Reversing into a parking bay I “kissed” the back of a newish Volvo estate
Drove out , parked across the road and crossed over to have a look.
Owner appears “I think you’ve hit my car” (He is okay, quiet and not an arse at all). So I give him my name and address (NOT insurance details by the way)
Then I notice that the damage (a thumb sized dent) looks much lower than my bumper level - get out tape measure , Yep! it’s about 3 inches lower and there are no other protrusions anywhere near his ‘scratch’ - and the scratch looks like its been rubbed by a car turning out of the space - not a bump. There are tons of Transits coming in and out as it’s outside a building site.
The owner sees this but still seems unconvinced saying there was nothing there before (How does he know that a Transit didn’t swipe him whilst he was away? )
Anyway he gave me his card and I left convinced he realised he’d got the wrong guy.
But…
He had originally said an “Accident Management Company” would be dealing with the claim as it was a company car.
Suppose he changes his mind and I get a letter in 2 weeks time?
I know I have 100% proof that it wasn’t my car (unless his Volvo had levitated 3 inches just before I hit him)
But apart from that has he got anything on me apart from the fact he saw me reverse and has my reg, name and address??? Surely it’s his word against mine and I have the copper bottomed proof!
Ok so when someone reversed into my Volvo (it was actually a removal man and van that I had hired) they put a small dent in the front bumper which I wanted to get fixed. Standard price to refurbish a Volvo front bumper at an approved body shop is about £300. A rear bumper might be more as they have to remove and re-calibrate the parking sensors or something. I got a quote from Volvo and the removal company dealt with Volvo directly and paid for the bumper to get fixed. It’s worth noting that they’ll refurbish an entire bumper even if it’s a small dent so not only was the small dent fixed but every other blemish on the bumper. So that’s how we dealt with it outside of insurance.
If it’s a company car several things might happen. Some policies say that you must get all defects fixed or you get in trouble when you give the car back, so he may call his lease manager and they’ll deal with it. If he’s not mandated to do this he may just live with it to avoid the hassle. If he does call it in his insurance will contact you and then you can either admit liability or not. In your case, you could ask for proof of the damage and then put the case forward that your car could not have caused that particular dent. If it goes through official channels you probably won’t have the option to get “Chipsaway” to fix which will be cheaper than a body shop. First thing to do is a bit like waiting for an NIP. See what comes in the post.
If it’s anything like our company, unless it’s a complete wipeout of the vehicle that takes it off the road … nothing will happen ,it’s not worth the paperwork .
Thanks Joby / Num Num , thats about par with what I thought…
See what comes in the post,
Contest it if they accuse me …
If they carry on explain that I intend to employ my own independent vehicle inspector and when I receive the report counter-claim against them for all costs as well as my time at £100 per hour.
(I’m that confident that the claim cannot stand because of the physical hard facts about my cars bumper an the position of the scratch…)
… and you’re right Num me old mate - is it worth their time?
Good point. May I suggest that you first start off by stating that the damage caused is inconsistent with the measurements you took, else they may argue that you are stringing out the situation purely to make money out of it. Then, if they decide to to elongate matters, you can simply say that you had pointed this out in the first instant.
Consider that you may have to prove that you currently do charge that rate to your clients or are worth that rate in your professional field.
I do charge my time out to companies/organisations at up to £150 per hour, and have proof of that with previous invoices, receipts, emails and my current “Rate of Fees” that is available to all my clients. I do offer discounts of 20% for contracts that are agreed if the payment is in advance and fully paid of 20%. However I only charge £50 per hour to existing members for private lessons. Regardless, I’ve recently been compensated for two private lessons that I’ve had to cancel directly due to the accident management company arranging times for a courtesy to replace my one when it was being taken away for repair, and then not keeping to their schedule. If you want further information on this, PM me with you telno and the best times to call you.
Funny enough years back almost the same thing happened to me (albeit I did not touch the car), basically guy accused me of hitting his car BUT the paint was the wrong shade on his car and I did the same measured it all up a proved to him unless my car had risen about 4" without me noticing it was almost impossible for it to be my car.
Never heard from him, and I think should he pursue something you probably would have heard by now.
My Missis “kissed” a neighbours car when reversing, knocked and let them know so they could check and nothing was said, Six weeks later the neighbour reversed into a lamp-post & got a company called “Helphire” involved who repaired the neighbours car, provided a courtesy car and then claimed straight off my Missis DirectLine policy. Direct line paid out as it was easier for them than contesting a fraudulent claim! We got ripped off and paid for the privilege in premium increases.
Take lots of photos of your vehicles front from all angles, and also photos of the rear of an identical car that you hit. If you can get a photo from the side of your vehicle very close to the rear of the back of the similar vehicle, all the better. Then take measurments of both to show your vehicles hieght against the other vehicle to show there was no way you could cause the damage. If you can get photos of vans turning in the area it happened it will all add weight to your defence, should it come to it.
If you do this, make sure the other company are sent all these details. I was taken to small claims court after a van ran into the back of me and I didn’t present my photos and measurements showing I could not have caused the damage stated. I was berated by the chairperson for not bringing this to their attention. Even so, they found that the damge could not have been caused n=by my vehicle.
