Auto and Car Insurance - My parked car has been hit by unknown driver, cost to me £500 excess, no claims loss etc. Anything I can do?

My parked car has been hit by unknown driver, cost to me £500 excess, no claims loss etc. Anything I can do?

My car was parked on the road where I live. At 9.30am on Saturday morning someone has driven straight into the back of it and shunted it down the road and it is seriously damaged. Although there was a witness, the driver drove off and is unidentified. The police think the driver must have been either drunk or uninsured, probably the latter. The car is only a year old and the first I have owned. I am struggling to keep up with payments as it is, and I need my car for work. I am with Tesco insurance and as there is no driver to claim from to get it repaired I will have to pay £200 excess, plus £300 extra because of my age (23), I lose my 2 years no claims bonus and then my premiums increase. Is there anything I can do? I really can't afford this. It seems so unfair that when we all pay increased insurance premiums to account for uninsured drivers we still get penalised like this. I wasn't even in the car...it makes you feel that insurance is just a complete rip off! Any ideas?! Unfortunately the witness didn't get the reg.

Public Comments

Did the witness get the registration number of the offender's car?
Yes insurance is a ripoff! And the scum who drive without insurance need their thick heads kicked in!
This is a real choker. A similar thing happened to my wife a couple of years ago and she's still counting the cost through having reduced no claims discount. Obviously we reported the incident to the Police but the offending car / driver were never identified so we've never been able to make a claim against him / her. As unfair as it is I'm afraid there's nothing you can do unless you're fortunate enough to track down the offender.
we feel the same way here in ontario canda , not much you can do unless you or someone else got the plate of the hit and run driver. Good luck ...dee
I'm sorry to hear this, I am a driver so i know how you must feel. It's very common, so there's not much you can do, with the other car driving off. All you can do is ask around for any good/cheap garages who would fix your car. That's one of the many negatives with having a car. I had my car scrap with a key all down the side.
yes if you have reg no you could contact dvlc and get info of driver if registered to him ,check out dvlc web site , they can release info in cirtain circumstances
Ah that sucks. Was going to suggest asking if the witness got the reg, but you've already answered that! Is there any CCTV round near your road? Even if your witness just gave you the colour, make and possibly even model (and whether the driver was male or female) that might help narrow it down a bit, and a damaged car could maybe be picked up on camera. It's a long shot, but if there's a car with it's front end damaged that matches the description of your witness (ie for colour/make/model) at roughly 9.35am on some local CCTV then the chances are pretty good that it's the same one!
Just curious, who exactly told you that your premium will go up and you will lose your no claims bonus? The loss just occurred, seems a bit odd that they can determine premium increases not knowing the extent of the damage to your vehicle. If you have the time and energy, perhaps you could canvass the neighborhood for potential witnesses. Any video surveillance in the area like a gas station? 9:30 am is a time when there should be some activity in the street. Not sure about where you live, but most US insurers offer "first accident forgiveness". I have been rearended three times over the course of the last 7 years, and my rates have not gone up. I still have the "first accident forgiveness" on my policy since I was obviously not at - fault.
Claim against MIB. Speak to a solicitor, they will sort it out if you have a witness.
Have a look at the link below, it may help. http://www.mib.org.uk/MIB/en/Claims/UK/Untraced/GFADVICE.htm
whilst I sympathise with your position the legal position is that material damage could be claimed from the MIB if the other driver was known and found to be uninsured - but there is an excess of more than £500.00 - so there is nothing you can do here. I would also point out that the insurance company will have to pay substantially more than your £500 to repair the vehicle and they have no way to recover that amount either - except by reducing your no claims bonus as in the policy wordings. I would also ask how much money you 'saved' by taking a £300 excess? One of the ways internet and direct insurance business is so cheap is the high excesses on the policies. However I assume you were aware of this fact when you bought online instead of taking advice.