Car Insurance claim query!

[Icemaiden23]

Recently whilst just arriving back at my car the driver next to me opened their door too forcefully resulting in a large dent in the rear door of my car and also their paintwork ingrained on my car. They gave a false name but I obtained details of their insurer from their registration plate number when I contacted my insurance company as to how to proceed. It now appears from the other person's insurers that the driver is denying the incident. I called the police at the time but the driver had walked away by the time they arrived but the car was still there. I do not have any witnesses but surely it cannot be correct that they can just deny it! Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks. I do not wish to claim from my own insurance as I have too many years no claims.

[PhilLew]

This might not help but it could be that the person who caused the damaged had cloned the registration from another car. Its more common than you would think.

If he gave a false name he probably isn't insured and the owner of the real car with that number would deny the claim as he would know nothing about it.

Sorry, but I hope i'm wrong and it all works out for the best

[markja]

would you reconise the car if you see it again? if it is 100% yes then what about some whats good for him is good for me? just make sure there's no cameras about.
( your ) bumpers that hit their door as you turn in/out of a parking space are good,as long as they aren't colour matched.
i know this doesn't help your situation but the satisfaction helps.

[chevrolet1.8]

it does seem a bit strange that he was prepared to walk away from the car. perhaps it wasn't his car, or he had borrowed it, or maybe had stolen either the plates or the car itself. one thing's for sure if it was his car, he certainly took a risk walking off with you still there. i think i would have worried that you might decide to equal the odds! good luck with your claim.

[Icemaiden23]

Thanks for the replies. Retribution would have been good but it would make me as bad as them. I guess folks if you bash or damage someone's car then just walk away and deny it (if there are no witnesses). There were cameras but the police just weren't interested. They could have checked where he went, etc but no! So here I am with a bill I could have done without. It's a shame insurance is compulsory; as far as I'm concerned, why bother!!!!

[tiggerwoo]

Have your "no claims bonus protected" next time you insure...it's worth the bit extra you pay.

[johnbikemad]

same happened to my car last week called out a mobile dent repair service �75 down the drain said he ciuld fix as new ,failed cars in body shop now :(

[retrochoir]

I worked for an insurance company for 4 years. You might be surprised (maybe not) at the number of dishonest people around. I lost count of the amount of people who admitted fault at the time of the incident and then changed their minds later. Unfortunately, in your situation where there were no witnesses, the claim usually ended up being settled 50-50.