Anyone ever hit a parked car and not left a note?

Majorscale

someone side swiped our car in a car park yesterday and not left a note (and no cctv). £450 to fix at “mates rates”. I wouldn’t dream of not owning up if I had caused the damage. Any of you a hit and runner as it seems so common these days?

Legionreturns

It's happened to me. That's why I now have a hard wired front and rear dash cam with parking mode. 

Majorscale

Legionreturns said:

It's happened to me. That's why I now have a hard wired front and rear dash cam with parking mode. 

Thats an idea, which make and model?

Legionreturns

Majorscale said:

Legionreturns said:

It's happened to me. That's why I now have a hard wired front and rear dash cam with parking mode. 

Thats an idea, which make and model?

There are loads out there, just don't be tempted by any of the cheap ones. They fail after a very short time and the picture quality isn't good enough. Best bet is to contact a local independent fitter and they'll supply and fit. 

Also, ignore the shite that Halfrauds sell. 

rocktron

No, but I remember an incident from years ago.

I was working in a office tower overlooking a carpark when, together with colleagues, we saw a driver hit another car. He furtively looked around, saw us watching him, proceeded to leave a note, and drove away. One of the guys decided to quickly take a lift down and ran across the carpark to check the note. . 

The offending driver wrote: I hit your car!!!    LOL

axisus

I bought my newest ever car (out of 20!) a year ago, some white lorry or fan scraped down the entire side whilst it was parked outside my house. White paint scrapes along the whole length, door damaged, wing damaged. Bloody annoying and I have no idea who did it. Oh well, at least I'm not that precious about cars.

menamestom

No, but I've scraped 2 cars and left notes.  Both went through the insurance and the people who's cars I damaged were made good. 

quarky

My Mum did it when I was in the car as a kid. Even then I wasn't particularly impressed. As much as I despise insurance companies here, the scum, if you can't pay out of your own pocket, this is what you pay the bottom feeders for.

victorludorum

This happens because the police don't punish drivers that scarper if there is no personal injury. If someone sees it and the police track down the owner, they simply pass the details on to you to contact them and thier insurers. I got shafted 3 times in 6 months when I had a motorbike and only caught the driver on 1 occasion. All repairs done at my own expense. It's extremely frustrating, and the only thing that I learnt from the experience is that if I do it in the future and do a runner, I will not be punished...

LuttiS

December 2016 at 3am ish drunk driver hit my neighbours car, then hit my car, wrote them both off and drove away.

Left his number plate embedded in my car..

Called the police who caught him, quarantined his car. ... he denied everything, went to court and was found guilty, banned from driving and heavily fined. 

Because he denied everything, his insurance company wouldn't pay out, and since my insurance covered write off, until his insurance paid it goes as a fault against me. So my current insurance price has skyrocketed..  Even after conviction, it's taken almost a year and litigation to get his insurance to pay.
Proper dick.

m_c

Not personally, but I've witnessed it.

Best was my old foreman. We'd had a hire car handed back, and due to the yard being extremely full, it was parked a bit awkwardly in front of the workshop.
I drove a recovery lorry in, and it was a bit tight to get around said hire car, but enough room to get past. Later, the foreman decided he'd put the lorry back out. I was working on something else, and was only half paying attention to what he was doing. Just as I had the realisation of where he was heading and the thought 'I wonder if he's noticed that hire car', all that could be heard was an almighty crunch, followed by him staggering in sweating profusely to announce 'I've just hit that car, I never seen it'.
My response of 'Given how hard you hit it, I hope you never seen it' didn't go down too well.

Result was one less than a week old VW golf with under a hundred miles on it, written off, as he hit the front corner that hard he shoved the wing and A-pillar that far back that you couldn't get the door open.

Then there was the time he hit a van parked outside reception with a lorry, and casually mentioned to the boss that it looks like somebody's hit that van.
Or his fantastic trailer reversing skills, which involved 8 cuts before jack-knifing at the workshop door before finally pushing the trailer in, which always made us question how he managed to get a trailer license.

johnswiss

Happened to me years back, came out of a pub to find my peugeot 405 had a massive dent in the passenger door. No note.
My wife scraped an old Renault a couple of years ago but did leave a note. Cost us £250.

I reckon it's probably 50/50 on those that would/wouldn't.

EricTheWeary

I once saw a double decker bus hit a parked car and drive away. This was on quite a busy street and it was also seen by a policeman who ran after the bus and flagged him down. 
Someone hit my Austin Allegro and wrote it off and I didn't get a note. Although it might have been considered a mercy killing. 

munckee

I've been hit by a car whilst parked in a police station car park by somebody who didn't leave a note costing me £200.  A couple of years ago a lady drove down my road clearly tw4tted a vintage camper van, got out looked at the mangled metal bumper on the camper van and drove off.

I took down her details and left a note for the vehicle owner with her details and mine as a witness.  They told me later they had a £500 excess which they managed to avoid. 

Philly_Q

My 83 year old Dad's car is always picking up minor scrapes, mainly around the back bumper.  I try not to think about how they got there, his insurance is already more than the value of the car...

Lestratcaster

I haven't done it personally but I've seen someone hit the back of a Jag when reversing round, I was on tour last year with a band and we were waiting outside the venue when we witnessed it. The guy clocked we all saw it and sped off but one of us logged his number plate to give to the owner inside.

munckee

Philly_Q said:

My 83 year old Dad's car is always picking up minor scrapes, mainly around the back bumper.  I try not to think about how they got there, his insurance is already more than the value of the car...

Not having a direct pop at you but you see news stories all the time of old people losing control, hitting wrong pedal and injuring people and think why didn't those close to them talk them into giving up driving if they are not up to it.  There's people of 50 who can't drive and people of 90 who can but if he is getting dangerous tell him.

Philly_Q

munckee said:

Philly_Q said:

My 83 year old Dad's car is always picking up minor scrapes, mainly around the back bumper.  I try not to think about how they got there, his insurance is already more than the value of the car...

Not having a direct pop at you but you see news stories all the time of old people losing control, hitting wrong pedal and injuring people and think why didn't those close to them talk them into giving up driving if they are not up to it.  There's people of 50 who can't drive and people of 90 who can but if he is getting dangerous tell him.

It's a difficult situation... I can't claim he's 100% safe but if he didn't have the car he'd never go out at all and, I'm sorry to say, I fear he would then deteriorate mentally.  He's not really mobile enough to walk to bus stops and none of the family live close enough to ferry him around on a day-to-day basis.

As it is, he now only drives locally on relatively slow, quiet roads.  No fast A roads, certainly no motorways.  If he has a medical appointment or something further afield my brother takes him.

It's not ideal, and of course it's no consolation to anyone he might prang in a low-speed impact in a car park, but for the time being it's just about working.

Majorscale

Philly_Q said:

munckee said:

Philly_Q said:

My 83 year old Dad's car is always picking up minor scrapes, mainly around the back bumper.  I try not to think about how they got there, his insurance is already more than the value of the car...

Not having a direct pop at you but you see news stories all the time of old people losing control, hitting wrong pedal and injuring people and think why didn't those close to them talk them into giving up driving if they are not up to it.  There's people of 50 who can't drive and people of 90 who can but if he is getting dangerous tell him.

It's a difficult situation... I can't claim he's 100% safe but if he didn't have the car he'd never go out at all and, I'm sorry to say, I fear he would then deteriorate mentally.  He's not really mobile enough to walk to bus stops and none of the family live close enough to ferry him around on a day-to-day basis.

As it is, he now only drives locally on relatively slow, quiet roads.  No fast A roads, certainly no motorways.  If he has a medical appointment or something further afield my brother takes him.

It's not ideal, and of course it's no consolation to anyone he might prang in a low-speed impact in a car park, but for the time being it's just about working.

Being blunt, I'd suggest he gets retested and/or some sensors retrofitted to his bumper!

Philly_Q

Majorscale said:

Being blunt, I'd suggest he gets retested and/or some sensors retrofitted to his bumper!

Sensors are not a bad idea. 

Would anyone pass a retest?  I'm a non-driver (took tests, never passed) but I've always assumed people develop so many bad habits after they pass that they'd be bound to fuck up if they had a retest years later.

EricTheWeary

http://www.olderdrivers.org.uk/driver-assessment/find-a-driver-assessment/

@Philly_Q this is what Age UK recommend for people over 70 who feel they might need some support with driving. 

With my father in the end the GP said he wasn't fit to drive and wrote to the DVLA. He found it very upsetting, although the same happened with my father in law who seemed completely non plussed.