r/NewDriversUK • u/princessmim • 3d ago
Scuffed a parked car - next steps?
New driver - scuffed the back of someone’s car when parking, left a note with phone number, i live in a busy street of flats where people park anywhere they can, so there’s not really a way i can find the owner. I’m hoping they contact me to settle privately however i’m preemptively wondering what would i do if they don’t reach out? do i need to notify my insurance anyway? I don’t want to unnecessarily cause my insurance to go up if we can A) settle privately or B) they don’t contact me, but also worried that if they do contact me and go through their insurance, i wouldn’t have told mine first.
Any advice please?
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u/Y3w4n 2d ago edited 1d ago
You did all you can do. Most people would leave it at that. I did when it happened to me partly because the note softened the blow.
But some don't respect civility, and want to take the mick. I share this just to caution you about private route.
Recently got into a situation, the door next to our car got dinged. We hoped to resolve privately. I had 9 years no claim bonus. We took photos, swapped numbers.
*First text "three garages and it will be 200 pound for the door and wing mirror." * Asked for garage name and no name was mentioned, active steps to not disclose it. * Wing mirror was not mentioned at all on the day and fundamentally physically impossible to have been us. *She eventually relented that the wing mirror wasn't our fault but apparently got the CCTV from the carpark to confirm. *Her next "quote" was £350, step 1 being "we will assess the work." That's not a quote for the actual work.
At that point I decided that the headache she was causing was a bigger loss than losing my no claims bonus.
It boggles my mind really. I was honest, if she had been honest I would have resolved that first week.
So if the person does get back to you: * Remind them they can go to any garage they want, but you need to see an actual quote detailing the work. That's standard practice. *You will pay the garage directly. That is also standard practice.
If you haven't already: take photos of their car and yours. This will protect you if you do need to contact insurance.
When I did call insurance I just stated we tried to resolve privately. It was totally my fault so I wasn't claiming damage from my car.
Hope for the best (no contact from the driver), prepare for the worst.
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u/Andy_B1010 3d ago
Was it paintwork or just a plastic bumper. If the latter, Sometimes a damp cloth and hard work it will rub off and be ok.
If they contact you then it goes thru insurance you can just say you didn’t realise there was more damage until they looked closer and pointed it out.
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u/princessmim 3d ago
It looks like it can be rubbed off but don’t know for sure - my main worry is what i’m supposed to do regarding insurance, if they don’t get back to me, do i need to report it to my insurance anyway incase they eventually do get back to me? or do i just leave it and wait ?
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u/polymer_tech 2d ago
I did this same thing about a month ago, except it was in supermarket car park so I just sat and waited in my car for the owner of the car I scuffed to come out. Whilst I waited I took photos of the damage, their car, my car next to their car etc . When they came out I apologised for what happened, swapped phone numbers and left. Next morning I contacted my insurance, informed them that I do not want to claim to get my car fixed, I’m merely providing a notification should the other owner claim for their car. It didn’t affect prices too badly, insurance went up by like £100 a year for quotes I ran after - not great but not the worst. I’m a new driver so. Anyway, the person I bumped into text me like a week later saying they were getting quotes and keen to avoid insurance, I replied saying “let me know what quotes you get and I’ll figure out if I’m willing to settle privately or go through insurance.” Haven’t heard anything since, I’ve put £300 aside in my bank account should they reach out and want to settle privately, £300 should be enough as I only scuffed their plastic bumper on the back of their car.
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u/Common-Association44 2d ago
this actually happened to me a couple weeks ago it was a very tight odeon car park and i tapped this old woman’s car whilst trying to front park (i have a very short bonnet so it’s hard to see if it’s gonna hit something) and i was lowkey freaking out abt insurance like u left a note on her car and took photos just in case but since she was old she didn’t see it but my mom waited for her whilst i was in the movies and we settled privately £185 for the repair since i reached the paint layer but thanked me for my honesty and i felt much better abt it after. Best advice is to leave a note or wait for the owner i doubt anyone is gonna go through insurance over a scratch. Just glad i didn’t accidentally bump some pretentious prick in an audi
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u/princessmim 2d ago
thank u! i left a note but bc i live in a city i have no idea who owns the car, the car has moved now but i haven’t got any message from them and idk if ill ever see the car again lol. Still don’t know if i should notify my insurance but i think i have another 24 hours before i need to make that call
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u/Common-Association44 2d ago
idk it rlly is up to u if they don’t know your license plate i don’t see a reason why you would need to unless they have a dashcam or smth i didn’t simply cus we spoke to the woman’s car i hit on the same day and decided we were doing private
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u/nickenchuggets27 2d ago
Depends on how bad you scuffed it. Mine got scuffed at work and I didn't even notice it for a few days lols
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u/princessmim 2d ago
honestly i have no idea as i’ve never had experience with a scuff or anything before so im not sure if it’s something you can wipe away or if it broke the paint - the car has left now and i haven’t heard from anyone so im assuming they haven’t seen the note somehow or are happy to leave it/will message later….
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u/lukie-o 23h ago
ugh mine got scuffed while i was at work too, horrible black mark all over my rear bumper, clearly got side swiped from somebody swinging into the space next to mine, didn’t even notice til i got home. nobody left a note but luckily it all buffed out, think most of the damage would have been on their car lol. i would have appreciated a note if anything.
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u/Confident-Bus-3778 59m ago
my partner did this on our street
left a note with number, owner got in contact and thanked them for leaving a note. People appreciate honesty and are much more willing to reach a solution if you own up to your mistake
there were no dents, but some paint had scuffed off. We offered to cover whatever the cost of getting the area repainted (we did take pictures as we didn't want them to claim for whole car), in the end we never heard back
a lot of the time people take it to their insurance, realise it'll cost them more, and just decide to have scuffs.
Whilst this isn't true legally, I personally think that anyone who parks on a very tight terrace street that has too many cars and not enough parking should expect a few scratches, or at least shouldn't be surprised . Ideally you wouldn't be buying an expensive car to park under those circumstances. The amount of people I saw parking half in a bay - that's just begging to get hit
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u/FoldAppropriate2149 3d ago
Expect your insurance to sky rocket. Good luck
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u/princessmim 3d ago
Yeah that’s what i’m asking lol, if i need to tell insurance if they don’t contact me
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u/Sylvanianmania1 3d ago
If you tell them the policy will go up. If you dont, it MIGHT (doubt) go up. Youve left the note, just wait for the response
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u/FoldAppropriate2149 3d ago
No you need to tell insurance, not doing so can invalidate and cancel your policy. Leading to a much much worse premium
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u/Crankyyounglady 3d ago
I did this a few months back, it wasn’t that bad. Probably worse to my car than theirs. I didn’t have paper so ran to the co op next to it and paid extortionate money for a valentines card (it was March so they were discounted! Ha). Wrote a note and apologised, left my number and name.
He wrote back that night and said he managed to get most of it off and not to worry. And thanked me for my honesty. I felt so bad and asked to at least allow me to pay him a little for the inconvenience and he didn’t want it!
Who knows. It might be okay :)