Car reversed into on driveway: What to do ?

[mashedpot8er]

Hi there. As the title suggests a commercial vehicle reversed into my 40 year old Beemer on the driveway. Its buckled and ripped off the front wheel arch metal trim, scuffed / gouged a football sized area of the front wing and put a head sized dent into the wing about an inch deep. The car is on SORN and not insured, but is on a private driveway.

I won't go into details of the vehicle that did the damage, but a neighbour of mine saw it happen and has given me a good description of the company that owns the vehicle, colour type, time etc so proving what happened and finding the driver responsible shouldn't be an issue.

So really I'm wondering what's my best course of action and was hoping that someone might have some words of wisdom. I haven't contacted the company that owns the vehicle yet as I'm unsure what to do and potential legal potholes etc.

Any help or ideas that anyone has got will be very greatfully received. Cheers.

[bazzateer]

Assuming the other vehicle was on a road (or part of a road) at the time of the accident you should report it to police as a fail to stop accident. The neighbour will need to give a witness statement. No different to when a lorry backs into your garden wall. They caused the damage, they pay.

[VIP]

If it's the other party's fault then it matters not that your vehicle is not insured, as you will be dealing with their insurance directly.

As mentioned above, it matters not what they have hit, be it a car, wall, cat or wife, the thing which has been hit is not required to have an insurance policy on it.

[1eighteen]

What they said above. But I really wouldn't waste too much time contacting the company and seeing what their reaction is (i.e. Do it asap). If they don't want to know, then advise them you'll be contacting the police, for the reasons already mentioned.

[optimusprime]

Report it asap.
If its a 'large' vehicle,the driver may not even realised he'd hit anything. ( trust me i know,i've done it)

Get your neighbour to write down what he saw,also as soon as possible,
Even if you film him writing it so you get a proof of time of writing,to avoid any possible 'arguments' that he could have forgotten
details leaving it a while before commiting it to paper.

[Deleted]

I'd also say the driver might not even be aware he did it. Trucks are clunky old things, when taking up drive or letting off , you get clunks etc fron driveshaft etc. Hitting something much smaller than the
truck would easily make a noise that could be mistaken for that.

[optimusprime]

Mar 28, 2016 21:36:11 GMT @daaaaaan said:

I'd also say the driver might not even be aware he did it. Trucks are clunky old things, when taking up drive or letting off , you get clunks etc fron driveshaft etc. Hitting something much smaller than the
truck would easily make a noise that could be mistaken for that.

Not to mention the reverse bleeper ..... I switch mine off if going into tight areas .... If i start to hear something not right i stop,get out have a look........

[mikeymk]

I hit a customer's Frontera, with the rear bumpe bar my 14ft 7.5T fridge truck in the late 90s whilst turning, and had no idea. I wanted to deny it when they told me but the markings lined up perfectly. Floating cab, see - couldn't feel the chassis.

My boss dealt with those things, presumably it was through the insurance but i don't know.

[jonsey]

A lorry knocked my fence over last year whilst delivering to me. I didn't even notice until later. The company is still paying out through their insurance though.of it's a big firm the lorry will have a tracker on it so if the police are informed it could be checked.

[gazzab1978]

call the company straight away, give them all the details of what your neigbour saw and ask them for their insurance details, don't let them fob you off just stand firm, it happened to me with a tesco delivery driver and i got them to pay out even without a witness just hold your ground and report them to the police if they arnt very helpful.

[mashedpot8er]

Brilliant. Thanks for taking the time to give me some advice. Just what I was hoping for.

The vehicle was a minibus type van from a small local company, so I've given them a call and given details etc. The boss is going to give me a ring tomorrow when the message gets passed onto him, so I'll see what he thinks about it. It's good to know that the beemer not being insured shouldn't effect things moving forward.

Thanks again for the ideas, suggestions and help.

[bazzateer]

Mar 28, 2016 21:03:34 GMT VIP said:

If it's the other party's fault then it matters not that your vehicle is not insured, as you will be dealing with their insurance directly.

As mentioned above, it matters not what they have hit, be it a car, wall, cat or wife, the thing which has been hit is not required to have an insurance policy on it.

Actually, you don't have to report it if you hit a cat (just sheep, horse, ass, goat, cattle, mule (yes really), pig and dog are the animals you have to report hitting).

[quasimoto]

Must be mad driveway day today
Just on my drive about 07.30 am looking at my vehicle and take literally one step onto footpath as some old lady in a vw polo should have stopped to give way to another car but panicked and ran off the road straight over the path.
Close call that one
She just grinned and drove off.

[VIP]

Mar 29, 2016 19:50:23 GMT bazzateer said:

Mar 28, 2016 21:03:34 GMT VIP said:

If it's the other party's fault then it matters not that your vehicle is not insured, as you will be dealing with their insurance directly.

As mentioned above, it matters not what they have hit, be it a car, wall, cat or wife, the thing which has been hit is not required to have an insurance policy on it.

Actually, you don't have to report it if you hit a cat (just sheep, horse, ass, goat, cattle, mule (yes really), pig and dog are the animals you have to report hitting).

Um,OK - but I wasn't talking about anything to do with the obligation of reporting hitting something.

My point was, is doesn't matter what has been hit, it doesn't need to have an insurance policy on it for you to claim off the other person.

[chris y]

Good move to contact the company and chat to the boss. Just be friendly and fair about just wanting it fixed.

I saw a commercial vehicle reverse into a neighbours garage door once and told the neighbour, he called the company and the boss didn't want an insurance claim so was happy to just get it fixed at his cost so everyone was happy, I got a crate of beer for telling him too.

[docjock]

Any news OP?

[mashedpot8er]

Small update. The driver of the vehicle has admitted responsibility, has popped round to have a look and given me his details and policy stuff etc. Really nice chap, quite apologetic.

So just got to organise a time for the assesors to come round and have a look.

Thanks again for your comments and ideas.