insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Gday all,

just wondering if anyone can help me out at all. I was at a meeting last night, came out to my car to go home and there was a note on the windscreen saying i had put a dent in the front right guard of their car with my back door, they want to be called and it fixed.
A few points:
1.I know it wasnt me, i rarely use the back doors as im generally the only person in the car and i certainly didnt last night
2. Im not sure how my back door caould dent their front guard (45 deg angle parking)

I intend to call them, that is just the right thing to do, but how the hell do i tell them its not me? They are going to want me to get my insurer involved but i dont want to make a claim when i had nothing to do with it. I was going to call, explain my thoughts and tell them to take it up with their insurer. But i later thought, what if they arent insured, what do i say then?? Is it then a police matter, do i tell them to take it up with them? That seems a little over the top and unnecessary agravation.

Any thoughts??

Thanks

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

If you are certain it wasn't you then don't call

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

2. Im not sure how my back door caould dent their front guard (45 deg angle parking)

This is possible to do depending on how for in you were and how for out they were when parked.
This is an unfortunate incident and if calling them up gives no results, then you will probably have to bring them to the parking spot and demonstrate/prove that it wasn't you. You can check door contact height and also the colour. The colour of your car will be left on theirs depending on the force of impact.

[winniliss Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close winniliss]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

In relation to reporting vehicle accidents, it depends on your states legislation. In the NT, the driver has 24hrs to report a vehicle accident if property or personal injury has occurred.

In relation to who caused the damage, the person that left you the note will need a witness and police to inspect both vehicles to match the point of impact to determine you is at fault and or which veh was involved

[WBY 1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WBY 1]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

they need to prove it was you. and leaving a note on your car isn't proof. also do you have plastic flares on your rear door as the most widest point? If so, theres no way a plastic flare could dent a front guard.

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

Thanks very much everyone, im a little happier to call them now and tell them it wasnt/couldnt have been me. Do i tell them to take it to the police and/or their insurance company if they arent happy with my response?

WBY, unfortanatly no, mine is an RV with no plastic flares etc.

[fishfinder Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishfinder]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

Just call them and tel them is was not you . Let them work out what action to take next . But take a photo of you doors asap so they can not say that you went out and got your door repaired if it goes any further.

[jarrah7rally Member Find all posts View Profile Close jarrah7rally]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

Couple of points/suggestions/queries I have are:

Incident presumably occurred on private property off the road - in that case its not considered to be a "traffic accident"

Therefore no police involvement the only situation where they would become involved is if a pedestrian or occupant was injured due to speed/negligence in the carpark. - things maybe different in other states, National road rules yeah sure !

As it has presumably happened on private property its up to each to repair thier own vehicle - insurance is a scratch worth loss of NCB ? i'd rather go to my local smash repair bloke armed with a block of whatever beer they like - liquid refreshment work wonders no matter what field of expertise

I also noticed you mentioned several dents & scratches on my Prado - call me cyncial but the other party probably spotted this and thought I'll use this to my advantage.

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

Well no answer as yet, guess ill just leave a note :wink: I'll try em later in the day.

Na, it happened in a street, (45 deg angle parking).

I also noticed you mentioned several dents & scratches on my Prado - call me cyncial but the other party probably spotted this and thought I'll use this to my advantage.

Yeah i did consider this, there really isnt anything that looks like i smash into cars on a regualr basis though, just bush scratches and that sort of thing, but yeah, its possible.

Thanks everyone, im happy enough to call now and just leave it to them.

[bazzle Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close bazzle]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

Do NOT call them.

They will then have your number and may harass you.

Let them put it through their insurers who will contact you through rego and police IF required.

What note?? Wasnt there when you got in your car.

Could even be a scam..

Bazzle

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

You finally made it to PP Bazzle :P

[slug Member Find all posts View Profile Close slug]

Re: insurance/dent in car park - a little advice needed

Do NOT call them.

They will then have your number and may harass you.

Let them put it through their insurers who will contact you through rego and police IF required.

What note?? Wasnt there when you got in your car.

Could even be a scam..

Bazzle

I nearly didnt for these exact reasons, but did in the end. The bloke wasnt real happy as you can understand but i explained my story and he left it at that. I called from work so if he gets the number it will only be switch and i didnt give a name or anything. That was one of my thoughts, to just let his insurer deal with it, i called my insurer to query it and they thought it was fine to just call and say it wasnt me etc. In the end worked out ok, thanks for the advice all!