Went to Chadstone shopping for groceries, came back and saw a Mercedes SUV backed into my car then ran away.
I've noted the car plate number and rego checks out. However the damage was pretty minor ( see image) so I'm not sure if I should pursue them through insurance (comprehensive) or not since it might affect my premium in the future?
Keen to hear your opinion regarding this.
Definitely do this. You get their details (and can follow the advice below). The other benefit is the driver gets a lovely phone call from the police about leaving the scene of an accident.
Police will not EVER give you the contact information (mobile) of Unit 2.
Actually that’s incorrect. A car clipped the vehicle I was travelling in and sped off last year. The police were called and rego, colour and make of car was given to the officer who answered the phone. The police called back a little later with the name and contact details for the other party.
I assume this was after the police called the other party and got their consent.
does it affect your premium if it's not ur fault? I would do something about it so they don't think they can get away with things like this in the future.
I'm on insurance with Bingle and they say this on the claim form:
If you believe you or the person using your car had no fault in causing the incident, you can lodge a claim through Bingle, but you'll still be required to pay your excess upfront. We'll refund the excess in full if we decide that you're not at fault, however, when you renew your policy your premium will be affected as a result of you claiming, even if you're not at fault.
You can avoid paying an excess upfront and having your renewal premium affected by lodging your claim directly with the responsible party's insurer. This can also help us to continue to offer cheaper premiums.
so you have camera vision, submit that to Bingle and let them sort it out. Surely that vision shows its not your fault. Anyway talk to Bingle and discuss first
I cannot believe that this is legal.
You're basically losing money to an insurance provider to not cover you because you won't use it.
sounds a bit weird to me that you need to pay premium for claims that's not your fault and how are you suppose to claim directly with other party's insurer, because then you're really relying on the person who's at the fault to do the right thing and initiate the claiming process through their insurance.
I guess even if you're not thinking of getting it fixed through insurance, you can still call the police and get them to track him down, you may be able to settle with some cash just other has pointed out.
how are you suppose to claim directly with other party's insurer
Post a letter of demand to the other party.
http://www.lawaccess.nsw.gov.au/Pages/representing/debt/maki…
@whooah1979: I was more referring to what OP said about "…. by lodging your claim directly with the responsible party's insurer" which seems like a lot of hassle seeing that you can't just call up his/her insurance (and usually you wouldn't know who they are with anyway) and say one of their client has hit him. That's how I understand it anyway.
?? What the ??? You buy insurance but when someone hits you, and it's not your fault, you can't use said insurance without paying extra. What's the point of having it in the first place?
We'll refund the excess in full if we decide that you're not at fault,
If Op is deemed not at fault and the insurance can chase the other party, op will get a refund. Not every insurance works this way, you get what you pay for and it's best not to assume and to check the pds.
however, when you renew your policy your premium will be affected as a result of you claiming, even if you're not at fault.
Its usually the case, though the CS was more upfront and honest.
Not being at fault doesn't mean you're a safe driver and didn't do anything that contributed to the accident.
Block-quote Not being at fault doesn't mean you're a safe driver and didn't do anything that contributed to the accident.
this part I agree, but would've been nice if it's case by case
but what I find odd is that it also mention the premium wouldn't be affected if you just claim it through other insurance, which makes me wonder if the premium is more for the work they had to do on your behalf when you lodge a claim, because what you said stays true regardless of if you claim it through your own insurance or the other car's insurance :/
premium wouldn't be affected if you just claim it through other insurance
Because it wouldn't be you making the claim, rather it's the other party, as it's not your policy.
You could contact the other party's insurance, but the other party still needs to initiate a claim on their policy and their insurance will not act on their behalf unless instructed to ie. Make a claim.
@Ughhh: yeh I understand what you mean and what the policy is saying. But what's the actual reason for increase the premium in the first place? is it because your insurance reckons the fact that you need to lodge a claim (regardless if it's your fault or not) that you're contributing to this accident in some way. Or is it because you are lodging a claim so they need the man power to actually do something for you (ie paperwork etc) even though at the end of the day (if it's not your fault) your insurance is not actually spending any money as the person who is at fault is paying.
This is insane. They want to discourage policy holders from making not at fault claims by threatening to increase their premium in the future.
Probably should have a look at how much Bingle charges for Car insurance.
Their comprehensive insurance is about half of what AAMI charges, and about 30% of what NRMA charges.
You get what you pay for.
This is insane. They want to discourage policy holders from making not at fault claims by threatening to increase their premium in the future.
Of course they want to discourage you from claiming, it increases their profits. There is a reason some insurers are so much cheaper.
yeah mine went up after a lady hit me. Was her fault but my premium went up $200. Shitty how they do that.
Are you also with Bingle?
Not much point fixing under insurance, the repair will likely be less than your excess for claiming.
Worse, as there is no panel damage, an insurance panel shop will paint the whole piece and blend the paint to the original, which means two paint finishes, even if it matches afterwards it won't after a year or three, and will probably be far inferior/poorly done as they don't make money unless every job is overquoted and underfixed. I've seen some where it fries up over time and ends up getting rusty in spots in almost no time.
From a scientific rather than an aesthetic point of view, the car will be damaged more by the repair than it would be by the original accident and a little touch up paint judiciously applied to that abraised edge.
Probably the best thing to do would be to get a quote, chase up the police report and issue a letter of demand, if you compromise or only get a little money it'd be better than letting some insurance panelshop rub the whole area back, damage the undercoat more, and try to lay on something different to the factory paint which is robotically applied in an even, clean, controlled process…
Agree. File a police report, get a quote for the repairs, send letter of demand to other driver and collect cash (hopefully). Repair if you wish.
Quite a few minor accidents are settled cash in hand and never actually repaired. You could get a quote for the fix and make a demand for that amount. Often the person at fault will avoid insurance if the amount is low. It's your choice if you later fix it or not.
Make look like pretty minor damage, but the repair bill will run into the $ hundreds.
We need a MS Paint diagram to understand this complex car related issue.
I would just so the person doesn't think they can do it again.. I've had my car damaged twice and the person drove off, f**King sucks
Yes, the same thing recently happened to me.I saw them reverse into my car and take off. I wasn't letting that happen so a bit of detective work, a handy bystander and threat of I have called the police.. they came back. No apology though, just I knew i was going to hit it. Yes seriously! My insurance covered it but what about all the hassle that goes with it and the fact that they really couldn't care less. Karma is a bitch but!
make a police report, but they probably wont do anything, anytime soon.
Get owners details from police and send of a letter of demand. You can find templates online for this letter
How did you get the plate number? I think i would be too slow to get it
Eh looks minor. I'd drop it and move on with your life. Opportunity cost and all.
Is it typical these days to hit and run when you think no one is watching? That driver's behaviour bothers me.
If you go through insurance and don't have hard evidence (dash cam footage) then the insurance company only has to decide based on the story of both parties.
The guilty party in this scenario can claim OP drove into the back of his Mercedes and it his words against OP (which makes OP more likely at fault)
If there is no clear at fault party then the insurance companies will process claim as both at fault.
An old woman in a Mercedes backed into my son's car and drove off. Luckily a witness left a note on the windscreen. We went to the police who rang the witness, then rang the Mercedes driver. She carried on and denied it, but once told by the police she would be charged for leaving the scene of an accident, she agreed to return to the car park to exchange details.
She didn't want us to make a claim as it would affect her policy as she had already had few claims recently. As soon as we had her details we just went thru our insurance. Stuff her insurance problems. She was an arrogant old self entitled cow who didn't deserve a driver's license.
Positive for the witness!
It might be just minor, but have you had a quote done to see how much it would be to fix?
You should persue. Make the driver pay/claim. If they stopped, you could of shook hands and said don't worry about it after an apology. But they get what they sow now.
Report the driver to the police, pursue them for the cost of damages. You don't have to go through insurance. If the damage is minor and the repair costs a low, they may just be willing to pay you for the damages. If not, go through insurance.
Once I came back to my car in a shopping centre car park to find the tow bar of the car in front in my front bumper. Got the centre security to take photos and wait two hours for the driver to come back.
Went through AAMI for claim - never got anyway as at the end AAMI said without a witness or cctv footage I couldn't prove that they reversed into my car and not vice versa.
Try a cut and polish. It doesnt look like it has gone through the paint, more so their paint has transferred over.
"saw a Mercedes SUV backed into my car then ran away."
Was it on 2 legs or 4 legs?
Being a Merc SUV probably 4 legs better for running offroad.
make a police report and they will give you their mobile no. tell them to responsible for the action. seriously, they should go to court for acting like this.