A mate of mine was involved in a smack at the weekend.

He had stopped too close behind a car at a junction.

The car in front of him at a junction rolled back and hit the front of his car.

My mate says there was no damage to his car, the other car had quite a dent in the bumper, and the lights were pushed out slightly.
He asked the other guy if he wanted the police called out. The other guy said no.
He asked for my mates name, number and address, which was provided, and he provided his own in return. he didnt ask for insurance details.

They decided they would just sort it out amongst themselves, and not involve the insurance. The other guy admitted fault anyway.

The accident wasnt reported to the police within 24 hours, and there really is no damage to my mates car, it looks fine, so he thought he would do the guy a favour, and forget it happened.

The other guy has since phoned, told my mate he wants the money to fix his car, and that my mate ran into the back of him??

What should he do? My mate reckons the other guy has no chance as its his word against his, but having read on the internet its an offence to not report an accident within 24hrs, he is starting to get worried that he could get in some sort of bother?

There is no reason he could prove the other guy hit him, as it would look more likely my mate rear ended him.

Has the other guy left it too late to do anything (the accident was on friday) or can he still claim for damage even though there is no police report, no evidence etc?

I told my mate to go straight to the police, but he is worried now in case he ends up getting blamed for the whole thing as it would be hard to prove he didnt rear end the fella

the best thing to do is to be honest, go to the police, say that he now knows he should have reported it, but he did not. say he wants to report it now because the other party have changed their story and have shifted blame.

then phone the guy back and tell him that he has reported it to the police along with details of a witness and the fact that he has changed his story.

the guy who rolled in to your mate obviously has no morals. tell your mate to confront him about this - ask him why he thinks its ok to blame someone else and why is he not adult enough to take responsibility. I hate these guys, prob a free loader off our hard earned tax too.

Was a little strange the other guy didnt want to involve the police.

Well at the end of the day, its up to him what he does, ive told him to go to the police, but now he is being typical bloke and saying "theres nothing that guy can do anyway so ill just let him make the next move"

Bit complacent for my liking, but its his decision.

Brings up all sorts of things tho. Does this mean if you dont involve the police, and leave without insurance details, you have no comeback if you want to make a claim?

Say my mate finds there is damage to his car, he would have no comeback if he decided to try and claim off this guy?

Can the other guy legally turn round and tell him to get stuffed?

[Edited on 25/6/07 by Mike400]

go to the police and advise them of the circumstatnces i doubt if they would purse your mate with any charges. if the other party still wants money pass the insurance details and insist on the vehicles being inspected by and independent assersor if the other car is caved in and your mates isnt then i think the other guy is at it and the damage is old. surly if he only rolled back at the lights i cant see how its damaged as mocu as he says

[Edited on 25/6/07 by davie h]

You are only obliged to tell the police if anyone is injured or details are not exchanged at the scene. Otherwise it's a civil matter and purely up to the insurance companies and/or courts to apportion blame. Your mate didn't do anything wrong by not reporting it.

Going to the police and reporting this other guy for attempting extortion / fraud may well be the best option - it shows your mate has nothing to hide.

Some info here: http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/legal/at_the_scene.html

the best bet would have been to report it asap as you hear stories of these people who go about looking to make accidents happen then make massive claims on the other drivers insurance who knows he could have reported it and claimed that he had four passengers in the car who all have whiplash injuries

[Edited on 25/6/07 by davie h]

I think he is only worried because there is no proof the accident even happened, it really is his word against the other fella, and that worries him because he has no way of proving his innocence.

he is worried the police are going to knock on his door looking a statement, and that they will decide he ran into the other car (most likely in a situation like this)

And I think thats why he is worried about going to the police himself, in case they turn round and say it sounds like he caused the accident, and make him pay for the other guys damages.

I keep telling him the police cant and wont get involved at this stage, and he should wait and see if the other guy takes it any further, and then let his solicitor sort it out.

The poor guy is at his wits end, just waiting for this guy to phone back or send a letter

Sounds to me as if the other guy doesn't have insurance ?

Your friend did right thing: all you have to do is exchange names and addresses. The other guy would have to sue your friend or your friend's insurance co for recovery of cost of repair

[Edited on 25/6/07 by Macbeast]

If there's no damage to his car, I'd just deny all knowledge.

What accident ? Who are you ? etc.

quote:

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Originally posted by Macbeast
Sounds to me as if the other guy doesn't have insurance ?

You did right thing: all you have to do is exchange names and addresses.

---

Actually I've heard about scams involving exactly this..... and they always seem so nice too.... I'd suggest that they report it to the police- I reckon they won't!!!

quote:

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Originally posted by matt_claydon
You are only obliged to tell the police if anyone is injured or details are not exchanged at the scene. Otherwise it's a civil matter and purely up to the insurance companies and/or courts to apportion blame. Your mate didn't do anything wrong by not reporting it.

Going to the police and reporting this other guy for attempting extortion / fraud may well be the best option - it shows your mate has nothing to hide.

Some info here: http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/legal/at_the_scene.html

---

He says only witness was his girlfriend, however the other guy had someone else in his car too.

So it really is his word against his.

I doubt he would be very happy having to go 50/50 saying as he didnt cause the accident.

Either way it just shows you really cant be too careful

I suppose the longer the other guy leaves it to get back to him, the less of a case he will have anyway.

with the advent of camera phones its worthwhile recording a confession at the scene, on the sly of course. I got shafted last year after an accident that wasnt legally my fault, the dude lied and as there was no evidence either way, we had to settle 50/50. Fortunately i have two insurance policies so didnt ruin all my no claims - just 3 years of it.

Get your mate to play him at his own game. Next time he calls, tell him he's obviously got the wrong number and deny any involvement/knowledge whatsoever.

Phil

[Edited on 25-6-07 by Hellfire]

Don't expect that would work though. IE the other person has his mobile number and his name... both easily checked by the plod but not so easily obtained for a random person...

hey, where is the bloodlust? the spirit of revenge?
Advice your friend that if the case turns out against him and he have to pay finally that he should do something like this : Buy the cheapest rolling wreck he can find, wear a crash helmet and since he knows the smart guy's address follow him and in the first traffic light or stop sign bump it on him with 25mph speed. And then deny paying claiming that the front car's stop-lights never lighted on. And how odd, they will probably be smashed from the crash making it difficult to prove if the light bulbs was working or not....

Is this revenge or what???

In my opinion, I would tell the police and my own insurance company what happened and let them sort it out. Have no further contact with the other driver and make a record of what has been said, by whom and when.

The damage seems excessive to the other car if there is no damage to your mate's car. Had a similar event recently when a boy-racer hit my wife but it looked like her fault. Insurance did a good job and sorted it out with all blame passed onto the other driver. He also had a witness in his car (and the idiot witness also tried to claim for whiplash for a very minor shunt!)

If it is a scam you do NOT want to be talking to the other party.

I'd report it to the police - if nothing else for the small matter that this other bloke has your friend's address details - no telling what might happen. I'd nip it in the bud now.

I had a similar one where my car was parked and when I came out there were a bunch of hoory henry's jaming bits of flowerpot under the back wheels and a hooray henrietta with a newish black polo that had a towball sized dent in the bonnet. They claimed my car had run back and bashed the other car while it was parked however i gave my car a good shake and it wasn't going anywhere. A bit of hassleing of me went on by a few of the larger rugby types and I gave my address and left. next thing was a solicitor's letter from her brief threatening me with all sorts! I wrote back to the solicitor and copied my insurance co in with my version including the threatening behaviour and I heard no more except it was recorded by my insurance as a no fault claim.

Caber

Update

I managed to get him to contact police. They said he done the right thing reporting the accident, but he should contact his insurance company and let them sort it out.

The other party then arrived uninvited to his house, they came in, and started going on and on about how they couldnt afford it, and he has to pay etc etc. Dont know exactly what was said, but mate didnt agree to anything or admit anything and managed to get rid of them

He then phoned police and made a complaint. Police said not harrassment yet, but they will keep it on record and to contact them if they call to the house again, and not to answer their calls and let insurance deal with them.

Mate says weird thing was they parked the car at the top of his street where he couldnt see it, and reversed out of the street rather than pass his house so he couldnt see the rear of the car, i,e where the damage was.

Plus the owner says he has it booked into a garage and he will send mate the bill.

I think thats a good thing - if he goes ahead and repairs without my mates agreement or his insurers agreement, then there is even less chance he can get the money?

Either way ive advised him to see a solicitor. He wants to go to citizens advice first, but said something about free legal advice through his works solicitor or something.

As before, make a note of everything that has happened. DO NOT speak to them, let the insurance company deal with it. If they get in touch again, tell them the police and the insurance company have advised your friend not to talk to them.

Also, I'd go to the address the other party gave and photograph the damage as a record before it gets repaired.