Advice about a hit and run

[OilSheikh]

Fellas, someone hit my car while reversing and left without leaving a note or anything. I was not in the car at the time.

What sort of damage can happen to the front bumper from this impact?

https://streamable.com/s87j8w

[boristhebold]

Best bet is to go to a local body shop and ask them to look at it for you. There could be cracks or small dents that are not immediately visible, the impact looks quite minor so the crash bar behind the bumper should not be damaged. You have excellent video evidence and whilst the offender has committed the offence of failing to stop after a collision ( not providing his name/address) I doubt the police will be interested. If there is damage then contact your insurers provide them with the video evidence etc and they will the rest. You can also check yourself at the Motor Insurers Bureau but there is a fee .  Public Access (mib.org.uk)

 

[OilSheikh]

1 hour ago, boristhebold said:

has committed the offence of failing to stop after a collision ( not providing his name/address) I doubt the police will be interested. If there is damage then contact your insurers provide them with the video evidence etc and they will the rest. You can also check yourself at the Motor Insurers Bureau but there is a f

Cheers.

[Jimpster]

Blatantly obvious he hit you, you have the reg and a vid of him getting out to look at the damage so was fully aware of what he did, take it to the police. If they dont press charges they may still have a word for failure to stop after an accident. You will need a crime number for any insurance claim.

 

[TomsFocus]

Unlikely to be any noticeable damage from such a small bump. 

If there's no visible damage, front parking sensors & front radar still work (if fitted), then I don't see any point taking it further.  This sort of thing happens all the time, people just never knew before dashcams.

[OilSheikh]

I have had a closer look and there is a bit of damage. The front grill ihas taken a hit and it is not noticeable in the photo but that bit actually goes back when pushed.

I am not sure if this will expand as I drive. Is this worth going through insurance?

 

[Jimpster]

entirely up to you do you have a protected NCB ?

[TomsFocus]

Even with protected NCB it's not worth the excess cost.  Grills cost about £20 on eBay.  Worth making sure the AC still works though as there's a small chance it could have nicked the condenser.

[OilSheikh]

18 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

entirely up to you do you have a protected NCB ?

I do.

[alanfp]

Remember that if you claim, even if you keep your NCDiscount, you will lose one 'life'. Also, your premium at renewal may go up. Sorry, but that's the way it works - in the insurer's eyes you have a habit parking your car in places where it's statistically more likely to get hit.

 

[alanfp]

If that driver overstays in a shopping centre car park, the car park operators can legally obtain the keeper's details from DVLA, so maybe YOU can in this instance, perhaps, I don't know under what circumstances that works.  I think it costs £5. 

[boristhebold]

If you want to make a claim I would suggest obtaining the insurance details from the MIB ( if the fee is reasonable ) then contact the insurance company directly by phone or email , tell them you have you have video evidence of the incident / damage caused and that you wish to make a claim. This will not impact on your insurance as it is a no fault hit whilst parked incident and you are not making a claim on your insurance. You can if you wish notify your insurance company of the incident but STRESS you are not making a claim on your policy,  that you are telling them for information only and that you are dealing direct with the third party insurers.

Alternatively if you don't want the hassle then either leave the damage as it is or obtain a part from eBay and fix it yourself as already mentioned by Tom

 

[OilSheikh]

I decided to take Tom's advice and do nowt about it. I will try dabbing some superglue. Otherwise, I will just put it down as a battle scar.

[RMurphy195]

As someone elsew said, get it at least looked at by a friendly garage unless you can see behind the bumper yourself - there isn't always a crash bar behind bumpers on modern cars and, sometimes, there could be something unexpcted that caould cause an issue. For eg I had an Astra a while back, this had quite a gap between the front grill and the rad BUT - behind the badge on the front grill was the air temperature sensor which was just a few mm from the rad in an otherwise open space! So I relocated it further down out of harms way just in case! Always a good idea to check these things (opps, I havene't looked yet on my Focus ...)

 

[OilSheikh]

On 7/19/2022 at 8:20 PM, RMurphy195 said:

As someone elsew said, get it at least looked at by a friendly garage unless you can see behind the bumper yourself - there isn't always a crash bar behind bumpers on modern cars and, sometimes, there could be something unexpcted that caould cause an issue. For eg I had an Astra a while back, this had quite a gap between the front grill and the rad BUT - behind the badge on the front grill was the air temperature sensor which was just a few mm from the rad in an otherwise open space! So I relocated it further down out of harms way just in case! Always a good idea to check these things (opps, I havene't looked yet on my Focus ...)

 

I have taken it to a garage yesterday. They had a look and everything looks alright.

[Fenester]

On 6/29/2022 at 7:43 AM, boristhebold said:

If you want to make a claim I would suggest obtaining the insurance details from the MIB ( if the fee is reasonable ) then contact the insurance company directly by phone or email , tell them you have you have video evidence of the incident / damage caused and that you wish to make a claim. This will not impact on your insurance as it is a no fault hit whilst parked incident and you are not making a claim on your insurance. You can if you wish notify your insurance company of the incident but STRESS you are not making a claim on your policy,  that you are telling them for information only and that you are dealing direct with the third party insurers.

Alternatively if you don't want the hassle then either leave the damage as it is or obtain a part from Ebay and fix it yourself as already mentioned by Tom

 

The only trouble with sort of thing is that even if you just inform the insurer it will stay on the record for three years minimum and affect risk assessment and premiums. If the damage is small, then as much as it is infuriating, it is simply not worth it. Harsh I know, but pragmatic,