2 weeks ago i came home from work to find a big dent in my car wing. on looking around it was obvious that it had to be from a car reversing out of the alleyway opposite to where the car was parked. looked around and hey presto my neighbours car which is always parked down there had a nice clean patch on the rear drivers side bumper and a new scratch. she's hit my car, then cleaned all the evidence from her car, then just hoped i wouldn't figure out who it was. the police are useless and wont do anything without witnesses even tho the officer involved said it couldn't have been anyone but her. I am 3rd party insured with no legal assistance, my insurance wont do anything. theres no real damage to her car, its a bloody range rover and she's hit me with the most solid part of her car!

she's avoiding me. i've called, knocked on the door, left 3 letters spelling out that i know it was her, including photographs showing the only part of her car that was clean that day was the part that hit me... and nothing! the evidence is staring her in the face, i know she's done it but in the absence of any witnesses to the accident i appear to be up the creek without a paddle.... is there any action i could take here?

what can i do?

Hi Dave

Welcome to CAG

You could take her to the Small Claims Court. But you need to send her a LBA first, see what the response is. If her insurance doesn't pay up, then the Small Claims Route. You've got photographic evidence.

I think your stuffed here, without much chance of being able to prove it was her for sure. Unless there are any CCTV recordings or witnesses that suddenly become available. You could post a note through other neighbours doors, just stating that your car was damaged on x date between the hour of x, asking if anyone was witness to this to come forward. Don't put anything on such a note about who might or might not be responsible, as this could be libelous.

If you can't get any CCTV footage or witnesses, what you could do is apply some pressure to the neighbour. Send her a recorded delivery letter (so you have record of posting/receipt) headed 'letter before action', basically advising her that you are holding her responsible for damage to your car on x date between x hours and will be taking this matter to court. Send her details of the cost of the repair and advise her that unless she settles the amount within (say) 21 days or admits liability in writing and provides details of her Insurance policy, you will be left with no alternative.

Without CCTV or witnesses, all you have is circumstantial evidence and you would be wasting time taking this to court. If she does not reply to the letter you should stop, as you don't want to be accussed of harassment and have the Police knock on your door.

I agree with Unlcebulgaria in that you are stuffed without good contemporaneous evidence.

Do the LBA and she is legally obliged to give you her insurance details. If she doesn't then send her a letter stating that as per Section 154 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 if she does not give you her insurance details then you will be informing the police of the breach of the regulations. It is possible that once you are in contact with her insurers they may make an economic settlement to you as even if they instruct solicitors and win at court, it is still likely to cost them more than paying for the damage to your vehicle - although I still think you may be wasting your time...

thanks for the advice guys... having written 3 letters to her already i think theres not much point in trying to pressure her more as she'll just ignore it like the others. I blocked her car in the alleyway this morning with my car, so she rang and spoke to me to ask me to move it. she denied it strenuously but when i asked her to explain why her rear bumper was clean that day she hung up!

unfortunately as much as I'd like to do something about it I am bound by my morals to act within the law. bum.

Threaten her with court and ask her for her Insurance details re the above. Getting the letter by recorded may prompt a change of attitude.

Do the LBA and she is legally obliged to give you her insurance details.

do you know what part of the law states she has to provide details?

thanks

Section 154 of the Road Traffic Act 1988:

154 Duty to give information as to insurance or security where claim made. E+W+S

(1)A person against whom a claim is made in respect of any such liability as is required to be covered by a policy of insurance under section 145 of this Act must, on demand by or on behalf of the person making the claim—

(a)state whether or not, in respect of that liability—

(i)he was insured by a policy having effect for the purposes of this Part of this Act or had in force a security having effect for those purposes, or

(ii)he would have been so insured or would have had in force such a security if the insurer or, as the case may be, the giver of the security had not avoided or cancelled the policy or security, and

(b)if he was or would have been so insured, or had or would have had in force such a security—

(i)give such particulars with respect to that policy or security as were specified in any certificate of insurance or security delivered in respect of that policy or security, as the case may be, under section 147 of this Act, or

(ii)where no such certificate was delivered under that section, give the following particulars, that is to say, the registration mark or other identifying particulars of the vehicle concerned, the number or other identifying particulars of the insurance policy issued in respect of the vehicle, the name of the insurer and the period of the insurance cover.

(2)If without reasonable excuse, a person fails to comply with the provisions of subsection (1) above, or wilfully makes a false statement in reply to any such demand as is referred to in that subsection, he is guilty of an offence.

Hope this helps...

thanks endymion! i'm now thinking about doing the lba... if that fails then i'll stop

I would try something completely different. Get hold of a CCTV camera and pop it up when you know she is not there. Nothing loud, just a small camera that does not stand out. Then, write one last time and point out that failing to stop after an accident is a criminal offence and if she does not provide her insurance details within 7 days you will take the footage from your CCTV camera (which overlooks the alleyway) to the police. The fact that there is no footage of the incident is for you to know. If I were her I would buckle after popping outside and seeing that there actually is a CCTV camera pointed straight at the alleyway.

The other alternative is to report the accident to your insurers providing her as the third party. Just her name, address and vehicle details. She would have to respond to any claim otherwise the claim could be settled in default against her. Any accident investiagator will see what actually happened.

Would be a shame if someone keyed her Range rover.

unfortunately my house does not look over the alleyway so the CCTV claim is not an option.

When she's been presented with evidence (photographs posted with a letter, showing a nice clean bit on the rear drivers bumper but the rest of the car hasn't been washed in weeks) and challenged on it when i spoke to her she's just hung up on me. the only reason i got to speak with her in the first place is because i blocked her car in the alleyway. i won't be doing that again for obvious reasons but i will write the lba.

interesting development. received a call from her b/f last night. luckily i recorded it. basically they're saying i cost them money because i bloced her in (she wasnt properly blocked in, she got out and was at work 15/20 mins late). accusing me of harassment even tho i've only spoken to her twice on the issue. said if i ever did it again i'd cause more trouble than i know. I said I wouldn't block her in again, and I'm not going to because I only did it so she would speak to me. every time I asked about the mystery clean patch on the car the convo was diverted he said several times that i couldn't prove it. he accused me of doing it because there's damage on the wing mirror that was on the car when i bought it! then i was getting irate and was telling him the policeman said it was her, he told to write to her and see what happened, he didnt tell me to block her car in but i thought what the hell as i'd heard nothing from her...

he then said i'd said the policeman told me to do it and he's gonna call the police and tell them what i said.. clearly this Neanderthal is trying to bully me, i dont expect to hear from the police on this matter. the recording is clear as day, i clearly said the policeman didnt tell me to block her in.

I can't believe the nerve of these people, accusing me of harassment when i've spoken to her twice about the matter.

any thoughts guys?

thinking about getting a solicitor to the the lba. I'm quite sure she wont provide her insurance details, or answer the letter.

i need opinions, as I'm unsure what the best course of action is.

Forget about it, as you cannot prove anything and they are not going to admit anything. Keep a copy of the call, just in case anything happens. You could report her b/f for threatening you, by asking the Police to listen to the call. But I think the Police have better things to be doing.

You could speak to a solicitor, but I think they may advise you same.

LBA then small claims court. You have evidence, don't let them get away with it!

As mentioned, they LEGALLY have to give you their insurance details. Its upto the insurance company to decide what to do next.

i dunno, to be honest the way they've handled it from the outset should have told me i was wasting my time. its a shame, but i dont think i can be bothered with the hassle. live life be happy and all that. its too much stress, i don't like to roll over but i think i've got to admit i've tried and failed. the photo is just circumstntial and it would just be my luck that they'd fight it and win. i guess this is a lesson learned about how the law works in the uk.

Dave, I hope your neighbours get what they deserve in life one day. I think I would do what you're doing, fwiw.

Matty, do you have experience of doing this successfully?

My best, HB

Very similar, but in Tesco car park. They gave me their home address but refused to give me insurance details.

An LBA later and I had £200 in my bank.

Try this route; http://www.mib.org.uk/Submit+a+Claim/en/Default.htm they may be able to advise you.

Also why don't you report the accident to your insurers who may be able to find the TPs insurance co for you.

If you just want the insurance info then you can just pay £3.50 to do a search here

http://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx

Do the lba. Don't use a solictor as it will cost you a lot, but do send it by recorded delivery. If she does not provide you with her insurance details then she has broken the law and you can persue that - at this point she cannot ignore you, she may stall but she has to give you her insurance details.

The next step is to contact her insurance company. You have a lot more influence here as their insurance company will not want to waste time dealing with you over some minor damage. It's not guaranteed but you may get lucky and they will just pay out the claim to prevent escalating costs. It will also count as a fault claim against her. If she continues to deny it and her insurance company backs her then you can go as far as to take it to court and get her to testify as to what happened under oath. No way to prove she isn't lying at this point, but hopefully the pressure of committing perjury will make her see sense. You could do the same through the small claims court but that will cost you, whereas going through her insurance company won't.

mib is the only option it seems

mib is the only option it seems

Only problem being the £300 excess that you have to pay if it goes on an untraced claim

Only problem being the £300 excess that you have to pay if it goes on an untraced claim

But it may not be so. It is quite apparent from the OP's account that the neighbour was involved so the MIB will simply claim from their insurers.