van damaged my car

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:10 pm

Hello,

I need advice here.

Last friday, while my car was parked in our street, a transit van (from a builder company) damaged my left rear arch. Another builder, working also in our street, parked just behind my car, was alerted when my car alarm (proximity sensor) chirped at the same time as a van was passing. So, the witness concluded that this van (passing) did the damage. He came to my girlfriend and explained what happened, and that he took note of the van company.
my girl phoned them, the boss agreed that they are working in our street and said he's going to check which van it was.
Today, they contacted their insurance, but their insurance company needs the reg plate number of the *damaging* van to go ahead for a claim.

what is fishy is that they know their reg plates so they should be able to give this info to their insurer, right?

Should I contact my insurance company?

Thanks
vincent

Moderator: sorry, I posted this message at the wrong place, silly me.

MarkWG · Post by **MarkWG** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:07 pm

Definitely, or they'll claim you hit them! See what they say before ploughing on further, or you may inadvertently compromise your claim.

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:33 pm

MarkWG wrote:they'll claim you hit them!.

my car was parked, so I can't understand how they could claim I hit them.

MarkWG · Post by **MarkWG** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:31 am

You'd be surprised - people claim all sorts of nonsense when they're cornered. That's why it's quite important to make sure your company gets the information from you, rather than the other party.

PerryGunn · Post by **PerryGunn** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:10 pm

If they have a group policy to cover all of their vans, the insurance company shouldn't need you to supply a reg no - but they may require a statement from the independent witness that it was a van belonging 'Bloggs & co.' that did the damage.

Assuming you've got the name & contact details of the witness, you shouldn't have any issues

vblanche · Post by **vblanche** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:12 pm

update:

I'm so pissed off. The builder company have 2 insurers for their 2 vans, and here is their comment

Please find below my comments based on how I feel about this incident.

Both vans that belong to me did drive up church lane at midday on 12/10/201, neither drivers experienced or has any knowledge of a collision with another vehicle.

You did not see the alleged collision and your witness can not give a vehicle registration at the time of the alleged incident.

No one is able to say which van is considered to have allegedly caused the damage.

there are no marks on either of my vehicles that would suggest any collision took place.

I have just been in contact with both insurance companies, because each van has different insurers. Based on the facts stated above no claim would be considered.

In view of my comments recorded above I will not be accepting any liability or blame.

Please accept this as my final statement on this matter. I also have no wish to upset you or your witness regarding my actions on this matter, I Am simply acting on the facts that exist.

apparently my insurer needs the details and reg plate of the van that damaged my car...

What should I do? bloody hell, I have this witness that saw the van passing at the same time my alarm went and damage appeared, of course the builder will deny but why can my insurer find the insurer of the builder van?

should I go to the police?

Thanks
vincent[/quote]

MickB3 · Post by **MickB3** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:13 am

Find the where he parks the Vans and just take pot luck with one number

Its the only chance you have, Police will not be interested.

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 9:35 am

As above but take a camera and check for damage (although it may have been polished out already)