accidentally scratching someones car then leaving the scene without giving details?

Question

if someone is coming out of a car park space and scratches the persons car who is in the spece next to it, but then leaves without leaving any details of name, insurance etc, what can be done about this? firstly if the person doesnt have any way of getting the details of the person who did it and secondly if the person can manage to get the details of the person who did it?

the scratch is quite big an noticiable. and i feel there may have been CCTV

has anyone else ever done this, damaged someones car then left without telling? if so what happened?

Answer 1

I cant tell if you received the scratches or did the scratches but regardless...

the person whos car was parked would call their insurance. Insurance would investigate to see if they could find the at fault party (through security cameras/witnesses/etc.)

If they cannot find the at fault party the person whos car was hit would be responsible for their deductible.

Answer 2

Firstly check whether there is any cctv camera coverage in the car park. If there is contact the owners of the cctv and ask them if they can check it to see if you can get the car registration number. If you are out of luck, then there is not a lot you can do, unless someone else has actually taken the offending vehicle's details down and given them to you, but that is highly unlikely. You could also go to the local police station and make out an accident report. You never know the offending person may have a pang of consciounse and report it to the local police station. I have known this to happen in the past. Best of luck.

Answer 3

If you have their registration number, you could contact the police. However, car parks are not public roads, so would possibly be a civil case, not a legal case, and the police would not be interested, especially as no one was hurt. Ask for CCTV from the store itself to see who got into the car, or just park up at the store on the same day of the week, and wait til you see it again. Then ask the driver ( probably a busy mum with screaming kids ) if she minds paying. If she is not forthcoming, when no one is looking, do the same to her car and drive off. Not great legally, but at least it should make you smile

Answer 4

If you have a witness, report them to the police, it is illegal to leave the scene of an accident, without giving any details. If no witness and its your word against their's then you are at a loss as the police would do nothing.
Depending on the damage they may do nothing anyway. If its a wear and tear scratch then you will find they don't waste their time in it. If its damage that would need a respray or a new panel, then they will interview the suspect, at least they will get their insurance details.

Bottom line, you are better off find them yourself and getting your revenge as this is the only way you will have them pay.

Answer 5

If there is no evidence of the incident (CCTV etc) then it is probable that the person who scratched the car will get away with nothing more than guilt (and they should have a lot of it, imagine if that happened to them, I'm sure they'd be upset!).

If there is evidence then, at worst, they can be taken to court for failure to stop at the scene of an incident. This is a crime that carries a small custodial sentence at the very top and a demand to cough up for repairs at the bottom.

Answer 6

Nothing can be done about it unless you have a witness, I had to pay €400 to repair my car. I just hope there are people who are humane enough to admit they made a mistake a pay for it. I accidently backed into a parked car and no one saw me but I went to the door and told the person, I wanted to exchange insurance details and he said it was ok it was only a small dent, he refused payment for it so I guess it made up for the A**hole that hit me. Try and see if there were any cameras in the vicinity as well.

Answer 7

If you have no info there is nothing that can be done. The police would let you file a report but if you think for one minute that they are going to drive around and look for your paint color on another car your seriously mistaken. If you can get their info then you call them and ask to be reimbursed. If they refuse then you take them to small claims court and you have to prove it was them and try to get a judgement against them. In all reality it would cost more in court fees than you would get in return so go you local automotive store and buy some of that matching paint color touch up stuff and put in on and buff it till it's shiny and quit whining.

Answer 8

Usually car park damage is just absorbed by the owner. You could maybe threaten to sue the car park owner, or call the police and report the crime, however, this is usually just a waste of time (unless you get cctv footage)

Answer 9

The absolutely free reverse vin check sites generally provide fake information. To get real information, money will have to be paid. The free searches provide fake information so they can get your email address to send spam.

Stay away from shady reverse vin check sites, most likely you won't get any information after you make the payment. Not to mention you won't get a report and you won't get an answer if you try to call for a refund. Stick with a reputable reverse vin check site like http://www.reversevincheck.net that has been around since 1995.

Answer 10

Your hands are tied unfortunately, its really annoying though I left my car in a car park and it looked like someone had scratched it with a bike or something about 40cms long and quite deep, thats the risk you take when you leave your car though, not everyone is honest,
saying that though I have banged my car door on someone elses before (by accident) and said nothing (shame on me!!)