ozzy

Absoulute nightmare Richard.

First place would be the Police. If no-one has reported this already then they could be done for leaving the scene of an accident.

Next would be to ask Neighbours to see if anyone witnessed it.

Find out who the company delivering the beds was and pay them a visit (if local). If it was them, then they'll be evidence of the damage on the van as well.

Your mate won't lose his no claims as long as you can find out who did it (mr van driver being the likely suspect). If you can't then I don't see any other option but for your mate to claim from his own insurance. Either way the Police need to get involved.

Hopefully your mate has protected NCD (but that's being very optimistic).

Good luck.

Stefan

Edited coz I'm an @rse who can't spell

[Edited by ozzy - 11/6/2001 5:09:34 PM]

John Stevenson

I recently enquired of a traffic police friend whether speeding rules etc applied to private road (My house is new and the council have not adopted road yet). He said as long as the road is accessable to the public then law still applies, i.e. I could get done for speeding, this would indicate to me that insurance etc is also valid, after all if the bump happened in a multi-storey you would claim, but this is also private property.

Find out the company from your neighbour, call Police, report them for leaving the scene, and if you can go and take piccies of the van.

---john---

[Edited by John Stevenson - 11/6/2001 8:16:09 PM]

Richard Askew

...best mate stayed over last night to help me destroy a bottle of Jim Beam bourbon and parked on the private road outside, which leads to a couple of other houses in the hamlet... got up this morning and staggered outside for a ciggie... nothing wrong at all. Usual morning activities going on with the neighbours including one getting some beds delivered. Again nothing wrong. 15 mins later, Luke goes to his car to go to see his bird only to notice a huge gouge taken out of his car, 4 deep scratches about a foot long and the rear window nearly hanging out from the rubber strips where it had been caught.
Judging by the tyre prints in the verge and the height and the location of the damage, it seems fairly likely to have been done by the Luton box van delivery the aforementioned beds.
Where does he go from here? Inform the police? Ask the neighbour who the company were and ring them up? Claim on his insurance and lose his no-claims? (it looks ******* expensive to repair) or what?
All help/advice greatly appreciated....we are both seething [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

fast bloke

If it is a private road and a bit of it belongs to you he can claim of your house insurance. If it isn't your road he can claim from the people who own it, but he needs their agreement to have a realistic chance of getting it sorted. Buy them a few beers and ask how they feel about it

Jenz

Bummer. Sounds like you should first ask around if there were any witnesses, and try to inspect the van. Who ever hit the Scooby should report it to their own insurance company (they probably wont do that, try to make sure they are aware of the 24 hour period allowed to report it to their insurance before it becomes a criminal offence). You should report it to the police they are likely to get involved since some one failed to report an accident and can be prosecuted for that.

Some insurances companies will also pay out in these circumstances without effecting NCB check your policy first) or if you have legal cover with your insurance they may try to recover your loses (including excess).

Good luck!!!

The_Gza

Probably too late now but I'd take some pics of the tyre marks and damage etc.

What an absolute bunch of to55ers [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

molly

report it to the cops... similar thing happened to me a few years ago with a parceline van scraping my mr2. got the delivery no from the neighbours who used parceline gave it to the old bill who traced the van/driver and found corresponding paint on the van. driver denied any knowledge but parceline paid out to amend the damage.....

Dave P

Private Road??? Don't see how the law applies here. Highway Code surely doesn't apply.

I'm sure the people to whome the beds were delivered will offer the name of the deliverer.

Bummer all the same.

Dave

fast bloke

JOhn - AFAIK you got a whole different set of rules in Scotland. General law still applies on private roads, so the police might be interested, but traffic law does not always apply. House insurance is the best option, as there will be no premium loading or loss of NCB. We were building an extension last year when the plumber crashed into the electrician on the drive (it isn't as big as it sounds.) Total damage bill was about 4k and they both claimed of my house insurance (with my blessing.) Some clause about third party liabity on my property, but they both got their vans fixed

Hel

Doubt police will be interested.It all boils down to your word against theirs, if you cannot find a witness.A coal lorry reversed into me outside a bank in my 306 and i was told it "was deffinatly a coal lorry you can see coal on bonnet, but how do we know you didnt bump him". Again no witness. You should trace this van see if there is your cars paintwork on it and get a mate to say they saw it all happen. (I dont want to sound dishonest but when things like this happen people are just taking the p***.
Hel

MattN

i'm not sure the police would be interested now. If someone was hurt then yes but it's just accidental damage(as far as we know). I know leaving the scene is an offence but it's not like he's forced someone to crash etc etc. Contact your neighbours and insurance company.

Tell the delivery company one of their vans DID hit a parked car, the response should be more emphatic than if you say er yeah possible I think maybe you might have at some point hit my car......

let us know how it works out, should be interesting, especially who you told and how interested they were!!

Mice_Elf

Under our wonderful English Law system , it is not considered an offence to drive off if no one is a witness. Providing no one saw the accident then it is ok to drive off, it is only if someone saw that they can be prosecuted for hitting and running.

Hopefully, though, it won't come to that and the Bed Delivery Company pay up without quibbling.

Good Luck.