Hit And Run

[Danny zetec]

So I was the victim of a hit and run the other day but managed to get the guys reg number rang the police who told me to go to my local station to make a statement but noone was available at the time so I was told they would contact me with a date to go back anyway just a few questions if I ring my insurance and explain what happened and ask.the to claim my damages off he's insurance will I lose my no claims bonus? Plus how long do the police usually take to sort something like this out as my mot is due Thursday and some of the damaged parts are failures. Iv got a funny feeling I will have to pay to put my car right for mot

[FOCA]

I can't really comment because its not my area of expertise but you have my sympathies and hope you het it sorted

[jeebowhite]

I can comment from recent experience...

Police will try to get back to you as soon as they can, but given their budget cuts, you could be looking at a couple of weeks. Pop to your station once again and ask them for a Road Traffic Accident Report form. You can complete this in the station yourself, or you may be asked to go through it with one of the support officers.

Thios would then be sent to the local traffic collisions investigation unit, who will then deem if further action needs to be taken. You certainly should contact your insurer and advise them of a "notification only" claim at this time whilst the police are completing their investigations. Provide them the number plate and the police reference number for your query and advise that you will be in touch as soon as they have completed their report.

With regards the accident, ALL accidents that you need to claim from your insurer WILL affect your no claims bonus (unless you manage to do what I did, play them at their own game, and get them to allow no excess payable on repair and NCB unaffected!). As such, until such a time as the police investigation is complete you will be looking at a failure to get your insurance payouts returned.

As for the vehicle, what is it you believe will affect the MOT? its true that if it is an MOT factor it will fail the MOT, the point is though that you do not need to have the MOT there and then, you can have the vehicle "recovered" (or some may let you drive away) and you have a period of I believe 14 days to have the vehicle repaired and returned for retest (often free). In the event that you get your insurance company to take the car away and get it repaired, you can also contact the repair centre and arrange with them an MOT test post repair, so that you get the car back with an MOT and ready to go.

Until such a time as the police have contacted you, completed their initial queries, identified and questioned the driver and charged him with failing to stop at or report an accident, your insurance company will foot the bill. If the driver is then charged (and certainly found guilty thereof) the insurance company will then be provided the drivers details by the police, and they can attempt to complete in essence a compulsary reimbursement from his insurance provider. If he is found guilty, there is extremely little chance his insurance could wiggle out of paying by liability, however I will warn you, you are in for a LONG wait. It took around 6 weeks for my claim to go through and that was with all the details of the other driver, you have no more than a registration plate and this will cause I would say another 2 - 3 weeks delay at best.

Get your car into a garage ASAP and ask them to do a pre MOT test. It will cost you around £30, but will tell you exactly where the failure points are. If its a simple fix, or you need a new panel or something small, you can go to a scrappy, pick one up dirt cheap, replace the panel, take the vehicle for MOT, get it approved and then replace the panel with the crash damage for the insurance to sort out. I would however advise you speak to them about this situation. Some insurers may deem that your actions in doing this are a closure of the claim as you are repairing the vehicle yourself, however, others may fully agree that this is purely in the interest of keeping your car on the road.

I would say personally, given the unique nature of your situation - KEEP THE CAR OFF THE ROAD! do not drive it once the MOT date is due, I know its a pain in the backside but dont do it.

The best thing you can do, is contact your insurance company and ask if they use a company called "Albany Assistance". They are a completely independant company of the insurance companues, they offer a free loan car (I say free, you pay an initial few quid (fuel surpluss charge, and if you want the excess protection like I did) I paid about £60 all in all, didnt need to return the car with fuel (the surpluss charge means that if you only use it for a few miles, you get say 1/4 a tank to use, any more than that you pay for what you use) and if you have the excess protection, if the car is scratched by some dumb folk who cant drive, walk, cycle etc, you dont have to pay a £300 excess (*well worth it as some twonk knocked the car I was given and scratched the front nearside bumper).

Alternatively if they do not use albany assistance, they may well use another company but if you are not liable for the accident and you are entirely the victim (as your case suggests) you can be given this car to use. The only catch is this: they will only give you the car for the time that your car is booked in for repairs. they will contact your insurer, validate the date and time the car is off the road for (again, if you cannot pass an MOT for this, the insurance company may allow you to use this as the date from the loan period), then they will offer you the car for the period that your insurance and the garage estimate the vehicle in for work. If the repair job overruns this period, you can contact albany assistance, advise of the delay and they will clarify with your insurer and extend the loan agreement without hassle.

I can highly recommend albany assistance, they were nothing short of excellent with me when I needed them, better still, I put all costs assosciated with the hire vehicle (the £60 or whatever it was) onto my insurance claim expenditure and I should recieve it back by the time the claim closes.

[Philf1]

The rub here might be that he is uninsured which is why he drove off. If so depending on the extent of the damage you might be best just biting the bullet and paying yourself. If you claim off insurance it will affect your no claims and even if he is insured and they accept liability and pay up on your renewal you will get higher quotes.

Hope it all works out in the end for you keep us posted on developments.

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC mobile app

[Stoney871]

I was clobbered by a motorbike while parked outside my house and work totalled £1500.

My insurance premiums did not increase at all and due to protected no claims and legal insurance I kept my no claims entitlement and also recouped my excess costs too.

I had to pay the garage the excess fee on collection but was then reimbursed by my insurance company a few days later.

[Danny zetec]

I was thinking of just paying myself as the damage is only a few scratches down the drivers side and a wing mirror but for obvious reasons I don't want the guy who hit me to think it's Ok for him to drive round crashing into people do a runner and nothing come of it so one way of another I want the guy to pay for what hes done. Cheers for all the advice

If I do go threw hes insurance do I have to pay my excess?

[jeebowhite]

Basically insurers work on a principle of "if you want it fixed, you need to pay" so you lose your NCB and you pay your excess. They fix the car and return it to you.

Then the insurers fight between themselves who is liable. If the other party is liable, then you are refunded your NCB and your excess.

If you protect both though, you can still get it repaired without costing either.

[salsheikh]

check on askmid to see if he/she has insurance - just enter the reg no!

[jeebowhite]

yeah, but I must advise - it is illegal to check someone elses number plate! there is a section on there where you can pay to check someone elses plate and its not illegal, however, if you were to "accidentally" misread the notice that says it is your car (and you happen to misread it as not your car" then it is a terrible misunderstanding and accident and couldnt possibly be helped. ;)

[Danny zetec]

Used the site you suggested to find out the guy ain't insured so looks like it's coming out of my pocket

[jeebowhite]

If the police catch him, I believe that you will be able to claim compensation for the damage from the MIB?

Hopefully the police catch up with him, but sadly you likely are alone now.

[Danny zetec]

My guesses are the cars been sold or scraped and he's now driving round in something else also uninsured until it happens again but like you say hopefully they do find him and make him pay for the damage but I doubt they will

[AJRTDDI]

depends on your insurence.

i can claim 3 times in a year and still keep my protected no claims bonus

[Danny zetec]

That's the thing my no claims ain't protected

[Stoney871]

Ouch.

[jeebowhite]

Its always worth the extra £30 if you get offered it - take the protection. Of course, this is a hindsight comment where everything always looks so much better.

Good luck with it, and dont just consider the insurer as the only means to replace, depending on your excess and the value of the repairs, I would consider getting the parts and fixing it yourself or with a garage to keep the costs and impact down. As long as your insurer is aware of the accident, if the police do catch up you have two options:

1) Claim the full repair through the insurer if they protect you

2) submit a cost of repair for all parts and labour done outside of the insurance claim and ask the insurer to recoup it for you. This isnt guaranteed to work, but the offchance you can get your money back is an avenue always worth exploring.