Neighbour's car rolled into mine damaging rear wheel arch panel

[9000Lumen]

Hello all fellow forum members,

 

I've been driving my 3-series (2011 320D Automatic) for over 5 years and haven't had to deal with insurance ever before until now.

 

Few weeks back my neighbour's car rolled into back of mine (car wasn't left on hand brake or hand brake was faulty) no one was in the car at the time of the incident, but I've got a CCTV of driver getting out. He's denied any wrong doing, as I've approached him prior to discovering CCTV footage, he's mum is a main driver, he must be named driver.

 

The damage isn't bad, as it could have been much worse, but it hurts too see it every time I get into my car. You can see the CCTV footage here.

I had to watch 2 weeks worth of CCTV recordings to identify the moment this had happened and take it to the insurance, as he's denying any wrong doing. My insurance apparently send the evidence to his insurance, who's asked him to confirm, but almost 2 months later and I'm still waiting for an answer.

My insurance has asked me to get a quote for the repair. 

 

Do I take it to the BMW dealership? Who will do a good job, but then charge a fortune or do I take it to the small garage?

If the cost of repair too high, will my car be written off, am I able to buy it back then or do I just leave it and repair it out of my own pocket?

 

Never dealt with car insurance before and would appease if somebody could advise on the best actions here or what they would do to get the best of my situation?

 

Thank you in advance,.

Lumen

 

pix.pdf

[9000Lumen]

Thank you for your reply BankFodder.

 

The car is worth about £3,500-4,000

I am not friends with the neighbour, when I approached and asked him in person as I wanted to sort it without claiming through insurance first, he has looked me in the eye and lied that it wasn't him, I then see the CCTV footage of him running for his car bare foot in the middle of the night, so all I care for now is the dent being fixed properly.

 

If I get quoted about £800 for the repair (as this is what my mechanic said it will cost roughly to fix) what will instance company do given that my car is worth about £3,500

Write it off, car will also get a category?

 

Lumen

 

[9000Lumen]

Will do, thank you for your advise.

[9000Lumen]

 

Dear BankFodder,

 

I really appreciate how much time you have taken to write the above post, so massive thank you for reading up on my situation and giving me detailed answer. It is this sort of insurance knowledge I'm lacking and I was hopping to get on this forum, but got more information than I ever hopped for. Following your advise I have taken today's afternoon off to drive to official BMW body workshop to obtain a quote and I will also stop by couple other local shops. I will report back once I get the quotes.

 

Dear unclebulgaria67,

 

Thank you for your reply.

This is exactly what I wanted to avoid, paying premium in case it turns out that he was never insured to drive it. I take his mother is, as she came around to my next door neighbour telling them that I made false accusations against them, as I don't think her son has owned up to it even to his mother.

It's a fairly recently installed CCTV (just before Christmas, as our neighbours had attempted brake in November) to cover the front entrance and luckily it has captured the incident too. The CCTV has proper signage and I got approval from neighbours. I got a feeling the driver might have been high at the time, (I honest won't put it past him) and doesn't remember any of it happening, or he just uninsured to drive, but then again I see him driving the car now again. 

 

Hi dx100UK,

 

My car was parked on a public road, you can see the footage here

Not sure if this fact significant or not, but my car wasn't parked at my registered address, the road where this has happened, is my mother's address, as I went to deliver shopping to her that evening.

My insurance is for social use only, if that is of any factor?

 

Thank you.

 

Dear stu007,

 

Thank you too for your reply.

Just like you described, I wanted to report this matter to police, as just before the car rolled back, there was a dog walker who passed it 10 seconds earlier, and could have been easily killed. I was fuming when I actually discovered the entire footage after spending 2-3 days watching the whole recording minute by minute. When I mentioned this to my insurance company, they told me it's up to me where to report it to police or not, so it sounded like it wasn't significant and I didn't want to escalate things.

The car stayed "parked" at the back of my vehicle for about 35 minutes, blocking off entire road, until somebody has nocked at the neighbours door and pointed it out, I then see a pointing gesture and him running bare foot to put the car back into their driveway.

 

Given the fact that I suspected it was him due to silver markings on my car and only him having a silver car form all the neighbours, I approached him and told him that "I know it was one of the neighbours, as my car was parked here and want to sort it out as we all neighbours here" he then looked me in the eye and said that it "no, it wasn't me" and I believed him, as I haven't seen the CCTV at the time. Not sure if he was high at the time, intoxicated or just didn't realise that we've put up the CCTV, but given the fact that their insurance wrote to them, asking about "accusation" of vehicle damaged, not sure even if my insurance has passed on the CCTV footage to 3rd party, as it's not an accusation, but a fact given the CCTV evidence, but now once the 3rd party know that I have put this through insurance, they've made no attempt to speak to me directly, apologise or even try to make things right.

Maybe I shouldn't let them gate away with any of it after all.

 

[9000Lumen]

Rodger that Bankfodder,

On my way to BMW specialist in another town now. As I popped into local BMW dealer where I get my car serviced, they’ve taken pictures and sent it off to their body workshop, I just had a call from that body shop and was asked to pop in so they can give me a close estimate, as the initial video apparently doesn’t show 100% extent of the damage.

I will let you know what the BMW specialist Worksop (this is BMW approved workshop) estimates the cost of repair.

 

Today was quite an interesting experience. Everyone I talked to wanted to know if this was going though insurance or not. BMW authorised repair place have quoted £1,200 plus VAT verbally, when asked for written quote, I was told a full quote will be £60, plus VAT. The bloke at BMW also wanted to know my insurance claim ref. so he can send it straight to them and charge them too I take it? I didn’t share they info with him. He also said that, I should have not told my insurance company, as now my premium will go up, even though I never made a claim apparently, would you happen to know if this is true?

 

I have also stopped by a local body shop as it was literally on the way home, even though you said not to, as I wanted to see how much non affiliate body shop would charge, once again they didn’t want to give me a written quote, as that was £50 plus VAT, but quoted me £800 verbally, so exactly as what my mechanic quoted me too.

 

The biggest kicker is that neither of them wanted to just pull the dented panel out and touch up/colour match the paint, as this is what I wanted to get done, both body shops wanted to fill and paint whole rear panel including the back door to fade/colour match it.

 

This is something I really want to avoid, as if was to see a car with a rear quarter sprayed, I’d never buy it on the second hand marker, as I would suspect it was in a serious rear collision, no matter what the owner would tell me.

 

BMW specialist, said that they could replace the rear panel, by cutting it out and getting new one in, but due to the age of the car, they won’t do that.

 

So I’m not to sure what to do now, take it to PDR specialist, to see what they say/quote?  

[9000Lumen]

Thank you for re-opening this thread and your previous reply BankFodder.

 

Dear all forum members,

Just to update everyone on the status of this accident.

 

I have obtained official BMW garage quote for the repair and it was £1,300 plus VAT, so around £1,500.

Equipped with this info, I have approached my neighbour in person and was shocked by his reaction, he refused blank to pay or cover any damage whatsoever, was very arrogant and quite aggressive, so it all spilled into an argument.

 

Not sure what he's playing at, it's either the car is on his mum's name (who is on social benefits) or he's on benefits himself and confident that he can get away without paying.

 

To make the whole thing even more worse, my insurance was for a renewal this months and I've just discovered that after declaring this non-fault accident my premium goes up by about £80-100 for the next 5 years. This just like adding salt to the wounds.

 

I'm super not happy with the entire situation and want to proceed with claiming cost of repairs and cost of insurance premium through the court now, as my insurance company have been useless. 

 

I'm not sure who's the vehicle owner, nor if the driver lives next door, he could be just visiting his mother.

How do I proceed with taking this matter to court's attention?

Any legal advise would be very much appreciated.

 

Best Regards,

Lumen 

[9000Lumen]

Dear BankFodder,

Thank you for prompt reply. I know his first name and will find out his surname too.

As for his address, I'm not 100% certain that he lives officially next door, as he could be visiting his mum on regular occasions, but resident of another address. Does that make much difference?

Best Regards,

Lumen