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Hit and run need some advice


madmanncfc
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Hi Folks

I was driving to my house with the missus in the car earlier. I live in a little village so the lanes are quite thin and you have to pull over to let other cars pass you.

As i came round one of the bends i noticed a large cultivator tractor coming towards me. I pulled over onto a grass verge as tight as i could get to the side without doing any damage and waited for the tractor to pass.

At this point the tractor made no real effort to get over on his side and accelerated passed, smashing into my rear quarter on the way through. It also ripped my rear bumper clean off on that side and mostly off on the other side.

I then got out of the car and pulled the rest of the bumper off and put it on the verge to pick up later and walked round the corner to where i though the tractor had gone too and saw him waiting a bit further up the road.

I though ok hes stopped for me ill be nice and sort the insurance out. At this point he decided to floor it and drive off again. Unfortunately there was dirt all over the numberplate making it unreadable in the dark. He also only had one working numberplate light. As it was pitch black i couldnt even see the colour of it.

Having got the car back home and picked up the bumper i reassembled the car and have discovered the following damage.

Rear bumper scraped and all mountings damaged.

Rear 3/4 panel dented scuffed and bent.

Small scratch on drivers door.

Missing numberplate light.

This evening ive managed to reattach the bumper mounting clips and replace the numberplate light with two spares i bought from dale. However, i still need a new bumper and the panel mended.

I phoned the police on the non emergency number, who told me to go to the police station and report the accident bringing my license and insurance details.

The problem i have is that if i report it to the police, im legally obliged to report it to my insurance company. If i do that then my insurance will go up next year regardless of whether i claim as ive been involved in an accident.

Also i have very little information or proof other than one witness but with her being my girlfriend i cant see that counting for much.

If i don't go ill have to pay for the repair myself which will probably cost around £400ish.

I don't see why i should have to pay, as it wasn't my fault and i was stationary at the time. But at the same time, i cant see the other person being caught and even if they are i doubt that they will be prosecuted.

What do you guys think i should do.

Ive attached a picture i took when i got home but the damage looks worse in person

Any opinions welcome

Chris

:-)

IMG_0016.jpg

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I think you will have to chalk this one up to experience, realistically there is no prospect of conviction even if you do find the tractor.

I wouldnt suggest going to farm to farm looking either, I dont think they will take kindly to you sniffing round.

What is your insurance excess? It will probably be cheaper to fix yourself

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Good chance they'll use that road quite often, go back and camp out, wait 'til what you think is the right tractor comes along, take it's number: report it.

The way most of the idiots drive, they wouldn't even know if they knocked a Lupo off the road.

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Good chance they'll use that road quite often, go back and camp out, wait 'til what you think is the right tractor comes along, take it's number: report it.

The way most of the idiots drive, they wouldn't even know if they knocked a Lupo off the road.

This but pull him out of the cab and beat him senseless with the rear bumper re-enforcing beam from your loop, then take it out on his tractor, he wont have your reg either so he will be in same predicament as you, I hate tossers like that.

George

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Hi

I work for a household name insurance company. Probably not worth reporting it to them, they won't try and hunt down the tp as it just isn't worth their time or money and it would probably be cheaper for them to put it down as a fault claim than investigate. Realistically even if you did find the tractor what sort of damage is there going to be on it. He could always play the naive card and say he wasn't aware anything happened and then his insurers, if he has any, will dispute to the high hills.

You'd think that the damage caused would leave a mark............but it's a tractor. If it's an "oncoming vehicle" scenario it's likely to go down as 50/50 anyway.

A fault claim won't nessesarily wack up a premium. My Mum had a claim on her cooper s this year and it has made £4 difference to my policy with her as a named driver. You can always adjust that out with the "ocupation chooser" on money expert anyway.

I'd get it dont independently at a local body shop. If you give me the first section of your postcode I can let you know our approved body shops in that area.

If you do go through insurance, drop me a PM and I'll try and help out :-)

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Get the insurers to pay for it cos it looks expensive, plus if they do an unsatisfactory repair on the vehicle, then u can just have it done time and again until it is perfect, my dad had his bumper redone 4 times (still not perfect). That is one bonus, where as you cant really do that if you pay them to do it directly as they arent then charged to returning it to "As New" condition. Insurance rise shouldnt be too much, try your best to find the tractor driver. and definately inform the police.

Edited by BEP51
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Set fire to a few farms. Sure, you'll get the rong one a few times but you'll probaby get the right one at some point and that will make you feel better.

Steady there Rich... This are the arseholes that give the rest of us a bad name :angry2:

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Thanks again guys grazo22 my postcode starts with NR12 wheres your nearest place and thanks for some great advice.

The police have been informed but say they arent going to do anything and my insurers have been informed and have told me that unfortunately its got to go down as a fault claim. They have however said that they wont put my premium up if i dont claim. They did however admit that a claim may well put my insurance up a fair bit.

The cars off to a local bodyshop soon to get a quote in the meantime ive put the bumper back on and reshaped the arch so the cars driveable.

Edited by madmanncfc
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you should of followed him back to his farm, smash his tractor up, **** his misses then do a massive **** on his door step.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for the delay. For some reason I don't get notifications when people reply to stuff. Odd!!!! I'll set a reminder on Mr Blackberry and I'll check tomorrow.

If you were my policy holder I'd write it off and make you a good offer on the condition I have you wheels posted to me :-)

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Bugger it never mind

An update:

I haven't claimed

The person at my insurers didn't put it on a database as she said that it would increase my premiums so i guess shes being nice

Nobody's having my wheels

The cars going to get redone for £400

Im doing lots of overtime to pay for it :-(

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