Looking for advice on options after being backed into....

[Billbrown1982]

Moderation comment - thread renamed to avoid confusion from "Looking for advice on what route to take after being backed into...."

Hey guys, so my head is kind of swimming right now and I'm so angry I could burst, so apologies if this makes less sense than it should.

Hour ago I got a car alarm notification, I was on my way back to the depot so half hour later I'm here and I have a look around my car, no obvious damage. Then I check the sentry footage

Guy that has parked in front of me in the works car park clear as day puts his car into reverse by accident and backs into my car, enough to nudge it and set the alarm off, he then drives off.

Ive got him bang to rights on camera.

BUT I can't see any obvious damage. I've had things like this before though where the paint micro cracks and months later starts flaking etc.

I don't want to report it to insurance if there's no damage though as even as I'm blame free you know full well my premiums will go up because of it.

There's also the added complication of not telling my insurance it's got ppf so wouldn't be covered for that.

I kind of want to have it assessed to make sure it's ok before deciding weather to go insurance route or not but I don't even know if that's possible? Can bodyshops tell if the paint underneath is ok and stuff?

Argh so angry!!!!!

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated. Not gonna out the sentry video up just yet incase it does go down insurance route.

 

[SpanishJ0n]

If he moved your car then, trust me, there will be damage. Report it. People like this must be reported.

 

[MovingSouth]

... I'm blame free you know full well my premiums will go up because of it.

I can only give our experience, but we've claimed directly against an at fault driver's insurance four times over many years, notifying our insurer of the claim each time but asking them to do nothing, and have never seen our premiums increase as a result.

 

[Durzel]

Not telling your insurance about PPF (basically a wrap) is not a smart move.

Would echo the above point that if the contact was hard enough to set the alarm off that it might have done some damage that might not be immediately obvious.

 

[raymondotango]

Your insurance maybe voided if you have not told them about PPF....

 

[ShelJW]

Your insurance maybe voided if you have not told them about PPF....

Huh?
I have PPF on my BMW M2, the installer offers to reinstall any portion that is damaged in an accident

Why would I need to inform my insurance company that a portion of my car has PPF? It doesn't negatively affect the car, and i wouldn't be looking to them to repair it if the car is damaged.

What am I missing?

 

[raymondotango]

Huh?
I have PPF on my BMW M2, the installer offers to reinstall any portion that is damaged in an accident

Why would I need to inform my insurance company that a portion of my car has PPF? It doesn't negatively affect the car, and i wouldn't be looking to them to repair it if the car is damaged.

What am I missing?

If you have an accident, and the part that is PPFd needs to be repaired, repainted etc., then the PPF needs to be removed which is additional cost. PPF should be declared to the insurance company, otherwise it may invalidate the insurance. Some insurance companies will not accept cars with PPF, and some will bump up the price if it is declared.

 

[Forty_Two]

Leaving the scene of an accident is an offence, you could try the police but my experience in recent years with the police is V poor.

 

[Billbrown1982]

Totally aware about the ppf thing. I rolled the dice at the time with the assumption/hope a claim wouldn't happen.

That said, the guys that did it will remove for free if it goes down the repair route and then I'll just pay to get it reapplied to whatever panel (in this case the bumper) that needs it.

Due to having some expired but still on my licence points and being flat broke from buying the car, it was a gamble but I couldn't find a quote with declared ppf that was even close to reasonable.

Always planned to renew in march and declare ppf from that point onwards

 

[Regulo]

Leaving the scene of an accident is an offence, you could try the police but my experience in recent years with the police is V poor.

If it was on private land, police won't get involved if there's no injury to person, I believe.
If it was me, I think I'd have a close look in daylight, and assess what to do then. There may be something obvious to go on.

 

[Irata]

I'm trying to picture what happened, the car in front reversed, so could they have pushed against your front number plate? Is that why you see no visible damage but the slight rocking triggered the alarm?

Do you know the guy? Could you discuss it with him? Maybe he'll make an offer to help?

 

[Billbrown1982]

Cheers guys, yeah I'll definitely be having a good look at it tomorrow. I really want to try and find a decent bodyshop to give it a once over too but, not sure how likely that is going to be given my work schedule and being this close to christmas.

 

[Billbrown1982]

I'm trying to picture what happened, the car in front reversed, so could they have pushed against your front number plate? Is that why you see no visible damage but the slight rocking triggered the alarm?

Do you know the guy? Could you discuss it with him? Maybe he'll make an offer to help?

It looked to me like he reverse back at a little bit of an angle, but yes could have caught the numberplate still, I really couldn't see any markings at all. It was a VERY gentle touch, BUT, if it was enough to set the alarm off I'd assume it was enough to, possibly cause damage.

Don't know the guy, pretty sure he works in the warehouse, I'll probably leave a note on his car when I see it next and give him the opportunity to call me and discuss.