Hi Folks

I was driving to my house with the missus in the car earlier. I live in a little village so the lanes are quite thin and you have to pull over to let other cars pass you.

As i came round one of the bends i noticed a large cultivator tractor coming towards me. I pulled over onto a grass verge as tight as i could get to the side without doing any damage and waited for the tractor to pass.

At this point the tractor made no real effort to get over on his side and accelerated passed, smashing into my rear quarter on the way through. It also ripped my rear bumper clean off on that side and mostly off on the other side.

I then got out of the car and pulled the rest of the bumper off and put it on the verge to pick up later and walked round the corner to where i though the tractor had gone too and saw him waiting a bit further up the road.

I though ok hes stopped for me ill be nice and sort the insurance out. At this point he decided to floor it and drive off again. Unfortunately there was dirt all over the numberplate making it unreadable in the dark. He also only had one working numberplate light. As it was pitch black i couldnt even see the colour of it.

Having got the car back home and picked up the bumper i reassembled the car and have discovered the following damage.

Rear bumper scraped and all mountings damaged.

Rear 3/4 panel dented scuffed and bent.

Small scratch on drivers door.

Missing numberplate light.

This evening I've managed to reattach the bumper mounting clips and replace the numberplate light with two spares i bought from dale. However, i still need a new bumper and the panel mended.

I phoned the police on the non emergency number, who told me to go to the police station and report the accident bringing my license and insurance details.

The problem i have is that if i report it to the police, I'm legally obliged to report it to my insurance company. If i do that then my insurance will go up next year regardless of whether i claim as I've been involved in an accident.

Also i have very little information or proof other than one witness but with her being my girlfriend i cant see that counting for much.

If i don't go ill have to pay for the repair myself which will probably cost around £400ish.

I don't see why i should have to pay, as it wasn't my fault and i was stationary at the time. But at the same time, i cant see the other person being caught and even if they are i doubt that they will be prosecuted.

What do you guys think i should do.

I've attached a picture i took when i got home but the damage looks worse in person

Any opinions welcome

Chris

:-)

what a bar steward.

should have phoned the police from the scene.

should have phoned the police from the scene.

Amazes me as to why people dont do this.

I'td be the 1st thing id do. As questions get asked then as to why you didnt do this.

I did actually ring them at the scene but they said that all i could really do was report it the next day as it wasn't an emergency.

Should have made that clearer.

Any advice from here?

To be honest I think you'll probably be better off in the long run just getting it mended rather than getting the police/insurance involved as the increased insurance price will probably end up costing you more than the repairs, as for the tractor driver, force him to give way next time.

Edited 19 October, 201114 yr by MattLoaf

To be honest I think you'll probably be better off in the long run just getting it mended rather than getting the police/insurance involved as the increased insurance price will probably end up costing you more than the repairs, as for the tractor driver, force him to give way next time.

agree with the 1st part but people who drive tractors are arrogant + due to the size of them pretty sure the same outcome would happen again.

agree with the 1st part but people who drive tractors are arrogant + due to the size of them pretty sure the same outcome would happen again.

Not all of them are, I've followed a few around country lanes before and they have always pulled up to let me past as soon as they can.

agree with the 1st part but people who drive tractors are arrogant + due to the size of them pretty sure the same outcome would happen again.

Not all of them are, I've followed a few around country lanes before and they have always pulled up to let me past as soon as they can.

i see you are point but if he comes up against the same bloke things might not go so well :-D

find out where the local farm and see if theres a tractor there, see if theres any damage to it too.

If there is, do some more to it.

find out where the local farm and see if theres a tractor there, see if theres any damage to it too.

If there is, do some more to it.

TBH wouldnt be damage to the tractor I would be doing! It would be the driver and all the other expensive machinery they no doubt have!

But TBH if the police turned around and said it wasnt an emergency, either that is complete bollocks your telling us that you rung the police and you didnt, or the fact that the police dont know whats an emergency or not. Cause as I'm sure everyone is aware, it is illegal to drive away from the scene of an accident that you have been involved in, whether there are casualties or not! Which is clearly stated in criminal law and the highway code.

Therefore by its very definition and nature it is an emergency! The police are there to reinforce the law when needed and to govern and punish those who break it! They are not there just to attend the scene of an accident where casualities are involved.

For example, a neighbour of mine, crept in to my garden in the middle of the night and cut all the trees down in my garden with a chainsaw! No casualties were involved, yet when I woke up the next morning and discovered this I phoned the old bill! Now if they told me that it wasnt an emergency I would have been straight down the operators house cutting down his trees with a chainsaw!

Anyways my point being, Id personally still get on the phone to the old bill, make the point clear you rung 999 and were told it wasnt an emergency blah blah and to visit your local cop shop. They should be able to take note that you made a call as your details should have been taken! And go from there. Would said, wouldnt claim off the insurance as it wouldnt be worth it. But id defo get the old bill involved!

^^^Ye, but you neighbour is a grade A++ Nutcase

Thats the normal police attitude these days to road accidents as if its too much effort to actually get off there arse's and do something.

To be honest I think you'll probably be better off in the long run just getting it mended rather than getting the police/insurance involved as the increased insurance price will probably end up costing you more than the repairs, as for the tractor driver, force him to give way next time.

It'll only put his insurance up if he makes a claim.

As he's had an accident he MUST report it to his insurers (it's in the small print).

He can report the accident to his insurers without making a claim.

If the driver of the tractor is not traced, the victim can sometimes claim off the MIB, as is the case with an uninsured driver.

Thanks guys good advice so far.

I think I'm going to just chalk it up to experiance and get the car repaired myself.

Its a bit gutting but not much else i can do

How come you didn't chase him?

Bumper was hanging off the car and missus was in tears and shaking in the middle of the road so was more worried about her than the car

Bumper was hanging off the car and missus was in tears and shaking in the middle of the road so was more worried about her than the car

Fair enough fella. Sorry that you're going to have to fork out of your own pocket.

Cheers mate. I'm not too angry about it any more at least the cars not written off :-)