Door bang damage to my car, claim?
Curious what people think - Today I'm 99% sure my car got door banged leaving a noticeable matchhead sized dent in my door, small but pretty deep. (maybe another paint chip too)
The car was parked in a public car park (no known CCTV) with side by side bays. I observed from a window the suspect car trying to get into the bay next to me, and after 5-6 tries they eventually got in sort of diagonally with their nose right close to me/my bay - I feel from this angle it's somewhat evident there was a v high chance of them banging my car with their door and their spatial awareness just being bad.
I saw the lone driver get out their car, but their car blocked most of my view, but I pretty much saw them open their door, the door stop pretty suddenly, and them look down a bit surprised. They were gone (on foot) by the time I got down for a good look, and even then they were parked so close to me the red glare from their car made it hard to look at mine, but yeah the damage roughly lines up with where their door would have opened.
I'm unsure of what to do now and I wasn't sure enough they had hit me until after they had gone (I'm still only 99%) As much as I don't think I can buff this out and it will need pro attention, I don't think It's worth a claim on MY insurance and the excess, but I also dunno if I have enough to realistically claim on theirs? As much as I'm a bit ****ed off as I love my car I don't want to particularly ruin someone else's insurance/NCB for undeserved 1000s over it either :/ I could keep an eye out and see if they park here again and confront them to settle it privately I suppose? Just dunno how big a fuss I want to make, if it was a scuff/small scratch I'd just deal with it myself but it is a proper metal ding.
The car was parked in a public car park (no known CCTV) with side by side bays. I observed from a window the suspect car trying to get into the bay next to me, and after 5-6 tries they eventually got in sort of diagonally with their nose right close to me/my bay - I feel from this angle it's somewhat evident there was a v high chance of them banging my car with their door and their spatial awareness just being bad.
I saw the lone driver get out their car, but their car blocked most of my view, but I pretty much saw them open their door, the door stop pretty suddenly, and them look down a bit surprised. They were gone (on foot) by the time I got down for a good look, and even then they were parked so close to me the red glare from their car made it hard to look at mine, but yeah the damage roughly lines up with where their door would have opened.
I'm unsure of what to do now and I wasn't sure enough they had hit me until after they had gone (I'm still only 99%) As much as I don't think I can buff this out and it will need pro attention, I don't think It's worth a claim on MY insurance and the excess, but I also dunno if I have enough to realistically claim on theirs? As much as I'm a bit ****ed off as I love my car I don't want to particularly ruin someone else's insurance/NCB for undeserved 1000s over it either :/ I could keep an eye out and see if they park here again and confront them to settle it privately I suppose? Just dunno how big a fuss I want to make, if it was a scuff/small scratch I'd just deal with it myself but it is a proper metal ding.
That sucks. I had something similar happen to me, someone was coming round a corner near where I live and cut it way too close to my car, left a lovely gouge in the side of it. Was absolutely devastated. Thankfully, she owned up and we settled privately. Claiming on your insurance for that is probably going to cost more in the long run than settling it up yourself. I'd recommend getting some quotes and seeing what it would set you back, then use that to help you make your decision.
If the damage is significant enough for it to be more than a couple of hundred quid, then perhaps I'm wrong about claiming.
If the damage is significant enough for it to be more than a couple of hundred quid, then perhaps I'm wrong about claiming.
Original post by Charles III
That sucks. I had something similar happen to me, someone was coming round a corner near where I live and cut it way too close to my car, left a lovely gouge in the side of it. Was absolutely devastated. Thankfully, she owned up and we settled privately. Claiming on your insurance for that is probably going to cost more in the long run than settling it up yourself. I'd recommend getting some quotes and seeing what it would set you back, then use that to help you make your decision.
If the damage is significant enough for it to be more than a couple of hundred quid, then perhaps I'm wrong about claiming.
If the damage is significant enough for it to be more than a couple of hundred quid, then perhaps I'm wrong about claiming.
Yeah claiming on mine is almost certainly not worth it due to the excess and my NCB, I'd be better dealing with it myself. But I'm curious what sort of standard of proof or process I need to meet for their insurance to pay out instead. Like I know the car, reg plate, driver description, rough time of impact etc.
The sad part is that even with a reasonable amount of evidence - more than enough to prove beyond reasonable doubt and it is provided to your insurer, they can still refuse to support your claim. This is because it might not be cost effective to pursue it against the other policy holder (they may not even have insurance) and it is cheaper to just 'whack' you as the policy holder with a claim (or a 50/50 claim)
You just have to view it as 'battle scars' - the perils of having a really lovely car that is beautiful. It is just so heart breaking too (because from previous posts I know how much time, care and effort you put into making your motors amazing)
Evidence
The chances of a) identifying the specific vehicle by reg number, make, model, identifying features (not a cloned plate) and b) identifying the moment someone banged your car bodywork and then getting sufficient ID and description to ID the driver involved and to get their details are pretty remote.
How do you prove your car was undamaged before you parked it at the time and where it was open to damage?
a) Time based photos (phone?) of all sides of your car when you park it (yes its a faff)
What if you had the damage prior to this car parking event and just because a red car pulled alongside at a jaunty angle displaying an L plate it suddenly triggered your desire to check your car.
How do you prove that the particular car parked next to yours caused the damage?
The height of the mark on your car versus the height and extent of the part of the offending car bodywork that you believed made the impact?
Is there any paint from the offending car on your car that you can photograph with a tape measure in place (and vice versa)
If you can secure a big flake or chunk some specialist car manufacturers or forensic departments can analyse the paint composition to depict make etc (now weigh up how much this costs versus the cost to rub out a dent or scuff)
Any offending vehicle debris left behind
Any witnesses - gold dust
CCTV footage - check all areas. You might be able to get a time of damage by looking at dash cam footage for other parked car windscreen dash cams facing yours or behind it and leave the driver a note if they could possibly check (at whatever time you believe your car was hit & leave your contact details or just wait)
Oh - and good luck
Grit your teeth and mutter words of advice.
You just have to view it as 'battle scars' - the perils of having a really lovely car that is beautiful. It is just so heart breaking too (because from previous posts I know how much time, care and effort you put into making your motors amazing)
Evidence
The chances of a) identifying the specific vehicle by reg number, make, model, identifying features (not a cloned plate) and b) identifying the moment someone banged your car bodywork and then getting sufficient ID and description to ID the driver involved and to get their details are pretty remote.
How do you prove your car was undamaged before you parked it at the time and where it was open to damage?
a) Time based photos (phone?) of all sides of your car when you park it (yes its a faff)
What if you had the damage prior to this car parking event and just because a red car pulled alongside at a jaunty angle displaying an L plate it suddenly triggered your desire to check your car.
How do you prove that the particular car parked next to yours caused the damage?
The height of the mark on your car versus the height and extent of the part of the offending car bodywork that you believed made the impact?
Is there any paint from the offending car on your car that you can photograph with a tape measure in place (and vice versa)
If you can secure a big flake or chunk some specialist car manufacturers or forensic departments can analyse the paint composition to depict make etc (now weigh up how much this costs versus the cost to rub out a dent or scuff)
Any offending vehicle debris left behind
Any witnesses - gold dust
CCTV footage - check all areas. You might be able to get a time of damage by looking at dash cam footage for other parked car windscreen dash cams facing yours or behind it and leave the driver a note if they could possibly check (at whatever time you believe your car was hit & leave your contact details or just wait)
Oh - and good luck
Grit your teeth and mutter words of advice.
Original post by Muttly
The sad part is that even with a reasonable amount of evidence - more than enough to prove beyond reasonable doubt and it is provided to your insurer, they can still refuse to support your claim. This is because it might not be cost effective to pursue it against the other policy holder (they may not even have insurance) and it is cheaper to just 'whack' you as the policy holder with a claim (or a 50/50 claim)
You just have to view it as 'battle scars' - the perils of having a really lovely car that is beautiful. It is just so heart breaking too (because from previous posts I know how much time, care and effort you put into making your motors amazing)
Evidence
The chances of a) identifying the specific vehicle by reg number, make, model, identifying features (not a cloned plate) and b) identifying the moment someone banged your car bodywork and then getting sufficient ID and description to ID the driver involved and to get their details are pretty remote.
How do you prove your car was undamaged before you parked it at the time and where it was open to damage?
a) Time based photos (phone?) of all sides of your car when you park it (yes its a faff)
What if you had the damage prior to this car parking event and just because a red car pulled alongside at a jaunty angle displaying an L plate it suddenly triggered your desire to check your car.
How do you prove that the particular car parked next to yours caused the damage?
The height of the mark on your car versus the height and extent of the part of the offending car bodywork that you believed made the impact?
Is there any paint from the offending car on your car that you can photograph with a tape measure in place (and vice versa)
If you can secure a big flake or chunk some specialist car manufacturers or forensic departments can analyse the paint composition to depict make etc (now weigh up how much this costs versus the cost to rub out a dent or scuff)
Any offending vehicle debris left behind
Any witnesses - gold dust
CCTV footage - check all areas. You might be able to get a time of damage by looking at dash cam footage for other parked car windscreen dash cams facing yours or behind it and leave the driver a note if they could possibly check (at whatever time you believe your car was hit & leave your contact details or just wait)
Oh - and good luck
Grit your teeth and mutter words of advice.
You just have to view it as 'battle scars' - the perils of having a really lovely car that is beautiful. It is just so heart breaking too (because from previous posts I know how much time, care and effort you put into making your motors amazing)
Evidence
The chances of a) identifying the specific vehicle by reg number, make, model, identifying features (not a cloned plate) and b) identifying the moment someone banged your car bodywork and then getting sufficient ID and description to ID the driver involved and to get their details are pretty remote.
How do you prove your car was undamaged before you parked it at the time and where it was open to damage?
a) Time based photos (phone?) of all sides of your car when you park it (yes its a faff)
What if you had the damage prior to this car parking event and just because a red car pulled alongside at a jaunty angle displaying an L plate it suddenly triggered your desire to check your car.
How do you prove that the particular car parked next to yours caused the damage?
The height of the mark on your car versus the height and extent of the part of the offending car bodywork that you believed made the impact?
Is there any paint from the offending car on your car that you can photograph with a tape measure in place (and vice versa)
If you can secure a big flake or chunk some specialist car manufacturers or forensic departments can analyse the paint composition to depict make etc (now weigh up how much this costs versus the cost to rub out a dent or scuff)
Any offending vehicle debris left behind
Any witnesses - gold dust
CCTV footage - check all areas. You might be able to get a time of damage by looking at dash cam footage for other parked car windscreen dash cams facing yours or behind it and leave the driver a note if they could possibly check (at whatever time you believe your car was hit & leave your contact details or just wait)
Oh - and good luck
Grit your teeth and mutter words of advice.
Cheers for that, yeah I think I'm just going to have to accept it.
As you say, I feel I can prove it beyond reasonable doubt, I know the car, driver, time etc, I pretty much saw them do it. I would personally argue that pic of their parking should lead an insurer to ask how they could have exited that side of the vehicle without striking mine and place doubt on their spatial awareness.
But that's not the same as 100% certainly in my accusation or really beyond my word and unless they happened to admit it when asked, I can easily see my insurer hitting me in some way for it and as my NCB etc just getting back up, I can do without that.
The guilty wee face as she looked down will annoy me for a while though, and I may challenge her if I see her car again, but beyond that I have a local car show tomorrow, so just going to polish as best as I can and see how that does
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