? Is this meant to be a satisfactory outcome?

OP – it was a Prius. Should have hit it harder – 1/10 for effort but to have done so whilst “reaching in the passengers ‘footwell'” gets you a couple of extra style points so 3/10.

Just to reiterate what has been written above, it is nothing to do with the police. Don’t waste your time or their’s by trying to report it to them.

Best thing to do is hand it over to the insurance companies to sort out. Unfortunately you did roll into him so if following this course of action you will have to admit liability. At least the insurance companies should get the damage assessed fairly and matey boy won’t be pocketing cash.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I rang him yesterday and he was very keen for me to give him money in cash for his “mate” to fix the bumper, as he insisted it would be cheaper. I told him that I’ve told my insurance firm about the accident and insisted I wasn’t interested in the slightest in his mate fixing it. Eventually he gave up and said he’d get his firm to contact me. So I’m hoping it’ll all blow over, touch wood. He said that some clips on the side of the bumper had snapped so it was coming off at the side, which simply wasn’t the case when we looked at it.

To be honest, as a taxi driver (they are in insurance terms, scum of the earth) he will probably

Develop whiplash. He will almost certainly have claimed before from some dodgy solicitors, who will invoice for physio that didnt take place and provide a medical report which i can tell you confidently will support the claim.

If the damage isn’t enough to make it undrivablem his bodyshop will reverse it into a wall, and then call their preferred “independent engineer” who will deem it unroadworthy, as “fume ingress” from the boot/hatch could occur, despite it looking pristine.

He will then hire a car, from £130 a day, on a “credit basis” from some dodgy hire company you never heard of, thus avoiding daily wear and tear and earning his professional friends a nice payday, while thay appoint the said engineer, who faff about, send it to your insurers, who waste time and money investigating an unprovable fraud.

Eventually this will settle for about £5k hire, £2k storage and recovery (from another firm you never heard of) as it was clearly undrivable when the engineer inspected it, £2k repairs, £3k injury £1k solicitors costs, £300 medical report fee, £500 physio, and whatever else they cam imagine – like diminution of the vehicle value. about £16k is my guess, if the driver doesnt invent a phantom passenger or indeed several passengers.

You exchanged details !!!!.let the insurance company sort it